Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Some wind, but less water.
Low tide and big winds at St George for Saturday.
The wind was good enough to make for challenging sailing and some fast rides. Unfortunately it also broke the primary strop for the vang leaving a longer secondary one which meant I could not pull on the vang fully for most of the race. This meant my upwind speed was off pace but did not affect the rides downwind.
I had two fast swims going over the falls when reacting slowly to over height at speed, but the biggest crash was from running aground at speed when sailing quite high. The low tide fooled me. That part of the river is normally deepe enough even for low riding.
At least it proved my new T joint is up to standard, no dammage, but the mounting pin for the CB was so bent it took quite an effort to extract it later when coming ashore.
A couple of reaching legs were at minimal control and scarey speeds, especially in close company with Grant and some of teh skiff fleet on reciprical course gojng upwind. Dave lapped us as usual but I had the normal close race with Grant which considering the vang position is encouraging. Finished 3rd but beat the other four young guys who DNFed.
Last race of the season next Friday. Might have to resurect the canoe for winter as the water is gettng chilly.
The wind was good enough to make for challenging sailing and some fast rides. Unfortunately it also broke the primary strop for the vang leaving a longer secondary one which meant I could not pull on the vang fully for most of the race. This meant my upwind speed was off pace but did not affect the rides downwind.
I had two fast swims going over the falls when reacting slowly to over height at speed, but the biggest crash was from running aground at speed when sailing quite high. The low tide fooled me. That part of the river is normally deepe enough even for low riding.
At least it proved my new T joint is up to standard, no dammage, but the mounting pin for the CB was so bent it took quite an effort to extract it later when coming ashore.
A couple of reaching legs were at minimal control and scarey speeds, especially in close company with Grant and some of teh skiff fleet on reciprical course gojng upwind. Dave lapped us as usual but I had the normal close race with Grant which considering the vang position is encouraging. Finished 3rd but beat the other four young guys who DNFed.
Last race of the season next Friday. Might have to resurect the canoe for winter as the water is gettng chilly.
Monday, April 14, 2008
St George sat 12th April
Another light day. Although I made more adjustments to the wand linkage, I did not get foiling at all. It tried a couple of times but mosly I disconnected the wand and sailed it in low drag mode.
After a tangle with some bigger boats in the mass start I got away from the other moths and close to the leading skiffs until we turned at the moth windward mark. From there on it got lonely, I had a big lead on Grant until he started to just foil. He gained a bit then I engaged the wand and did one work, with hopes of flying, but in reality sailing low with high drag from the wand and down flap. He gained enough to cross once. Then on the downwing leg I reverted to low drag and sailed square, while Grant reached off trying to fly. I gained heaps and in the end he gave up and joined the others and went home. I did too after a couple of legs as there was no point drifting around by myself.
OK I know my boat goes well in the light but it would be nice to have someone to race against, they might even learn how to do it as well if they spent some time practicing. It is disturbing to me that the new generation of moth sailors do not want to go sailing unless they can foil. Two or three did not bother to rig and several others did not even show at the club.
They will miss a lot of sailing at the ends of the season, and as seen at easter will have poor results at significant regattas if the weather turns light.
It would be bad for the class to only sail when there was enough wind to foil. I like the moth to be an all weather boat like it always was.
Maybe the designers need to look at more design allowance for light winds and not solely for foiling. Mostly we need to maintain an attitude that we race as soon as the committee can set a course, just like all other dinghy classes.
After a tangle with some bigger boats in the mass start I got away from the other moths and close to the leading skiffs until we turned at the moth windward mark. From there on it got lonely, I had a big lead on Grant until he started to just foil. He gained a bit then I engaged the wand and did one work, with hopes of flying, but in reality sailing low with high drag from the wand and down flap. He gained enough to cross once. Then on the downwing leg I reverted to low drag and sailed square, while Grant reached off trying to fly. I gained heaps and in the end he gave up and joined the others and went home. I did too after a couple of legs as there was no point drifting around by myself.
OK I know my boat goes well in the light but it would be nice to have someone to race against, they might even learn how to do it as well if they spent some time practicing. It is disturbing to me that the new generation of moth sailors do not want to go sailing unless they can foil. Two or three did not bother to rig and several others did not even show at the club.
