Its been a dissapointing month for racing:
With a few of us at SIRS on the 6th a poor club roll up and stong winds saw racing cancelled.
A week later a big westerly made a cancellation an obvious choice.
And this week the closeness of Christmas meant another small turn out of 5. Too many work and family commitments this time of year.
But I tested a couple of new bits. I have fitted a John Ilett foil to my rudder. I also have a new MSL3.
For a few years I thought my old V Stiff Thorpey mast would not suit a KA sail with their generous luff round, but at SIRS I compared my mast to one of the new small dia HM CST masts and found it very similar in stiffness and weight. So apart from the extra windage my mast has come back into fashion.
The rig felt good, the wind was variable enough to try a few settings and it adjusts well. I did have a lot of lee helm though and the rake needed adjustment.
The foil change was more noticable, whereas with the smaller symetrical rudder foil the boat would sink stern first in the light patches, now it stays level and on the foils much longer. It seemed to me the symetical foil arument was lost but Dave did the reverse and tested a new small symetrical and thought he had found some extra speed, as if he really needs any!
The joys of development and testing?
Monday, December 22, 2008
Gypsy Bowl Teams Race
The Gypsy Bowl is an old NSW Moth trophy which has not been raced for for at least 10 years. It declined when the number of moth clubs shrank to too few for an event. Now we have 4 clubs in Sydney Pete Harney revised the event and rean it at Northbridge. The last sunday before Christmas was the only time when no clubs raced but it seems most people are busy on other things. But we had more than a dozen moths and it made an enjoyable event.
So the Gypsy Bowl event lives. Not sure where the trophy is though?
Three teams competed,
The local NSC/SMSC scow team.
The Balmoral Bladerider team, and
a mixed group comprising Alan (just home from Finland), Les (BYRA mostly), Eric (Balmoral) and me (StG),
nominally 4 boats per team with only best 3 to count.
The course as a short two lapper and the scows got a 6 minute start.
The scows beat the mix in race 1, We beat the Bladeriders in race 2, The Bladeriders beat the scows in race three. All even!
Then top scows Andrew and Ian Sim went home to a serious? other apointment. So the scows lost their last two matches and the event was decided when the mixed team beat the Bladeriders again.
So we won!!
Wind was good for NSC, 0 to 12kts and only swinging through 40odd degrees. But very tireing, lots of leg work.
It all went smoothly thanks to Pete and Jim and other NSC helpers and a nice BBQ afterwards.
This event must happen every year but a better time might attract more teams
So the Gypsy Bowl event lives. Not sure where the trophy is though?
Three teams competed,
The local NSC/SMSC scow team.
The Balmoral Bladerider team, and
a mixed group comprising Alan (just home from Finland), Les (BYRA mostly), Eric (Balmoral) and me (StG),
nominally 4 boats per team with only best 3 to count.
The course as a short two lapper and the scows got a 6 minute start.
The scows beat the mix in race 1, We beat the Bladeriders in race 2, The Bladeriders beat the scows in race three. All even!
Then top scows Andrew and Ian Sim went home to a serious? other apointment. So the scows lost their last two matches and the event was decided when the mixed team beat the Bladeriders again.
So we won!!
Wind was good for NSC, 0 to 12kts and only swinging through 40odd degrees. But very tireing, lots of leg work.
It all went smoothly thanks to Pete and Jim and other NSC helpers and a nice BBQ afterwards.
This event must happen every year but a better time might attract more teams
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Day 4 SIRS
Another nice day with 12-15 mostly and sunshine. Start was delayed until the sea breeze filled in and then we had three quite short races in quick succession. This helped get a few scores on the board as few of us went over the short 10 minutes after the winner time limit.
Charlie McKee stayed near the front and took the series. John Harris finally sorted his borrowed boat and won the last two races after Dave Lister stacked with a good lead after the final mark of the sereis.
I scored 9, 10, 11 for 10th overall, one higherthan my normal 50% target. But I had a good series for days 3 and 4 and built some spee, technique and fitness, which is what most of us mothies see the regatta is for.
Charlie McKee stayed near the front and took the series. John Harris finally sorted his borrowed boat and won the last two races after Dave Lister stacked with a good lead after the final mark of the sereis.
I scored 9, 10, 11 for 10th overall, one higherthan my normal 50% target. But I had a good series for days 3 and 4 and built some spee, technique and fitness, which is what most of us mothies see the regatta is for.
Monday, December 8, 2008
SIRS day 3
A much better day, good 15-20 ENE and we only waited a half hour for the Lasers to finish.
Bora won two races and Dave won the other by a big margin, finally showing everyone the speed we have been talking about.
But Charlie is leading the series with a string of small numbers.
I had an enjoyable day with some close racing for the back of the diminished fleet. Had a few swims in first race but got around clean in the other two and am finally making almost all of the gybes without touchdown. Got real numbers on the score card now, 14, 9 & 11, which do not sound so good but there are some classy sailors in the fleet so I feel happy for an old bloke.
Made the commitment to do the peak hour traffic struggle tomorrow as I have left the boat in the compound for the 10.00 am start.
Bora won two races and Dave won the other by a big margin, finally showing everyone the speed we have been talking about.
But Charlie is leading the series with a string of small numbers.
I had an enjoyable day with some close racing for the back of the diminished fleet. Had a few swims in first race but got around clean in the other two and am finally making almost all of the gybes without touchdown. Got real numbers on the score card now, 14, 9 & 11, which do not sound so good but there are some classy sailors in the fleet so I feel happy for an old bloke.
Made the commitment to do the peak hour traffic struggle tomorrow as I have left the boat in the compound for the 10.00 am start.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
SIRS regatta half way?
I think I am beginning to hate big mixed class regattas.
First this is the most expensive regattas for ages, about 50% up on the nationals for one. Not sure where all the money goes, there are over 200 boats and we got 3 big sponsors stickers to attach to boats so there must be heaps of money coming in. Maybe there are professional race crew, and the huge start boat must cost a bit to run, but I do not see how this is any better for moths than a small club regatta with 4 or 5 people and a couple of outboard powered run abouts.
Then, because we share the Race management and on water crew with 2 or 3 other classes we never seem to know when the races are on. And these people for all their effort do not seem to understand moths much or how fast they go in different weathers. Complicate that with a busy harbour and all the clubs using very similar marks and you would be kind to say that so far its heading towards a bit of a disaster for most of us.
Day 1.We waited for an AP to drop, but since we could not see the signal mast from our designated rigging area we really waited until some 49ers launched as we were sharing the track with them. It was looking better at 3.30 anyway as the laser Rads had spent from 12.00-2.30 waiting on our track for a wind to settle and got 0/3 races in. A good 15-20 southerly arrived in time.
Race 1, Got away Ok but 30secs out a manly ferry crossed all but Bora, so he got a good lead and held it unlit he lost lap count and went for lap 5. Scott and Ben followed him so Charlie won. (Check places elsewhere I might have iit wrong).Problem was most went around a mark N of Clarke Is and a coulple went around a similar one SW of Cl Is. which was also the one the 49ers went around. There were a couple of other red marks in the area and none of us really know which was the right one.
Race 2. With about half the fleet absent due to broken bodies or boats, the RC set another 4 lapper, and everyone one went around the 49er mark. No race 3 as the two 4 lappers used up all the time. Two results one race down. Not many finishers, which is a shame when three 2 or 3 lappers could have made for a better days racing.
The posted results do not appear to accept people went around different marks so the odd result may stand. I heard the next morning from a SIRS regular that the mark mix up happens every year, so it beggs to ask why cant they find some cleaver solution like different coloured marks?
Day 2.Morning racing in a soft westerly. The windward mark was easy to find because there was only one, and they sent the 49ers off early to show us where to go. It was conveniently placed in the lee of Chouder head which made the soft and patchy westerly even dodgier.
The lightweights flew well and the heavyweights didn't. So with a 10min margin after the winner to beat or score DNF, some quit after 2 laps and a lot more did the distance for not good at all. Three boats scored. Scott won from Matt Day. The small mothy lives again. Why we needed a 3 lapper on such soft wind is something only the RC could explain. An example of no moth experience I guess.
So Race 3 took about an hour and a half and they quickly sent us off on a 2 lapper but 30secs later a 20k southerly hit making the W leg a reach, so not surprise when the N flag apeared at the first mark.
Now it was now about 12.00, The laser Rads who got no result on day 1 arrived on schedule, the course and big start boat need to be relocated, some of us decided time was up and sailed home. A lot hung around as did the 49ers, and hung around, and hung around, and watched the lasers start. etc etc. etc. Someone decided to ask the boat if there was any more racing and was told not till 2.00, so the word spread and several moths went into Clifton beach to rest and save the gear.
At 1.40 odd they went back to the start and watched the finish of a moth race with 6 or 7 boats only. After this was over someone decided that it was over for the day and sailed home. All in winds up to 20kts
Regardless the SIs say the next signal shall be ASAP after the finish of the previous race, and its hard to stretch that to an hour or more after starting some other races?
There are a lot of tired people and a lot of pissed off people.
My own position is all DNF due to a broken rudder gudgeon in race 1, and getting lapped in race 3, followed by an early sail home assuming the Lasers had the course per the posted schedule. But as I am with over 2/3 the fleet with a full set of alphabet its not really a bother. What is pretty odd is that I am one place lower on the list than Simon Nelson who has not even fronted yet, with or without his boat.
For the official sanitised version see http://www.sailsydney.org.au/
Maybe it will improve tomorrow? Maybe the accused St George boycott was a better idea?