They will miss a lot of sailing at the ends of the season, and as seen at easter will have poor results at significant regattas if the weather turns light.
I commented that the 5kts winds used to be really competitive in prefoiling days, there were a lot of fast boats nd it was close at the top.
It would be bad for the class to only sail when there was enough wind to foil. I like the moth to be an all weather boat like it always was.
Maybe the designers need to look at more design allowance for light winds and not solely for foiling. Mostly we need to maintain an attitude that we race as soon as the committee can set a course, just like all other dinghy classes.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Back to club racing and back to reality. A moderate 10 kt wind meant I was again well behind the fast foiling boats. I managed to stay in touch up wind but as soon as we go downhill I am so slow. I made some adjustments to the flap to get more down movement but did not have the wand mechanism working well enough.
But afterwards Dave sided up and offered me a ride on his boat. I did not hesitate, I had never had a go on one of the well sorted fast boats and wanted to find just how different they are.
It would be an understatement to say I was more impressed with his boat than he was with mine. I found his ride height so dominant with no body movements needed and when going quite a bumpy ride as the wand very powerfully controls the flap. By contrast Dave wondered if my wand was even connected!
But the speed was daunting, reaching it accellerated easilly and brings the apparent way forward so hiking and sheeting just make stil faster, requireing a strong bear away to keep the sail full. Fast and Low! I certainly have a lot of work to do. At least the rigs look similar.
Just a brief sail ina fading breaze, but well worth it. Adjustments next week.
But afterwards Dave sided up and offered me a ride on his boat. I did not hesitate, I had never had a go on one of the well sorted fast boats and wanted to find just how different they are.
It would be an understatement to say I was more impressed with his boat than he was with mine. I found his ride height so dominant with no body movements needed and when going quite a bumpy ride as the wand very powerfully controls the flap. By contrast Dave wondered if my wand was even connected!
But the speed was daunting, reaching it accellerated easilly and brings the apparent way forward so hiking and sheeting just make stil faster, requireing a strong bear away to keep the sail full. Fast and Low! I certainly have a lot of work to do. At least the rigs look similar.
Just a brief sail ina fading breaze, but well worth it. Adjustments next week.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Weekend off
No sailing this week. I took my dad model flying instead.
Also since they a say you are only as good as your last race, I thought I would have one more week of glory.
Also since they a say you are only as good as your last race, I thought I would have one more week of glory.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
2008 NSW Championship
You can read a more unbiased account elswhere but here you can read what I was doing.
Results were somewhat better than expected (understatement):
Friday: 3 (Inv), 7, Saturday: 14, 13, 1, 1, Sunday: 3, 3, 1.
= 3rd overall and first master (over 40)
Results are here
Friday was drizzle 20kts and big waves reminisent of Black Rock 2005. There was some damage to a few boats and some retirements, even some good boats who did not get wet at all.
My Tiger was foilng quite well upwind and I sailed conservatively downwind with only one swim in each race. Getting past the big rollers was a challenge, I remembered Rohan's advise from 2005 about following the crests and only bearing away when there was flat water ahead. I spent a lot of time slowing the boat down rather than going over a cliff into oblivion. My back ended up sore form the repeated body movements needed to trim the boat bow up and bow down.
3rd in the inv race just behind Matt Belcher was encouraging. He was faster but had many swims both upwind and down. Scott was a leg ahead aparently comfortable in the conditions. Les Thorpe and Dave Lister both broke gantries, three scows lost masts.
For Heat one a few more hot boats ventured out, I sailed a similar race and gained a 7th, well back but a good number to start the regatta. Prowler Zeros were 1, 2, 3 and a long way in front of me.
That evening at the RSL there was a lot of talk about downwind sailing in big waves. One idea canvassed was to heal the boat and pull away hard as you crest the wave, this drives the bow down and prevents an over the falls breakout (you have to have done it to understand what that means, but it usually means the foils find air, the bow finds deep water, your shoulder finds the shroud, and you go looking for the centreboard to climb back on to). The bear away is followed by a strong luff up which raises the bow (if the boat is still healed) so it rides over the next crest.