Tomorrow is a 12.30 race so a sleep in is in order. We will see how it goes before deciding to battle the peak hour traffic across the city for a 10.00 start on Tuesday. NE winds increasing from 12 to strong are forcast for both days.
First this is the most expensive regattas for ages, about 50% up on the nationals for one. Not sure where all the money goes, there are over 200 boats and we got 3 big sponsors stickers to attach to boats so there must be heaps of money coming in. Maybe there are professional race crew, and the huge start boat must cost a bit to run, but I do not see how this is any better for moths than a small club regatta with 4 or 5 people and a couple of outboard powered run abouts.
Then, because we share the Race management and on water crew with 2 or 3 other classes we never seem to know when the races are on. And these people for all their effort do not seem to understand moths much or how fast they go in different weathers. Complicate that with a busy harbour and all the clubs using very similar marks and you would be kind to say that so far its heading towards a bit of a disaster for most of us.
Day 1.We waited for an AP to drop, but since we could not see the signal mast from our designated rigging area we really waited until some 49ers launched as we were sharing the track with them. It was looking better at 3.30 anyway as the laser Rads had spent from 12.00-2.30 waiting on our track for a wind to settle and got 0/3 races in. A good 15-20 southerly arrived in time.
Race 1, Got away Ok but 30secs out a manly ferry crossed all but Bora, so he got a good lead and held it unlit he lost lap count and went for lap 5. Scott and Ben followed him so Charlie won. (Check places elsewhere I might have iit wrong).Problem was most went around a mark N of Clarke Is and a coulple went around a similar one SW of Cl Is. which was also the one the 49ers went around. There were a couple of other red marks in the area and none of us really know which was the right one.
Race 2. With about half the fleet absent due to broken bodies or boats, the RC set another 4 lapper, and everyone one went around the 49er mark. No race 3 as the two 4 lappers used up all the time. Two results one race down. Not many finishers, which is a shame when three 2 or 3 lappers could have made for a better days racing.
The posted results do not appear to accept people went around different marks so the odd result may stand. I heard the next morning from a SIRS regular that the mark mix up happens every year, so it beggs to ask why cant they find some cleaver solution like different coloured marks?
Day 2.Morning racing in a soft westerly. The windward mark was easy to find because there was only one, and they sent the 49ers off early to show us where to go. It was conveniently placed in the lee of Chouder head which made the soft and patchy westerly even dodgier.
The lightweights flew well and the heavyweights didn't. So with a 10min margin after the winner to beat or score DNF, some quit after 2 laps and a lot more did the distance for not good at all. Three boats scored. Scott won from Matt Day. The small mothy lives again. Why we needed a 3 lapper on such soft wind is something only the RC could explain. An example of no moth experience I guess.
So Race 3 took about an hour and a half and they quickly sent us off on a 2 lapper but 30secs later a 20k southerly hit making the W leg a reach, so not surprise when the N flag apeared at the first mark.
Now it was now about 12.00, The laser Rads who got no result on day 1 arrived on schedule, the course and big start boat need to be relocated, some of us decided time was up and sailed home. A lot hung around as did the 49ers, and hung around, and hung around, and watched the lasers start. etc etc. etc. Someone decided to ask the boat if there was any more racing and was told not till 2.00, so the word spread and several moths went into Clifton beach to rest and save the gear.
At 1.40 odd they went back to the start and watched the finish of a moth race with 6 or 7 boats only. After this was over someone decided that it was over for the day and sailed home. All in winds up to 20kts
Regardless the SIs say the next signal shall be ASAP after the finish of the previous race, and its hard to stretch that to an hour or more after starting some other races?
There are a lot of tired people and a lot of pissed off people.
My own position is all DNF due to a broken rudder gudgeon in race 1, and getting lapped in race 3, followed by an early sail home assuming the Lasers had the course per the posted schedule. But as I am with over 2/3 the fleet with a full set of alphabet its not really a bother. What is pretty odd is that I am one place lower on the list than Simon Nelson who has not even fronted yet, with or without his boat.
For the official sanitised version see http://www.sailsydney.org.au/
Maybe it will improve tomorrow? Maybe the accused St George boycott was a better idea?
Tomorrow is a 12.30 race so a sleep in is in order. We will see how it goes before deciding to battle the peak hour traffic across the city for a 10.00 start on Tuesday. NE winds increasing from 12 to strong are forcast for both days.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
St George Moth interclub 29/11/08
A few changes in the form guide?
First Scott made a token Boycott on behalf of Woollahra and the SIRS ragatta, apparently wasting his time at a 49er promo day.
Secondly local king Dave broke his gantry mid week and the repair was not set up at the correct angle, (thats his excuse anyway) so he trailed the leaders all the way.
The star was Andrew in his 5 year old Prowler who lead well for 3 of the 4 laps, and around all but the first and last marks with excellent pace, only to drop into a light patch up the last work and get passed by Luka and Ben.
We had a good southerly from 12 to 20 in the puffs and a fleet of 15, 10 locals and 5 visitors.
My own race was a keen fight with Alistair and Pete for 6th. With Steve just far enough ahead to be encouraging. Good fun and some very fast downwind legs in the gusts.
I am getting much better at gybing only putting down two, which was a great releif after a practice run on Thursday with Andrew in a solid NE where I seemed to put down the lot.
Some improvements to the boat this week, still learning and its getting easier with our quality fleet and generous knowledge exchange.
Results:
Luka Damic, Prowler Zero,
Ben Croker, Prowler Zero,
Andrew Stevenson, Prowler 2004
Dave Lister, Gilmore/Lister Alpha
Steve Donovan, Prowler Zero,
Phil Stevenson, Hungry Tiger,
Peter Harney, Hungry Tiger
Ian Sim, Scow
DNF: Clive Watts, Chris Dixon, Lea Sitja, Grant Weymouth, Bruce McLeod, Allistair Gibson, James McKenzie.
No serious damage, just little things and tired bodies.
First Scott made a token Boycott on behalf of Woollahra and the SIRS ragatta, apparently wasting his time at a 49er promo day.
Secondly local king Dave broke his gantry mid week and the repair was not set up at the correct angle, (thats his excuse anyway) so he trailed the leaders all the way.
The star was Andrew in his 5 year old Prowler who lead well for 3 of the 4 laps, and around all but the first and last marks with excellent pace, only to drop into a light patch up the last work and get passed by Luka and Ben.
We had a good southerly from 12 to 20 in the puffs and a fleet of 15, 10 locals and 5 visitors.
My own race was a keen fight with Alistair and Pete for 6th. With Steve just far enough ahead to be encouraging. Good fun and some very fast downwind legs in the gusts.
I am getting much better at gybing only putting down two, which was a great releif after a practice run on Thursday with Andrew in a solid NE where I seemed to put down the lot.
Some improvements to the boat this week, still learning and its getting easier with our quality fleet and generous knowledge exchange.
Results:
Luka Damic, Prowler Zero,
Ben Croker, Prowler Zero,
Andrew Stevenson, Prowler 2004
Dave Lister, Gilmore/Lister Alpha
Steve Donovan, Prowler Zero,
Phil Stevenson, Hungry Tiger,
Peter Harney, Hungry Tiger
Ian Sim, Scow
DNF: Clive Watts, Chris Dixon, Lea Sitja, Grant Weymouth, Bruce McLeod, Allistair Gibson, James McKenzie.
No serious damage, just little things and tired bodies.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Decks on.
Decks are on Karma and joints taped. It weighs 9kg (subtractive method with bathroom scales so maybe not really accurate) which is more than I wished for but lighter than most moths.Picture shows progress, hull with mast tube, main foil, gantry.
Rudder next than wings.
Not a render but a real boat! Us computer slobs have to get our hands dirty in the workshop.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Karma progress
We the main deck is on. There is a bit of trimming to do but its about 7kg so I am happy with progress so far. With the minimal wings planned I am sure we will have one of the lightest moths around.
Now I'm sorting out the wand/flap linkages.
Hinged the flap today with a true no gap hinge line, its a real barrel hinge full depth of the foil made from carbon tubes and SS wire. Had one many years ago on a really dodgy foil, the hinge worked then but not the foil. This time its in one of John Ilett's proven moldings. The subtle hinge line with no gap top and bottom certainly looks like it should reduce drag, and it moves so freely.
Nice to see Mach2 has a raked rudder bearing on the gantry. Its a good idea, Andrew tried it early this season and I have since modified mine to match. It seems to help reduce ventilation by raking the rudder like the centreboard. Back when my Tiger was new I tried raking the blade without raking the pivot, but even with all the blade behind the pivot, steering got lighter and lighter the higher the boat flew, and it was very unsteadying. (see the picture on the right of this page). Matching the pivot with the rake does make the feel more consistant but it does apply a bow up component when the rudder is turned. I have not tried it yet but this might make sailing downwind in big waves a bit more difficult than it already is? Anyway the Karma gantry I built last week has 5 degrees of rake built in.
Seems all the new boats now have carbon or SS pushrods instead of the old Bowden cables which seemed to be good when new but were susceptible to damage and increased friction with use. Since we all converted the number of crashes from ride height control has reduced dramatically.
My Tiger never had a cable but the first generation thru deck rod/tube was not great and since replacing it last winter with a better aligned setup, everything just works great. For Karma I have reversed the bellcrank directions so now the " pushrod" will be in tension so I am looking at using a simple low stretch line, lighter, less likely to kink, bend or jam and just simpler, exactly the theme of the whole boat.
Now I'm sorting out the wand/flap linkages.