I practiced this on Saturday morning, whenthe wind had moderated slightly, but the waves seemed the same. It is certainly faster to be passing waves downwind that waiting for a flat patch to go ahead. When I got it right I also gained lots of ground to leward and was at times able to gain on some boats which I would have expected to be losing out to.
But the wind gradually lightened, and combined with the fleet filling out further with over night replacements, and repairs to boats and egos, my places dropped to about where my seedingd from last week predicted, 14th and 13th, generally losing several places on the last downwind.
My observations of the boat and foils were that the wand was working very well in flexing the top skin hing upward, so my ride height was well controlled and I had few over height problems, (upwind the ride was quite bumpy as the wand bounced over the waves and the flap responded quickly) but also that the wand and bungee were not good at pushing in down flap when the boat was too low, requireing a lot of work on my part to roll body weight aft and trim for speed to maintain ride height. This was OK when it was windy enough but as the breeze slackened to maybe only 12 kts iwas sailing wider angles than most people just to stay up, and consequently losing places. So I have to improve the hing or linkages to get more down flap.
Back to the regatta:
Saturday afternoon the wind died to about 5kts, still steady from the south but the waves vanished. Prestart the boat felt great.
I trimmed a little bow down in the rudder foil to help trim the boat without sitting a long way forward. This also presents the two foils at a couple degrees +ve incidence which is here min drag is for these cambered foil sections. Its important not to move too far forward and trim the boat bow down as this brings the foils into a high drag area.
The P&B sail looked good with a little cunningham and virtually no vang. The lower luff curve reduction for the stiff mast seemed to make achieving a suitable shape for light winds much easier. I suspect the KA sails were needing so much load on the mast to flatten, that the stresses in the sails were preventing freeing of the leach. If the sail is too full it can not be squared out downwind enough in the light either.
So Heat 4 ended up a one lapper with a close battle between Matt and I. He understood the top mark and his two extra tacks were about the difference at the end. Ht 5 was similar except he lead all of the way, and even opened up a bit with a short foiling burst downwind on lap one. Then he forgot the middle mark of the second lap and slipped back allowing 4 boat through.
2 guns. People wanted to look at my foils, some thought I had changed to centre board and rudder, not true.
Sunday, light again. I would have been happy to go, but in fairness, the wind was very light, switching and there were glassy patches. A lot of people did not even rig. The RC decided he could not set a course accurately enough and deferred for 3 hrs. Matt commented that it looked like better conditions than it will be at the Olympics.
By 2pm there was a light SE and a course was set. When we started the wind went lighter and tried to switch left. Matt rounded first, I was about 5th at the top. It faded downwind and the race was shortened, I slipped past two for a 3.
Ht 7. The wind went to NE and settled at about 5 still not quite enough for the fly weights to foil. I got covered a bit after the start and did not round well. Matts Belcher and Day plus Scott lead out and occasionally foiled. Alan G foiled past me at one point. Then on the secon lap Matt B had a relapse and forgot the middle mark again, Matt D followed him and I was back in the game. Ran past Alan to the finish and 3.
Last race was a match race most of the way with young Sam McKnight sailing what wouuld have been the ideal boat for the conditions, a Hungry Tiger without hydrofoils. He had speed but I managed to get around the first lap ahead and he stayed below me up the last time when he should have tacked for clear air. In theend he clipped a mark and his circle left me with a goodlead. He still finished 2nd.
I think the places of Les, Sam and myself show that the Hungry Tiger is still a top performer in sub foiling conditions. Also my sail and the new Truflos (used by Scott, Les, Sam and Ben Crocker) seem to have closed the gap on the KA dominance of the last several years. Maybe the slightly smaller luff curves make them better in the light.
I also think that my new foil with no hinge gap on top and minimal on the bottom must have helped. Maybe my foil mold also has a lower camber section which would be less drag in the light also.
A good weekend, Lovely place to sail and very well run by JBSC and Steve Lymbery.
Results were somewhat better than expected (understatement):
Friday: 3 (Inv), 7, Saturday: 14, 13, 1, 1, Sunday: 3, 3, 1.