Hinged the flap today with a true no gap hinge line, its a real barrel hinge full depth of the foil made from carbon tubes and SS wire. Had one many years ago on a really dodgy foil, the hinge worked then but not the foil. This time its in one of John Ilett's proven moldings. The subtle hinge line with no gap top and bottom certainly looks like it should reduce drag, and it moves so freely.
Nice to see Mach2 has a raked rudder bearing on the gantry. Its a good idea, Andrew tried it early this season and I have since modified mine to match. It seems to help reduce ventilation by raking the rudder like the centreboard. Back when my Tiger was new I tried raking the blade without raking the pivot, but even with all the blade behind the pivot, steering got lighter and lighter the higher the boat flew, and it was very unsteadying. (see the picture on the right of this page). Matching the pivot with the rake does make the feel more consistant but it does apply a bow up component when the rudder is turned. I have not tried it yet but this might make sailing downwind in big waves a bit more difficult than it already is? Anyway the Karma gantry I built last week has 5 degrees of rake built in.
Seems all the new boats now have carbon or SS pushrods instead of the old Bowden cables which seemed to be good when new but were susceptible to damage and increased friction with use. Since we all converted the number of crashes from ride height control has reduced dramatically.
My Tiger never had a cable but the first generation thru deck rod/tube was not great and since replacing it last winter with a better aligned setup, everything just works great. For Karma I have reversed the bellcrank directions so now the " pushrod" will be in tension so I am looking at using a simple low stretch line, lighter, less likely to kink, bend or jam and just simpler, exactly the theme of the whole boat.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
NSW Interclub at Balmoral
Just home from the race.
A sick SE wind over middle head made for a patchy course. 12 foilers and three scows so a reasonale fleet. Dave got recalled so Scott, Andrew, Luka and Ben were up front at the first mark. Dave eventually got past Luka and Scott at different times but at the finish Scott won from fly weight Matt Day, Luka, Dave and Andrew then Alistair in the firat BR.
Most people were happy with their speed but found holes in the wind to explain ther places.
I was happy for half a race and was in front of Andrew (after he swam) when my vang decided to break. After that I sailed a lap with it slack unlil lapped and the pulled the pin to be first back to the beach.
Dave said the last few times he sailed against Scott it has been patchy, but for now Scott has earned the respect as the fastet moth in Sydney.
Much rumour oubout James MacKenzie and his new boat. Every one knew he has the first Mach2 order. So all expectant. He fronted with a 1964 vintage fibreglass scow predating wings, which he picked up for $200 a few weeks back. It did not loook like the renders on Simon's Blog but he did finish the race.
A sick SE wind over middle head made for a patchy course. 12 foilers and three scows so a reasonale fleet. Dave got recalled so Scott, Andrew, Luka and Ben were up front at the first mark. Dave eventually got past Luka and Scott at different times but at the finish Scott won from fly weight Matt Day, Luka, Dave and Andrew then Alistair in the firat BR.
Most people were happy with their speed but found holes in the wind to explain ther places.
I was happy for half a race and was in front of Andrew (after he swam) when my vang decided to break. After that I sailed a lap with it slack unlil lapped and the pulled the pin to be first back to the beach.
Dave said the last few times he sailed against Scott it has been patchy, but for now Scott has earned the respect as the fastet moth in Sydney.
Much rumour oubout James MacKenzie and his new boat. Every one knew he has the first Mach2 order. So all expectant. He fronted with a 1964 vintage fibreglass scow predating wings, which he picked up for $200 a few weeks back. It did not loook like the renders on Simon's Blog but he did finish the race.
Karma
Since Bruce has now published my interview on the Mothcast and revealed all my ideas about new moths I guess its time to post some pictured of whats in the shed. 
When we did the interview, just before the worlds in July, my plans were to build a stressed ply hull for a plug and build a carbon / foam shell. But since then I have acquired the damaged hull of Karma Package Deal and as I still think the Hungry Tiger is the best hull in the water, and Thorpey builds lighter than I can, I decided to develop my low windage ideas around the Tiger hull. About 100mm of freeboard was removed along with flares and most of the foredeck. The main deck is the cockpit flipped over. Lots of material reuse in the internal structure but I still threw out 5kg of surplus materail.
The photos show the hull with deck panels sitting on top loose. The insides are complete with all hard points for wings and gantry plus fin case and mast tube. Deck should go on this week.
As I indicated in the interview the mast is a little forward from std at 900mm from the bow because that is where there was some framing, not the 500 of Chainsaw Mk2 or 800 of Chainsaw Mk3. The fin case is 150 in front of the Tiger position.
Foils are underway, gantry is complete but rig and wings will take a while. I need to sell the canoe first.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Still ventilating the rudder
Although I finished a close third to Lea I really did not have a great race. The rudder continues to ventilate at high speed, despite careful fairing and sanding with an accurate profiled template.
Again we had 9 moths starting but again only three finished with a mixture of gear failures and lost enthusiasm from those who withdrew. It was a gusty westerly which started out at about 12kts with big holes and ended up as a solid 20. Lots of fun and plenty of swims.
Dave who usually wins each week had an off day. Not only did a few of us cross him up the first work, followed by Andrew and Luka putting on a fair chase, but then he managed to break a centreboard brass pushrod and so pulled out of the race. From my point of view it was a good feeling to be with a few fast boats at least up the first work.
But then my ventilation problems returned? Swims from spin outs and some from poor gybes, but I did nearly catch Lea as the wind freshened towards the end.
Analysis with Andrew concludes that my rudder is more vertical than his, the same molding and he does not have a problem, going very fast at last. So this week's exercise is to adjust the T joint connection for a few more degrees of forward rake. Not so hard with the detatchable T. And the rudder box has plenty of scope for more range.
Next week we have an interclub at Balmoral. Most of the StGeorge crew are going. It will be good to mix it with the Balmoral Bladeriders and Woollahra fleet. At this early stage the forecast is for a moderate southerly, at least that tends to keep the yacht and skiff fleets clear of our race course, othersize its very crowded.
Again we had 9 moths starting but again only three finished with a mixture of gear failures and lost enthusiasm from those who withdrew. It was a gusty westerly which started out at about 12kts with big holes and ended up as a solid 20. Lots of fun and plenty of swims.
Dave who usually wins each week had an off day. Not only did a few of us cross him up the first work, followed by Andrew and Luka putting on a fair chase, but then he managed to break a centreboard brass pushrod and so pulled out of the race. From my point of view it was a good feeling to be with a few fast boats at least up the first work.
But then my ventilation problems returned? Swims from spin outs and some from poor gybes, but I did nearly catch Lea as the wind freshened towards the end.
Analysis with Andrew concludes that my rudder is more vertical than his, the same molding and he does not have a problem, going very fast at last. So this week's exercise is to adjust the T joint connection for a few more degrees of forward rake. Not so hard with the detatchable T. And the rudder box has plenty of scope for more range.
Next week we have an interclub at Balmoral. Most of the StGeorge crew are going. It will be good to mix it with the Balmoral Bladeriders and Woollahra fleet. At this early stage the forecast is for a moderate southerly, at least that tends to keep the yacht and skiff fleets clear of our race course, othersize its very crowded.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Foils for sale
I have two used foils to sell.
Two centreboards/main foils. Both are carbon moldings finished in gloss white two pack. Std 120mm chord and sections (within my building tollerances) They have flaps and pushrods installed. They are from my mold as used by Andrew, me and Thorpey for foils under boats like RTFM/Revolations, Sector 7G, Butterfly wings, Tiger on a Chain, Cahinsaw.etc.
1. Main foil #1. Built for Tiger on a Chain and used from late 2005 to end of 06/7 season. Damaged at Sunshine nationals and repaired and used extensively afterwards. 3.75kg. $500
2. Main foil #2 Built for Tiger on a Chain and used for the 07/8 season, never damaged. Fast enough in the light to win three heats of last NSW champs. Has new hinge and bottom gap seal. 3.2kg. $600
Both have the normal 7-8 degree forward rake. 900mm span main foil, centreboard length about 1350mm.
No rudder but I can convert the old foil to rudder rake/span if someone wants it.
Suit foil conversion of an old Axeman or Tiger.
They will get you flying easilly but will not win any championships.
Pick up Sydney.
No rudder box, tiller, deck pushrod or wand included but I might be able to assist with some bits and pieces if someone needs a complete set of gear.
Contact Phil Stevenson
ph Aust 02 98161028
phil(at)moth(dot)asn(dot)au
Two centreboards/main foils. Both are carbon moldings finished in gloss white two pack. Std 120mm chord and sections (within my building tollerances) They have flaps and pushrods installed. They are from my mold as used by Andrew, me and Thorpey for foils under boats like RTFM/Revolations, Sector 7G, Butterfly wings, Tiger on a Chain, Cahinsaw.etc.
1. Main foil #1. Built for Tiger on a Chain and used from late 2005 to end of 06/7 season. Damaged at Sunshine nationals and repaired and used extensively afterwards. 3.75kg. $500
2. Main foil #2 Built for Tiger on a Chain and used for the 07/8 season, never damaged. Fast enough in the light to win three heats of last NSW champs. Has new hinge and bottom gap seal. 3.2kg. $600
Both have the normal 7-8 degree forward rake. 900mm span main foil, centreboard length about 1350mm.
No rudder but I can convert the old foil to rudder rake/span if someone wants it.
Suit foil conversion of an old Axeman or Tiger.
They will get you flying easilly but will not win any championships.
Pick up Sydney.
No rudder box, tiller, deck pushrod or wand included but I might be able to assist with some bits and pieces if someone needs a complete set of gear.
Contact Phil Stevenson
ph Aust 02 98161028
phil(at)moth(dot)asn(dot)au
Sunday, November 2, 2008
St George Moths 1/11/08
First heat of the Club Championship.
We had 9 boats rigged for a moderate southerly but it seems we are a slack lot and only 5 made the start line on time. A couple of others started late but with the wind a bit gusty and coolish there were a few excuses to pull out and only three of us made the full distance. Dave won as usual, with Steve chasing and me a way back.
But for the first few marks I seemed to be hanging in there, still keeping Dave in sight and rounding ahead of Steve, but then a port tack downwind showed up some major rudder ventilation problems and 3 swims later they were gone.
Last week at sunshine I was having occasional ventilation at speed, so during the week I had glued on a 2mm glass rod and re faired the leading edge for a sharper entry. It worked OK upwind and downwind on Std but there must be some assymetry there somewhere and as soon as I built speed on port, the rudder vertical would let go and the boat gybe.
Subsequent downwinds were sailed as slow as I could to keep the boat flying but not ventilating, unusual way to be racing.
Today I am making an accurate sanding template to clean up the leading edge, something I should have done last week I suppose but we learn the hard way. I hope to compete the adjustments and do some trials mid week so I klnow its right before next week's race.
We had 9 boats rigged for a moderate southerly but it seems we are a slack lot and only 5 made the start line on time. A couple of others started late but with the wind a bit gusty and coolish there were a few excuses to pull out and only three of us made the full distance. Dave won as usual, with Steve chasing and me a way back.
But for the first few marks I seemed to be hanging in there, still keeping Dave in sight and rounding ahead of Steve, but then a port tack downwind showed up some major rudder ventilation problems and 3 swims later they were gone.
Last week at sunshine I was having occasional ventilation at speed, so during the week I had glued on a 2mm glass rod and re faired the leading edge for a sharper entry. It worked OK upwind and downwind on Std but there must be some assymetry there somewhere and as soon as I built speed on port, the rudder vertical would let go and the boat gybe.
Subsequent downwinds were sailed as slow as I could to keep the boat flying but not ventilating, unusual way to be racing.
Today I am making an accurate sanding template to clean up the leading edge, something I should have done last week I suppose but we learn the hard way. I hope to compete the adjustments and do some trials mid week so I klnow its right before next week's race.
Monday, October 27, 2008
ZHIK regatta at Sunshine
A great weekend at Sunshine, South Lake Macquarie. Lovely warm weather and a nice 12-15kt wind both days.
This was a mixed class yardstick regatta for single handed dinghies. The moths were in div 3 with Hayden's IC sailing three laps, while divs 1 and 2 included Spirals, Sabres, Contenders, Impulses and OKs and they all sailed 2 laps. Latest VYC posted yardsticks were used with the lap count included in the calculation.
The slow boats started first so it got pretty crowded at the first top mark. Then once past we sailed by ourselves for a lap and then caught them again on our third lap. At least it kept the fleet in the same wind as much as possible and sailing over a similar time span, things that matter in yardstick calculations. But the wind was so consistant it probably did not matter much.
We had 11 moths from St George, Balmoral plus Ben from Woollahra and Rod Ray down from Qld. The other classes were well represented by champions and top sailors. Total fleet was about 55.
In perfect foiling conditions the Moths went very well. Dave Lister was fastest and was I think first to finish in 3 races (having a gear failure in the 4th), meaning he passed all the other classes twice. In the last race he lapped Hayden Virture sailing the fastest IC in the country. Hayden commented that even sailing his older slower boat last year at McCrae against top ACats he had never been lapped before.
When Saturday's results were posted it was obvious that this fleet of moths were sailing a lot faster than the VYC rating. Moths filled the top 8 places by big margins. The other discrepancy was that the three Bladeriders were given the lower rating of 79 instead of the foiler moth rating of 83. This shuffled Rod and Alister down the list a little and it seems illogical to split the class this way.
Regardless the top guys were sailing about 10 minutes faster than the rating in a race well shorter than an hour. (Sorry I do not have the numbers in front of me). Dave beat me by 10 minutes and I beat all the other classes on VYC.
The VYC yardsticks are developed from mixed class racing results around Aust. There is very little of this racing in NSW, especially in summer, so I suspect that the ratings come from the days when Rohan was sailing in Melbourne club and regatta races. The 83 Moth rating would be how fast he was going when he had his last Prowler, and the 79 BR rating would be from when he began racing and promoting BR.
It looks like in these conditions a number more like 70-72 would be appropriate.
Back to the racing: Rod was closest to Dave with Ben and, in the races he sailed, Luka on his brand new Prowler not far back. There was some good racing in the bunch with places changing due to bad tacks or gybes. There is not much variation in actual boat speed.
I had some good bouts with Lea and Alister and ended up 5th overall.
Well done SLMASC.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Just an update
Lots happening in the mothoshere, Bladerider's bid for the Olympics, new Mach2 announced and as well as all the politics I have been sailing.
I have posted previously and elswhere that I disagree with an Olympic Moth. I see too much money and energy being diverted from the present development direction of the class into ISAF and class politics and then into selection, full time sailors, funding and such all with serious potential to disrupt or even redirect the tremendous steps forward and growth in both amateur and professional interest in moth.
I can not see the bid being sucessful anyway against the Finn and Laser lobbyists, but damage could be done anyway, just over a shorter period than if a Moth is selected.
The Mach 2 got a mention prevously and there has been quite a frenzy, Simon's Blog, press releases and lots of computer graphics. Nothing substantial yet, but I guess that if they do actually ever build anything, two of the worlds bess Mothies behind it will at least make it perform well.
Rohan is not pleased though, and bagged the builders of the early Bladeriders (now signed up to Mach2) for building crap boats. He admitted that he masked the fact three years ago that the boat was below expectation and won the Aust Nationals with it. Good sailors often make bad boats look good. The first title to BR. Maybe AMAC and Simon will do the same with the first batch of Mach2 in January even if they are below expectations? Development time is fast running out with no Mach2s sailing yet.
Enough moth politics.
I have been sailing.
Had a weekend away on the IC but back on the Tiger this week. The repaired Prowler foil is great, a big step up in speed compared with my old main foil. Still not completely finished and painted but solid and fast by my standards. Had a good race with Lea yesterday until he snuck away on the second downwind. We are both looking forward to the return of Clive, Grant and Chris from excursions and the improvement of Andrew now he has bought Scott's second broken foil. (Repairs to be completed yet.) There should be a close bunch in the mid fleet all with either Prowlers or Ilett foils under Hungry Tigers.
We all still have about 10 minutes to improve to get near Dave though. But he is being helpful and some improvements are coming hopefully. Luka gets his new prowler this week and should at least be closer to Dave than the older boats are. Steve can get up the front too.
St George now has 7 Prowlers, 2 Tigers, 2 Gilmore Alphas and and 3 scows. Not a bad Moth fleet when everyone comes to play.
Progress on Karma is slow, Removal of the flairs and freeboard (which included all the damaged bits) lost 7kg. The hull and two deck panels which will be recylcled weigh only 5kg. I could not build these as light as Thorpey so not point replacing them. I have filled in the old big fincase holes and built a new tube (foam sandwich) to take the unstayed mast, there is a new tiny fincase to build and a supporting bulkhead, then some hardpoints for wing and gantry mounts. It should still end up very light.
But there's more to come. Time and money permitting.
To Be Continued.
I have posted previously and elswhere that I disagree with an Olympic Moth. I see too much money and energy being diverted from the present development direction of the class into ISAF and class politics and then into selection, full time sailors, funding and such all with serious potential to disrupt or even redirect the tremendous steps forward and growth in both amateur and professional interest in moth.
I can not see the bid being sucessful anyway against the Finn and Laser lobbyists, but damage could be done anyway, just over a shorter period than if a Moth is selected.
The Mach 2 got a mention prevously and there has been quite a frenzy, Simon's Blog, press releases and lots of computer graphics. Nothing substantial yet, but I guess that if they do actually ever build anything, two of the worlds bess Mothies behind it will at least make it perform well.
Rohan is not pleased though, and bagged the builders of the early Bladeriders (now signed up to Mach2) for building crap boats. He admitted that he masked the fact three years ago that the boat was below expectation and won the Aust Nationals with it. Good sailors often make bad boats look good. The first title to BR. Maybe AMAC and Simon will do the same with the first batch of Mach2 in January even if they are below expectations? Development time is fast running out with no Mach2s sailing yet.
Enough moth politics.
I have been sailing.
Had a weekend away on the IC but back on the Tiger this week. The repaired Prowler foil is great, a big step up in speed compared with my old main foil. Still not completely finished and painted but solid and fast by my standards. Had a good race with Lea yesterday until he snuck away on the second downwind. We are both looking forward to the return of Clive, Grant and Chris from excursions and the improvement of Andrew now he has bought Scott's second broken foil. (Repairs to be completed yet.) There should be a close bunch in the mid fleet all with either Prowlers or Ilett foils under Hungry Tigers.
We all still have about 10 minutes to improve to get near Dave though. But he is being helpful and some improvements are coming hopefully. Luka gets his new prowler this week and should at least be closer to Dave than the older boats are. Steve can get up the front too.
St George now has 7 Prowlers, 2 Tigers, 2 Gilmore Alphas and and 3 scows. Not a bad Moth fleet when everyone comes to play.