= 3rd overall and first master (over 40)
Results are here
Friday was drizzle 20kts and big waves reminisent of Black Rock 2005. There was some damage to a few boats and some retirements, even some good boats who did not get wet at all.
My Tiger was foilng quite well upwind and I sailed conservatively downwind with only one swim in each race. Getting past the big rollers was a challenge, I remembered Rohan's advise from 2005 about following the crests and only bearing away when there was flat water ahead. I spent a lot of time slowing the boat down rather than going over a cliff into oblivion. My back ended up sore form the repeated body movements needed to trim the boat bow up and bow down.
3rd in the inv race just behind Matt Belcher was encouraging. He was faster but had many swims both upwind and down. Scott was a leg ahead aparently comfortable in the conditions. Les Thorpe and Dave Lister both broke gantries, three scows lost masts.
For Heat one a few more hot boats ventured out, I sailed a similar race and gained a 7th, well back but a good number to start the regatta. Prowler Zeros were 1, 2, 3 and a long way in front of me.
That evening at the RSL there was a lot of talk about downwind sailing in big waves. One idea canvassed was to heal the boat and pull away hard as you crest the wave, this drives the bow down and prevents an over the falls breakout (you have to have done it to understand what that means, but it usually means the foils find air, the bow finds deep water, your shoulder finds the shroud, and you go looking for the centreboard to climb back on to). The bear away is followed by a strong luff up which raises the bow (if the boat is still healed) so it rides over the next crest.
I practiced this on Saturday morning, whenthe wind had moderated slightly, but the waves seemed the same. It is certainly faster to be passing waves downwind that waiting for a flat patch to go ahead. When I got it right I also gained lots of ground to leward and was at times able to gain on some boats which I would have expected to be losing out to.
But the wind gradually lightened, and combined with the fleet filling out further with over night replacements, and repairs to boats and egos, my places dropped to about where my seedingd from last week predicted, 14th and 13th, generally losing several places on the last downwind.
My observations of the boat and foils were that the wand was working very well in flexing the top skin hing upward, so my ride height was well controlled and I had few over height problems, (upwind the ride was quite bumpy as the wand bounced over the waves and the flap responded quickly) but also that the wand and bungee were not good at pushing in down flap when the boat was too low, requireing a lot of work on my part to roll body weight aft and trim for speed to maintain ride height. This was OK when it was windy enough but as the breeze slackened to maybe only 12 kts iwas sailing wider angles than most people just to stay up, and consequently losing places. So I have to improve the hing or linkages to get more down flap.
Back to the regatta:
Saturday afternoon the wind died to about 5kts, still steady from the south but the waves vanished. Prestart the boat felt great.
I trimmed a little bow down in the rudder foil to help trim the boat without sitting a long way forward. This also presents the two foils at a couple degrees +ve incidence which is here min drag is for these cambered foil sections. Its important not to move too far forward and trim the boat bow down as this brings the foils into a high drag area.
The P&B sail looked good with a little cunningham and virtually no vang. The lower luff curve reduction for the stiff mast seemed to make achieving a suitable shape for light winds much easier. I suspect the KA sails were needing so much load on the mast to flatten, that the stresses in the sails were preventing freeing of the leach. If the sail is too full it can not be squared out downwind enough in the light either.
So Heat 4 ended up a one lapper with a close battle between Matt and I. He understood the top mark and his two extra tacks were about the difference at the end. Ht 5 was similar except he lead all of the way, and even opened up a bit with a short foiling burst downwind on lap one. Then he forgot the middle mark of the second lap and slipped back allowing 4 boat through.
2 guns. People wanted to look at my foils, some thought I had changed to centre board and rudder, not true.
Sunday, light again. I would have been happy to go, but in fairness, the wind was very light, switching and there were glassy patches. A lot of people did not even rig. The RC decided he could not set a course accurately enough and deferred for 3 hrs. Matt commented that it looked like better conditions than it will be at the Olympics.
By 2pm there was a light SE and a course was set. When we started the wind went lighter and tried to switch left. Matt rounded first, I was about 5th at the top. It faded downwind and the race was shortened, I slipped past two for a 3.