Progress on Karma is slow, Removal of the flairs and freeboard (which included all the damaged bits) lost 7kg. The hull and two deck panels which will be recylcled weigh only 5kg. I could not build these as light as Thorpey so not point replacing them. I have filled in the old big fincase holes and built a new tube (foam sandwich) to take the unstayed mast, there is a new tiny fincase to build and a supporting bulkhead, then some hardpoints for wing and gantry mounts. It should still end up very light.
But there's more to come. Time and money permitting.
To Be Continued.
Monday, September 22, 2008
A good weekend.
Saturday at St George was a nice relief. After some dispute with the club managment we settled our differences and an initial 12 moth sailors registered with the club to sail the season. Another 3 or 4 were unable to make the day but will be there in the next few weeks. Some of the admin people who have had gripes about mothies were absent and we had a good chat with the club president and the new race officer who are with us in building the class.
After that we went sailing in a gusty NW and big run out tide. Dave Lister is still decidedly fastest, at least until Luka gets his new prowler. Meanwhile Luka is our finisher/recorder.
A short course w/l and 5 laps. I am not sure anyone did the whole lot as there was a bit of stopping and adjusting settings. It did not matter as the pointscore starts next week.
Sunday I went to Woollahra for the around the Harbour marathon. Only one other moth turned up, Marty, so I am not sure what has happenned to their building Moth fleet? Marty and I are second division moths so we were not going to stay with the 49ers and 18, but we beat everything else and had a great sail in a 10-15kt NE and beautiful sunshine.
These two days sailing were very rewarding. For maybe the first time in 4 years the control system was working properly and I felt comfortable driving the boat fast without concern about launching and crashing. So the winter work on the system and all the help from the other mothies has been well worth it. This is why islolated mothies have so much difficulty getting the system sorted for reliable height control, and why those boffins working on more complex boats are up against the wall and may never get it going well. The Moth network is invaluable.
Another week in the shed coming up. Last week I helped laminate some new foils for Mark Wolney's new Gilmore boat. His materials, my slow mold but in his budget. Now they are done I am back to my toys. I have bought the damaged Ilett foil from Scott and repair is underay. I hope to have it under the Tiger next weekend and look forward to a boost in performance.
Meanwhile I have started work on the damaged Hungry Tiger hull which was once Steve Donovan's Karma Package Deal. I have removed the flairs and 100mm of freeboard including the damaged sections plus the big fin case and have left a hull shell, foredeck and aft deck panel, all beautifully built by Thorpey and weighing only 5kg. I will add one or two kg in fincase, wing mounts and assembly but its still going to be a very light hull. Progress will be slow until I sell the Canoe to fund the carbon tubes. This will become the 2009 version of the continuing Chainsaw, minimum moth experiment. 20kg target? ambitious! No photos of this project to date.
On anther story all together St George skiff sailor Bruce Gaunt has been experimenting for a few years on a 16ft long moth like monster. 12 sqM sail on a big rotating mast, 3m wide wings and all very light. Now he has foils for it, and it has flown, by all accounts with some success. While I voice opinion against big boat foiling experiments around the world, Bruce has succeeded due to his concentration on weight saving and because he is in the circle of knowledge in the St George Moth foiling fleet. He has the systems working.
I am still not sure why he did it, must have cost heaps more than if he had just built it as a moth. It will be interesting when he lines up against the moths, will it be any faster?
After that we went sailing in a gusty NW and big run out tide. Dave Lister is still decidedly fastest, at least until Luka gets his new prowler. Meanwhile Luka is our finisher/recorder.
A short course w/l and 5 laps. I am not sure anyone did the whole lot as there was a bit of stopping and adjusting settings. It did not matter as the pointscore starts next week.
Sunday I went to Woollahra for the around the Harbour marathon. Only one other moth turned up, Marty, so I am not sure what has happenned to their building Moth fleet? Marty and I are second division moths so we were not going to stay with the 49ers and 18, but we beat everything else and had a great sail in a 10-15kt NE and beautiful sunshine.
These two days sailing were very rewarding. For maybe the first time in 4 years the control system was working properly and I felt comfortable driving the boat fast without concern about launching and crashing. So the winter work on the system and all the help from the other mothies has been well worth it. This is why islolated mothies have so much difficulty getting the system sorted for reliable height control, and why those boffins working on more complex boats are up against the wall and may never get it going well. The Moth network is invaluable.
Another week in the shed coming up. Last week I helped laminate some new foils for Mark Wolney's new Gilmore boat. His materials, my slow mold but in his budget. Now they are done I am back to my toys. I have bought the damaged Ilett foil from Scott and repair is underay. I hope to have it under the Tiger next weekend and look forward to a boost in performance.
Meanwhile I have started work on the damaged Hungry Tiger hull which was once Steve Donovan's Karma Package Deal. I have removed the flairs and 100mm of freeboard including the damaged sections plus the big fin case and have left a hull shell, foredeck and aft deck panel, all beautifully built by Thorpey and weighing only 5kg. I will add one or two kg in fincase, wing mounts and assembly but its still going to be a very light hull. Progress will be slow until I sell the Canoe to fund the carbon tubes. This will become the 2009 version of the continuing Chainsaw, minimum moth experiment. 20kg target? ambitious! No photos of this project to date.
On anther story all together St George skiff sailor Bruce Gaunt has been experimenting for a few years on a 16ft long moth like monster. 12 sqM sail on a big rotating mast, 3m wide wings and all very light. Now he has foils for it, and it has flown, by all accounts with some success. While I voice opinion against big boat foiling experiments around the world, Bruce has succeeded due to his concentration on weight saving and because he is in the circle of knowledge in the St George Moth foiling fleet. He has the systems working.
I am still not sure why he did it, must have cost heaps more than if he had just built it as a moth. It will be interesting when he lines up against the moths, will it be any faster?
Sunday, September 14, 2008
New Season underway
A beautiful day to start the new season. 28 deg C and a good northerly.
There were 8 foiling moths out testing at St George. Plus two more owners there to assess and prepare their boats. No race yet but a good show of enthusiasm.
No serious problems from anyone. A couple of broken wands and I had some issues withmy new pushrod system which will fix OK during the week.
A good day all round
There were 8 foiling moths out testing at St George. Plus two more owners there to assess and prepare their boats. No race yet but a good show of enthusiasm.
No serious problems from anyone. A couple of broken wands and I had some issues withmy new pushrod system which will fix OK during the week.
A good day all round
Friday, September 5, 2008
New moths, a boom?
The two year Bladerider boom has had anamazing impact on the Moth class. Suddenly people arre seeing moths as a growth industry with profits to be made?
Simon Payne has anounced a new production moth in association with AMAC and McConnaghy.
This must mean AMAC has disposed of his Bladerider interests and must also have something to do with why Bladerider has left McConnachy's.
Although Bladerider has made about 200 boats its not really clear to me that they are yet profitable. Its because of all the expensive Australians in Melbourne and flitting around the world, who must be soaking up a lot of the revenue. Add to that the first year when they seemed to need to replace about half the output due to failures. And now they are moving factories and starting up new product lines which must all be costing a motza. And I wonder if they will still be buying KA sails from AMAC?
And now the Mach 2 (Payne/AMAC) moth is going to start the whole process off again, more tooling, more development and associated failures and rework, more money invested and hopefully a whole lot of new moth buyers.
Meanwhile John Ilett has moved his hull production offshore and will concentrate his small workshop on foil production and boat assembly.
And Velociraptor in UK are promising some improvements after the WC exposure to potential customers.
I just hope that the total production capacity does not exceed the market volume.
In the past 5 years two other successful moth builder have decided their business time is better spent on other classes. Both Thorpey and Full Force decided that the continuous development of the moth was not worth chasing. The both had some serious money invested in molds which now sit idle, not goood for business.
While more builders and more boats is great for the class, there must be a finite limit to the number of people who have the $20K to spend on a toy which many will not even be able to sail first go.
Businesses going broke and upsetting customers would be very bad for the class, so I hope no one gets burnt.
Simon Payne has anounced a new production moth in association with AMAC and McConnaghy.
This must mean AMAC has disposed of his Bladerider interests and must also have something to do with why Bladerider has left McConnachy's.
Although Bladerider has made about 200 boats its not really clear to me that they are yet profitable. Its because of all the expensive Australians in Melbourne and flitting around the world, who must be soaking up a lot of the revenue. Add to that the first year when they seemed to need to replace about half the output due to failures. And now they are moving factories and starting up new product lines which must all be costing a motza. And I wonder if they will still be buying KA sails from AMAC?
And now the Mach 2 (Payne/AMAC) moth is going to start the whole process off again, more tooling, more development and associated failures and rework, more money invested and hopefully a whole lot of new moth buyers.
Meanwhile John Ilett has moved his hull production offshore and will concentrate his small workshop on foil production and boat assembly.
And Velociraptor in UK are promising some improvements after the WC exposure to potential customers.
I just hope that the total production capacity does not exceed the market volume.
In the past 5 years two other successful moth builder have decided their business time is better spent on other classes. Both Thorpey and Full Force decided that the continuous development of the moth was not worth chasing. The both had some serious money invested in molds which now sit idle, not goood for business.
While more builders and more boats is great for the class, there must be a finite limit to the number of people who have the $20K to spend on a toy which many will not even be able to sail first go.
Businesses going broke and upsetting customers would be very bad for the class, so I hope no one gets burnt.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Coming out of hibernation
The winter refit is complete:
New rudder and foil:
With removable horizontal:
Racing starts in a week or two.