Ht 7. The wind went to NE and settled at about 5 still not quite enough for the fly weights to foil. I got covered a bit after the start and did not round well. Matts Belcher and Day plus Scott lead out and occasionally foiled. Alan G foiled past me at one point. Then on the secon lap Matt B had a relapse and forgot the middle mark again, Matt D followed him and I was back in the game. Ran past Alan to the finish and 3.
Last race was a match race most of the way with young Sam McKnight sailing what wouuld have been the ideal boat for the conditions, a Hungry Tiger without hydrofoils. He had speed but I managed to get around the first lap ahead and he stayed below me up the last time when he should have tacked for clear air. In theend he clipped a mark and his circle left me with a goodlead. He still finished 2nd.
I think the places of Les, Sam and myself show that the Hungry Tiger is still a top performer in sub foiling conditions. Also my sail and the new Truflos (used by Scott, Les, Sam and Ben Crocker) seem to have closed the gap on the KA dominance of the last several years. Maybe the slightly smaller luff curves make them better in the light.
I also think that my new foil with no hinge gap on top and minimal on the bottom must have helped. Maybe my foil mold also has a lower camber section which would be less drag in the light also.
A good weekend, Lovely place to sail and very well run by JBSC and Steve Lymbery.
Monday, March 17, 2008
St George race Sat 15/3/08 and States Preview.
At last everything worked and remained intact. A very nice day, wind, temperature and no repairs. The boat was flying easily and with full control. No bunny hops, no crashes, no swims. Smile.
Not fast enough yet especially downwind so I ended up behind Dave and Grant with Clive nearby after going back to round a mark the right way. They seem to get up a bit quicker and also ride at a more consistant height. But I think I can improve that.
My boat seems to have the max height control functioning, the wand is pulling up the flap when needed and in fact the ride over small chop feels decidedly bumpy as the wand moves the flap up and down with ease. So the top skin hinge and the linkage are working and friction is under control.
But I still have some issues when down low. I think my flap is not going down far enough or easilly enough to provide the extra lift needed at take off and when the hull gets slightly too low. I do not think its in the linkage, but rather that my gap sealing carbon flap is too stiff and is resisting the flap down movement. Its due for a trim tonight.
Then I have to do a thorough check of the whole boat before we are off to Jervis bay on Thursday for the three day NSW championships. 8 races. My body will need some recuperation after that, its too late for remedial maintence on me.
WRT the Moth champs we have 17 entries so far with about another 10 expected when we get there. All foiling except for 5 scows, including inerstate visitors. The weather looks like cooling off a bit but will be over 20 C so nothing to worry about. Winds look line starting out moderate and dying off, followed by a sea breeze. Typical easter on our coats as is the forecast rain on at least one day.
Should be a good weekend sailing in paradise. Looking at the expected turn up I seed myself between 10th and 15th, my normal top half target, I'll verify or have excuses next week.
Not fast enough yet especially downwind so I ended up behind Dave and Grant with Clive nearby after going back to round a mark the right way. They seem to get up a bit quicker and also ride at a more consistant height. But I think I can improve that.
My boat seems to have the max height control functioning, the wand is pulling up the flap when needed and in fact the ride over small chop feels decidedly bumpy as the wand moves the flap up and down with ease. So the top skin hinge and the linkage are working and friction is under control.
But I still have some issues when down low. I think my flap is not going down far enough or easilly enough to provide the extra lift needed at take off and when the hull gets slightly too low. I do not think its in the linkage, but rather that my gap sealing carbon flap is too stiff and is resisting the flap down movement. Its due for a trim tonight.
Then I have to do a thorough check of the whole boat before we are off to Jervis bay on Thursday for the three day NSW championships. 8 races. My body will need some recuperation after that, its too late for remedial maintence on me.
WRT the Moth champs we have 17 entries so far with about another 10 expected when we get there. All foiling except for 5 scows, including inerstate visitors. The weather looks like cooling off a bit but will be over 20 C so nothing to worry about. Winds look line starting out moderate and dying off, followed by a sea breeze. Typical easter on our coats as is the forecast rain on at least one day.
Should be a good weekend sailing in paradise. Looking at the expected turn up I seed myself between 10th and 15th, my normal top half target, I'll verify or have excuses next week.
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