4 moth clubs in Sydney now with Woollahra joining St George, Balmoral and Northbridge/Seaforth, all with viable fleets
New rudder and foil:
With removable horizontal:
New wand and pushrod system :
Also in the yard is Andrew's remodelling of 9332 with new gantry and foils:
Racing starts in a week or two.4 moth clubs in Sydney now with Woollahra joining St George, Balmoral and Northbridge/Seaforth, all with viable fleets
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Olympic Moth?
During this first week of Olympic Frenzy (at least in the media and at sports other than sailing) Scott has blogged a long and considered post regarding the nomination by Hong Kong (where there are no moths racing) of the moth as one of the single handed classes for the London 2012 Olympics. Of course the worlds loungeroom internet experts have been advocating an Olympic Moth for a couple of years but this time the nomination is apparently real.
The comments and discussion following his post shows some diversified thinking within the existing class and my contribution will be seen as negative to those who think an Olympic Moth would be progress.
The way I see it Olympic selection would be good in these aspects:
a. Olympic sailing might actually get on television instead of gymnastics, swimming or synchronised drowning.
b. Some small number of highly slilled sailors (some existing mothies, but mostly existing olympic aspirants) will get full time funding to raise their standards even higher.
c. Some builders will get heaps of orders from government subsidised organisations who are willing to pay above the market price of present moth sailors for something which is marketted to them as slightly better than the rest
d. There will at least initially be more moths sailing.
e. Some people might actually consider a sport exciting enough to take up after watching it on TV. (I included this one because other people believe it but I do not)
Against this I see these negative points with respect to the moth class:
1. The influx of new numbers and the pressure from IOC/ISAF/Govt funding/full time sailors will all change the culture and direction of the class.
2. Events will need to be of higher standard than our present amateur run affairs, requireing professional PROs and better venues than we enjoy using in Aust and I suspect in other moth racing countries. (The countries with fleets not the ones with a few individuals)
3. I forsee pressure to change rules in areas like, a lower wind limit to make all racing on foils, one design to cut development costs.
4. If the IMCA members are reluctant to go with these changes a one design split will happen, just as it did before, the Europe in the 60s and less successful ODs in other countries.
5. An ultimate reduction in numbers because as the full timers and their backers raise the standards, the part timers and amateurs will loose interest and drop out. This happens in Aust will all classes selected for the olympics, even the laser numbers are propped up by the masters circuit, not olympic aspirants.
6. In a while the numbers lost will exceed those gained.
7. A one design moth will still only have a limited life before either
. sailing gets dropped from the games because it is too expensive to run with limited TV money returns, or
. something newer and flashier comes along to replace it, or
. the troglodites revive themselves and vote the Finn back in.
8. So the next step is the moth class ends up loosing the olympic full timers and the amateurs and vanished into a puff of ego.
9. And I doubt any of the TV lounge lizards will last long in a moth.
Think about it?
Do the IMCA members really want to be lead on by the armchair internet sailors, a blinded media or an ambitious few mothies at the risk of killing the classs?
My vested interest is that I like designing and building my own boats, I am not interested in one design, nor in buying other peoples products, (even if I do at times buy components).
I think also that the class has come such a long way in the past 75 years and really has lead the way in so many aspects of sailboat design. It would be a real shame if this move were to curtail that development when there is so much further to go.
The comments and discussion following his post shows some diversified thinking within the existing class and my contribution will be seen as negative to those who think an Olympic Moth would be progress.
The way I see it Olympic selection would be good in these aspects:
a. Olympic sailing might actually get on television instead of gymnastics, swimming or synchronised drowning.
b. Some small number of highly slilled sailors (some existing mothies, but mostly existing olympic aspirants) will get full time funding to raise their standards even higher.
c. Some builders will get heaps of orders from government subsidised organisations who are willing to pay above the market price of present moth sailors for something which is marketted to them as slightly better than the rest
d. There will at least initially be more moths sailing.
e. Some people might actually consider a sport exciting enough to take up after watching it on TV. (I included this one because other people believe it but I do not)
Against this I see these negative points with respect to the moth class:
1. The influx of new numbers and the pressure from IOC/ISAF/Govt funding/full time sailors will all change the culture and direction of the class.
2. Events will need to be of higher standard than our present amateur run affairs, requireing professional PROs and better venues than we enjoy using in Aust and I suspect in other moth racing countries. (The countries with fleets not the ones with a few individuals)
3. I forsee pressure to change rules in areas like, a lower wind limit to make all racing on foils, one design to cut development costs.
4. If the IMCA members are reluctant to go with these changes a one design split will happen, just as it did before, the Europe in the 60s and less successful ODs in other countries.
5. An ultimate reduction in numbers because as the full timers and their backers raise the standards, the part timers and amateurs will loose interest and drop out. This happens in Aust will all classes selected for the olympics, even the laser numbers are propped up by the masters circuit, not olympic aspirants.
6. In a while the numbers lost will exceed those gained.
7. A one design moth will still only have a limited life before either
. sailing gets dropped from the games because it is too expensive to run with limited TV money returns, or
. something newer and flashier comes along to replace it, or
. the troglodites revive themselves and vote the Finn back in.
8. So the next step is the moth class ends up loosing the olympic full timers and the amateurs and vanished into a puff of ego.
9. And I doubt any of the TV lounge lizards will last long in a moth.
Think about it?
Do the IMCA members really want to be lead on by the armchair internet sailors, a blinded media or an ambitious few mothies at the risk of killing the classs?
My vested interest is that I like designing and building my own boats, I am not interested in one design, nor in buying other peoples products, (even if I do at times buy components).
I think also that the class has come such a long way in the past 75 years and really has lead the way in so many aspects of sailboat design. It would be a real shame if this move were to curtail that development when there is so much further to go.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Sidetracked
I have spent most of the last month working on my big boat. Sorry about the lead poisoning of a Moth blog but long years of poor maintenance meant that a big job was needed.
Breakfast is 31 years old and I designed and built her initially as a 1/4 tonner but it has been subsequently altered to better suit its main purpose as a fun day sailor or weekend camper on the Harbour.
It has been completely repaintd and all rigging replaced. There might be some twilight racing coming up for the old girl next summer.
It has been completely repaintd and all rigging replaced. There might be some twilight racing coming up for the old girl next summer.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Winter Project
The Tiger is dismantled at home and some upgrades are happenning.
The wand and pushrods are being replaced with lighter stuff and the conduit through the foredeck is being replaced with a carbon tube which better aligns with everything for significantly less friction.
The flex skin flap hinge has to go, as it has become very stiff as the resin has aged, a shame but it was worth the experiment. Might try it again someday with more research into suitable resins.
Planning a better fit for the fin case cassette which makes up the space between the old 200mm wide centreboard shape and the 120mm wide foil strut size. Similar treatment needed on the rudder box and gudgeon fittings.
After sailing Dave's boat briefly its easy to see how importat all this is and how slack I have been with tidying up the mechanism and set up generally.
Once all that is finished a new better set of foils is on the menu.
The wand and pushrods are being replaced with lighter stuff and the conduit through the foredeck is being replaced with a carbon tube which better aligns with everything for significantly less friction.
The flex skin flap hinge has to go, as it has become very stiff as the resin has aged, a shame but it was worth the experiment. Might try it again someday with more research into suitable resins.
Planning a better fit for the fin case cassette which makes up the space between the old 200mm wide centreboard shape and the 120mm wide foil strut size. Similar treatment needed on the rudder box and gudgeon fittings.
After sailing Dave's boat briefly its easy to see how importat all this is and how slack I have been with tidying up the mechanism and set up generally.
Once all that is finished a new better set of foils is on the menu.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Phil's Form Guide
This close to the Moth Worlds in UK it seems that it is the duty of all moth Bloggers to post a form guide and pick some winners. Scott has posted his at: http://scott.projectsomewhere.com/2008/05/14/the-form-2/
and being modest has not put himself on top. But he has sailed against most of the protagonists and has a better idea of what is needed than most.
For what it is worth here is my take:
The BIG factors are boats, weather and weight.
1. BOATS I think it will be unlikely that a boat other than a Bladerider or Prowler will win. I have not seen any evidence of other fast boats attending, they are either too new or still under developed. I may be wrong, it is posible to build a boat good enough as Dave Lister and John Gilmore have shown here at home, but Dave is not going to be at Weymouth.
The fast Prowler Zeros are with Scott, Simon Payne, John Ilett and Ben Croker. The obvious good Bladeriders are with AMAC, Bora, Matt Belcher, Graham Vials with John Harris, Andrew Brown and probably a few others close behind. This leaves people like Adam May out because no matter how good he is I do not think his boat is complete yet and that leaves him in a similar position as last year, unprepared.
2. The WEATHER is expected to be lightish, 8 to 12 kts mostly I understand. This will count out anyone over 75kg, Big Ben is obviously going for the holiday. If the wind is at all patchy expect the very small people to romp it in. At easter in less than 10 kts it was obvious that the fly weights were the first to fly and in minutes they are a leg ahead of anyone who does not fly. And the lightest skippers stay in the puffs longer and just get further in front.
3. So who is the lightest WEIGHT? Of the top Australians Matt has it, Scott is smallish but after a couple of seasons on 18s has bulked up. John Harris says he is heavier than he looks. Alan Goddard is light enough but he does not yet have the boat speed for a top placing. Of the foreigners It looks like Graham Vials is small enough and Simon and Adam are pretty small too, if Simon has not spent too much time on that famous rowing machine bulking up. I have never seen Bora or Brownie but I get the impression they may be a touch bigger.
So when you take out the people who are un prepared: Adam, May and John Ilett are still finishing boats, much too big like Ben, maybe a touch big like Brownie, (John and Bora?), then those that are left are:
John Harris: Going well in good winds but despite having all the right components seemed to go poorly in the light at easter.
Bora: Only sailed one moth regatta, and did well but from reports was not quite laid back enough for the big one, looks good on video tacking reach to reach but thats not really racing. But Scott picked his as #1?
AMAC: Has had a year getting over the intense 3 years of developing, designing and producing Bladerider. He has been sailing a bit but I doubt he will have the inovation this time without the full time involvement. He will be relieved from being chief BR repairman I hope which might improve the preparation of his own boat. He is a self driven sailor who deserved a WC win after plenty of minor places over decades.
Simon: Full time program, right boat, right weight, local practice, prevous champ, but I just feel he might get beeten at the post by the fly weights.
Scott: Similar to Simon without the full time moth program, but a lot of other sailing to fill the gaps. He is younger than Simon and maybe a touch lighter so I give him an edge.
Vials: Seems to be the find in UK this year. Pusuit race winds do not count, but he did very well last year at Garda on a boat which was self destructing, and I got the idea somewhere that he is small and good in the light.
Matt: Got everything right and has proven at the Aust nationals and at NSW champs over easter that he is very fast in the light. He is the first to foil and goes a long way with each gust. He was world #1 ranked 470 skipper last year and that means he can handle a big regatta pretty well (even if he lost his way round the pq moth course twice at easter, which probably cost him the regatta.) And he is Australian!
What else might affect things?
Sails? I suspect that the light winds might show up some equal or even better than the longstanding #1 KAs. I observed at easter that the front of the fleet included much more variety than has been normal. Scott has a Truflo while the rest seem to be all KA, maybe that will have an impact.
So my pick, Matt, and the rest in back order as above.
and being modest has not put himself on top. But he has sailed against most of the protagonists and has a better idea of what is needed than most.
For what it is worth here is my take:
The BIG factors are boats, weather and weight.
1. BOATS I think it will be unlikely that a boat other than a Bladerider or Prowler will win. I have not seen any evidence of other fast boats attending, they are either too new or still under developed. I may be wrong, it is posible to build a boat good enough as Dave Lister and John Gilmore have shown here at home, but Dave is not going to be at Weymouth.
The fast Prowler Zeros are with Scott, Simon Payne, John Ilett and Ben Croker. The obvious good Bladeriders are with AMAC, Bora, Matt Belcher, Graham Vials with John Harris, Andrew Brown and probably a few others close behind. This leaves people like Adam May out because no matter how good he is I do not think his boat is complete yet and that leaves him in a similar position as last year, unprepared.
2. The WEATHER is expected to be lightish, 8 to 12 kts mostly I understand. This will count out anyone over 75kg, Big Ben is obviously going for the holiday. If the wind is at all patchy expect the very small people to romp it in. At easter in less than 10 kts it was obvious that the fly weights were the first to fly and in minutes they are a leg ahead of anyone who does not fly. And the lightest skippers stay in the puffs longer and just get further in front.
3. So who is the lightest WEIGHT? Of the top Australians Matt has it, Scott is smallish but after a couple of seasons on 18s has bulked up. John Harris says he is heavier than he looks. Alan Goddard is light enough but he does not yet have the boat speed for a top placing. Of the foreigners It looks like Graham Vials is small enough and Simon and Adam are pretty small too, if Simon has not spent too much time on that famous rowing machine bulking up. I have never seen Bora or Brownie but I get the impression they may be a touch bigger.
So when you take out the people who are un prepared: Adam, May and John Ilett are still finishing boats, much too big like Ben, maybe a touch big like Brownie, (John and Bora?), then those that are left are:
John Harris: Going well in good winds but despite having all the right components seemed to go poorly in the light at easter.
Bora: Only sailed one moth regatta, and did well but from reports was not quite laid back enough for the big one, looks good on video tacking reach to reach but thats not really racing. But Scott picked his as #1?
AMAC: Has had a year getting over the intense 3 years of developing, designing and producing Bladerider. He has been sailing a bit but I doubt he will have the inovation this time without the full time involvement. He will be relieved from being chief BR repairman I hope which might improve the preparation of his own boat. He is a self driven sailor who deserved a WC win after plenty of minor places over decades.
Simon: Full time program, right boat, right weight, local practice, prevous champ, but I just feel he might get beeten at the post by the fly weights.
Scott: Similar to Simon without the full time moth program, but a lot of other sailing to fill the gaps. He is younger than Simon and maybe a touch lighter so I give him an edge.
Vials: Seems to be the find in UK this year. Pusuit race winds do not count, but he did very well last year at Garda on a boat which was self destructing, and I got the idea somewhere that he is small and good in the light.
Matt: Got everything right and has proven at the Aust nationals and at NSW champs over easter that he is very fast in the light. He is the first to foil and goes a long way with each gust. He was world #1 ranked 470 skipper last year and that means he can handle a big regatta pretty well (even if he lost his way round the pq moth course twice at easter, which probably cost him the regatta.) And he is Australian!
What else might affect things?
Sails? I suspect that the light winds might show up some equal or even better than the longstanding #1 KAs. I observed at easter that the front of the fleet included much more variety than has been normal. Scott has a Truflo while the rest seem to be all KA, maybe that will have an impact.
So my pick, Matt, and the rest in back order as above.
Addition to the family
Well no sailing for a while but there has been an increase in the Moth population at the Stevo household.
Andrew has bought Roger Quinn's Mk2 Prowler, AUS 9332 which has never worn foils but comes in pretty good condition with everythhing else to normal Fastacraft standard and minimum weight. His winter project now is to build some foils and put together the linkages. It will be yet another boat for the expanding foiler fleet at St George SC next season.
Andrew sold AUS9323 Shenanigans three years ago and has spent that time skippering Brad Greenrod's 12ft skiff, Datacall.
Andrew has bought Roger Quinn's Mk2 Prowler, AUS 9332 which has never worn foils but comes in pretty good condition with everythhing else to normal Fastacraft standard and minimum weight. His winter project now is to build some foils and put together the linkages. It will be yet another boat for the expanding foiler fleet at St George SC next season.
Andrew sold AUS9323 Shenanigans three years ago and has spent that time skippering Brad Greenrod's 12ft skiff, Datacall.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
No sailing last weekend because I did some damage with a chisel in the workshop. On the mend now. Story of last St George race for the season is on Grant's Blog: http://grantweymouth.blogspot.com/
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.
Monday, March 10, 2008
St George club race on 8/3/08
I finally finished the new foil with the flexing top skin hinge and bottom gap seal flap. There was a nice 10 knot breeze with a little more sometimes and a little less near the windward shore.
The boat seemed to go well. It felt fast and high upwind and smooth downwind. The wand was not quite right and the flap was not going down enough, but at times I was pacing the fast boats only to lose heaps with my poor technique in gybing. I still can not move fast and smooth enough to stay airborne long enough round the corners.
It was certainly flying earlier and easier and in the light patches was also fast enough down low to lead at the first mark.
The bad news is that the foil detatched itself again, but at least Dave found it and with very litle damage and better security, it will be going again next week.
The boat seemed to go well. It felt fast and high upwind and smooth downwind. The wand was not quite right and the flap was not going down enough, but at times I was pacing the fast boats only to lose heaps with my poor technique in gybing. I still can not move fast and smooth enough to stay airborne long enough round the corners.
It was certainly flying earlier and easier and in the light patches was also fast enough down low to lead at the first mark.
The bad news is that the foil detatched itself again, but at least Dave found it and with very litle damage and better security, it will be going again next week.
Monday, March 3, 2008
St George Interclub on 1/3/08
We had 9 moths on the beach and a good onshore southerly of 20+kts.
Date Time Dir Knt Gust
01/04:30pm S 19 28
01/04:00pm S 20 27
01/03:30pm S 19 28
01/02:57pm S 19 30
01/02:37pm S 18 28
01/02:30pm S 17 23
(from BOM for Kurnell)
Like we get every time the NSW moth interclub comes to St George, but at least this time the sailng committee were going to run the race.
Launching was difficult, a long wade out to assemmble the boat then another one after it drifted half way back again to the deep water, all in the waves and wind.
Doink broke his wand in the process and big Bruce did not make it out at all.
Then Luka had a big crash and destroyed his 2 year old Prowler centreboard and foil. Bad time with two weeks to the states.
Donosan was having great difficulty keeping his new Zero on the water and opted to bail out and change a few things.
So at the start was Dave, Peter, Alan, Grant and me. I had some hairy rides with very little height control so I figured something was disconnected and wound the tiller to keep the bow down and the boat in the water.
Dave got away well but at he first marke Grant, Pete and I were close together, then surprisingly I was still with Pete at the lee mark while grant headed off in another direction and got lost.
There was a lot of swimming. I saw Dave in at one time and Pete was having a few more than me, so we stayed in touch. Dave broke something and went home, Alan struggled and departed, leaving only Pete and me still racing, and since we were quite close it became a real race.
I figured I was less than a swim behind him so was determined to stay upright and rely on him having a dip. But for the last two laps we had only one each and although I got inside him on the last windward he was faster to the line and won by 50 seconds.
I was pleased that the sail mast combo worked well. The slight luff curve adjustment to the P&B have matched the old stiff Thorpe mast to a T and I am now happy with both light and heavy shape and control. The low drag head certainly makes tacking easier in the blow in comparison to my old sail.
Sailing low in those conditions was only a little slower than flying and the stability from the big foils make it much easier than the prefoil days. It meant I enjoyed the race and made the finish so it can not be all bad. I can see some advantage now in being able to disconnect the flap and wand in extreme conditions as well as in the very light. I have some ideas for a simple method to achieve that so stay tuned.
Date Time Dir Knt Gust
01/04:30pm S 19 28
01/04:00pm S 20 27
01/03:30pm S 19 28
01/02:57pm S 19 30
01/02:37pm S 18 28
01/02:30pm S 17 23
(from BOM for Kurnell)
Like we get every time the NSW moth interclub comes to St George, but at least this time the sailng committee were going to run the race.
Launching was difficult, a long wade out to assemmble the boat then another one after it drifted half way back again to the deep water, all in the waves and wind.
Doink broke his wand in the process and big Bruce did not make it out at all.
Then Luka had a big crash and destroyed his 2 year old Prowler centreboard and foil. Bad time with two weeks to the states.
Donosan was having great difficulty keeping his new Zero on the water and opted to bail out and change a few things.
So at the start was Dave, Peter, Alan, Grant and me. I had some hairy rides with very little height control so I figured something was disconnected and wound the tiller to keep the bow down and the boat in the water.
Dave got away well but at he first marke Grant, Pete and I were close together, then surprisingly I was still with Pete at the lee mark while grant headed off in another direction and got lost.
There was a lot of swimming. I saw Dave in at one time and Pete was having a few more than me, so we stayed in touch. Dave broke something and went home, Alan struggled and departed, leaving only Pete and me still racing, and since we were quite close it became a real race.
I figured I was less than a swim behind him so was determined to stay upright and rely on him having a dip. But for the last two laps we had only one each and although I got inside him on the last windward he was faster to the line and won by 50 seconds.
I was pleased that the sail mast combo worked well. The slight luff curve adjustment to the P&B have matched the old stiff Thorpe mast to a T and I am now happy with both light and heavy shape and control. The low drag head certainly makes tacking easier in the blow in comparison to my old sail.
Sailing low in those conditions was only a little slower than flying and the stability from the big foils make it much easier than the prefoil days. It meant I enjoyed the race and made the finish so it can not be all bad. I can see some advantage now in being able to disconnect the flap and wand in extreme conditions as well as in the very light. I have some ideas for a simple method to achieve that so stay tuned.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
New foil in progress. This is the bottom with gap visible and slight rebate in front of gap to take the carbon flap seal strip next.
This is the top of the foil and the carbon/kevlar hybrid cloth is the flexible skin hinge. Moves well but might be a little stiff . But a very smooth shape when deflected.
I sailed last week with my old foil. But the rig improvements were good and i managed to stay with Lea for most of the race, in the absence of Grant I really do not know if I have improved but things went well. Dave won the race from Luka and they did not get a lap in front so that is at least an improvement.
The new foil is under construction. From the same mold with improved T joint structure and another go at flexing the top skin as the hinge. Looking good so far, nice and light, fairer than the old lost one. It might get a run on saturday at least without paint.
Photos soon.
The new foil is under construction. From the same mold with improved T joint structure and another go at flexing the top skin as the hinge. Looking good so far, nice and light, fairer than the old lost one. It might get a run on saturday at least without paint.
Photos soon.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Well fine sanding the foils and changing the main foil incidence seemed to pay off. The boat seemed fast in the 15kt southerly on Saturday. A handicap start so I was never near the fast duo, but I was sailing away from Grant which is a serious improvement on recent form.
Upwind itjust felt smoother and retained speed and height much more easilly, downwind it went deeper and was much more manageable. It will now stay up through the gybes when I move my body quickly enough.
So that was the good news, but there is always bad as well. 2/3 way through the race there was an unexplained decent and splash followed by a serious reluctance to fly. After a while I worked out the main foil was absent, and even though I returned to the scene of the crime I was unable to find it. It must have felt lonely and gone to join the several other foils lost in the river a few years ago. I continued teh race on the hull for another lap and still finished 3rd so not all bad.
So back to the workshop and some improvements to the attachment design.
Got the vacuum pump, pressure switch and reservoir working yesterday, and laminated up a spar for the new foil.
Back to my old heavy foil for a few weeks. I will have to sand it really smooth and see if I can get it going fast.
Upwind itjust felt smoother and retained speed and height much more easilly, downwind it went deeper and was much more manageable. It will now stay up through the gybes when I move my body quickly enough.
So that was the good news, but there is always bad as well. 2/3 way through the race there was an unexplained decent and splash followed by a serious reluctance to fly. After a while I worked out the main foil was absent, and even though I returned to the scene of the crime I was unable to find it. It must have felt lonely and gone to join the several other foils lost in the river a few years ago. I continued teh race on the hull for another lap and still finished 3rd so not all bad.
So back to the workshop and some improvements to the attachment design.
Got the vacuum pump, pressure switch and reservoir working yesterday, and laminated up a spar for the new foil.
Back to my old heavy foil for a few weeks. I will have to sand it really smooth and see if I can get it going fast.
Friday, February 15, 2008
There is an interesting debate on the moth.asn.au forum where Wardi has proposed to open up the moth rules by deleting the ban on at least cats and sailboards.
I am in part supportive at least to fight off the inevitable push towards one design moths when in a few short years (if things continue as they look like going) the majority of Moths are in fact Bladeriders.
To open up a few minds to the posibilities I have uncovered this photo of secret testing of a new moth at a secret location (apparently water on the fisherman's lens):
"Free your mind"
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
St George Sat 2/2/08
Much better this week. I spent two hours on the boat fixing things which I have neglected. Also repaired the foil pushrod during the week so again everything was working properly.
Unfortunately the wind was not so good and the fleet of 9 (8 foil and Kylie in Mark's scow) got away in about 5kts. Since I knew I could not fly in pressure that I settled in to old style sailing while most of the others were reaching off trying to fly. My strategy worked and I lead a the first mark. (This is rare in my moth racing so it must be recorded here for posterity)
But then a slight increase in wind saw Luka, Dave, Doink and Donosan lift and fly away. I managed to fly a little but not for as long in each puff as the others. But I was really pleased and think it all was working better than ever before, flying high and steady when it was going and getting up much more quickly than in the past. I must be gradually getting things right.
I stayed in front of Grant for a lap and then he bought better wind down on the run and caught right up. We matched race then for the rest of the race and he got the best of the last puff to edge ahead.
If the boat had not been performing so much better it would have been a frustrating day with such fickle winds but I enjoyed myself. Having such high standard competition helps develop the boat and technique and I look forward to more of it for the rest of the season.
Unfortunately the wind was not so good and the fleet of 9 (8 foil and Kylie in Mark's scow) got away in about 5kts. Since I knew I could not fly in pressure that I settled in to old style sailing while most of the others were reaching off trying to fly. My strategy worked and I lead a the first mark. (This is rare in my moth racing so it must be recorded here for posterity)
But then a slight increase in wind saw Luka, Dave, Doink and Donosan lift and fly away. I managed to fly a little but not for as long in each puff as the others. But I was really pleased and think it all was working better than ever before, flying high and steady when it was going and getting up much more quickly than in the past. I must be gradually getting things right.
I stayed in front of Grant for a lap and then he bought better wind down on the run and caught right up. We matched race then for the rest of the race and he got the best of the last puff to edge ahead.
If the boat had not been performing so much better it would have been a frustrating day with such fickle winds but I enjoyed myself. Having such high standard competition helps develop the boat and technique and I look forward to more of it for the rest of the season.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
I am back to my moth sailing again after a pleasant but not greatly successful Canoe regatta and a short break from sailing altogether.
Saturday was the club's round the bay race for Australia Day. 10 foilers and a really nice sunny day with a moderate 10kt easterly, normally just enough for me to foil with advantage but lack of time in, and on maintenance of, the boat certainly showed and I struggled into last place.
I had re attached the main foil to the fin last week and done a nice new paint job, but I got the pushrod length wrong and to start with was not getting enough UP flap, and that leads to frequent launches and crashes. One of these must have pulled the pushrod out of the flap connection because after a while I was struggling to fly at all, except by moving my weight way aft in the strongest puffs, which usualy got it going. A quick rush forward while trying to hike got it level and I could sometimes keep it going for a few hundred metres.
I got upwind in front of one boat but once we turned Clive foiled past me and away as I sailed way too high trying to take off with no flap control. At least a bit more wind came through and I managed a few semicontrolled rides to get home, managing to split one wing tranpoline on the way.
So a big list of things to do to the boat this week and a planned early trip to the club next Saturday to set everything up properly and catch up with some other maintenance. Then a lot of practice tomake up for lost time.
Saturday was the club's round the bay race for Australia Day. 10 foilers and a really nice sunny day with a moderate 10kt easterly, normally just enough for me to foil with advantage but lack of time in, and on maintenance of, the boat certainly showed and I struggled into last place.
I had re attached the main foil to the fin last week and done a nice new paint job, but I got the pushrod length wrong and to start with was not getting enough UP flap, and that leads to frequent launches and crashes. One of these must have pulled the pushrod out of the flap connection because after a while I was struggling to fly at all, except by moving my weight way aft in the strongest puffs, which usualy got it going. A quick rush forward while trying to hike got it level and I could sometimes keep it going for a few hundred metres.
I got upwind in front of one boat but once we turned Clive foiled past me and away as I sailed way too high trying to take off with no flap control. At least a bit more wind came through and I managed a few semicontrolled rides to get home, managing to split one wing tranpoline on the way.
So a big list of things to do to the boat this week and a planned early trip to the club next Saturday to set everything up properly and catch up with some other maintenance. Then a lot of practice tomake up for lost time.
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