Monday, 29 April 2013
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Considering the Laser 28 Keel Shape.
You have to say that the foils on a Laser 28 are what makes her a great boat to sail. The distinct lack of keel means that she flies off the wind and will plane given enough puff. A perceived shortness in the rudder will give you a problem of it stalling out and the boat crashes, exhilirating but not fast. One boat (Leda I think) has a Mumm 30 rudder.
The key to upwind performance is keeping her flat and getting that bit of lead to dig in. Don't do it and you've got leeway and you'll never point. As you build speed then your ability to point will increase you can then "feather" up into the wind to gain height in the gusts whilst not letting the speed drop. This is the kind of thing that makes her interesting and challenging to sail but it also means you'll need 5 or more bulky mates on a breezy day and you might be asking them to stay in the bar in the light stuff.
So...rewind to the Round the Island Race last summer. There we all are with a proper race crew and we're chasing down the RF290 "Red Fox". The RF was built from the Laser 28 moulds and is to all intents and purposes a Laser 28, apart from it doesn't have a keel stub and the keel fits into a socket. This particular boat is sailed by people who know what they're doing so no surprises that they could stay in front of the likes of us; but...they did not seem to be exhibiting the heel with the lack of people they had on the rail. This started my mind whirring.
It's an old story but the only time we made gains on them (in about 25 knots of breeze) was a close reach as they had white sail, genoa and we had an old SB3 asymmetric kite up - until we blew the kite to pieces.
As we returned from the race, we short tacked along the beautiful Dorset jurassic coast whilst Red Fox were inshore gunning the hell out of their little engine heading west. They must have bailed out because she was later alongside in the cove at Weymouth. I considered having a dive to have a look underneath, but you see I'd spent a long time on that freezing, soaking rail considering it: they'd stayed in front and we'd had a lot of spinnaker time round the back of the Island. This had to mean that there wasn't a bulb under the keel, surely the drag from one of those would have meant that we'd have walked all over them (broaches aside!)? It had to be something else, was it the Mark Mills keel? Was this the same shape as could be seen on Shasa from Jersey (now Encore)when she was sold?
When we look at the difference between that and FarrOut's standard (Bruce Farr) keel
So off to the Sailing Anarchy forums and I find a photo of the Mark Mills keel
Surely this is Shasa parked in the same place in a previous year?
Well it looked like a nice solution to the upwind = weight on the rail vs downwind = lots of smiles connundrum should you sail in a place where you've got some water depth (we do!). I asked Mark Mills, who replied pretty quickly giving me the email of the guy who had the keel changed on Red Fox. He was very helpful and told me that it had been produced by Iron Brothers foundry so they would have the designs, he also confirmed that the Shasa photo was the type of keel he put on Red Fox . I tried an email enquiry to Iron Brothers to work out how much they would charge for a new keel. They were good enough not to answer...really if we're looking at changing the keel on our lovely 26 year old boat perhaps we should be looking for a different boat! Maybe not just the Farr 30 rudder but the rest of the boat as well.
But it looks as if Red Fox does have a Mills keel unless it's been changed back. I'm kinda guessing it hasn't! If only I'd taken that swim...
The key to upwind performance is keeping her flat and getting that bit of lead to dig in. Don't do it and you've got leeway and you'll never point. As you build speed then your ability to point will increase you can then "feather" up into the wind to gain height in the gusts whilst not letting the speed drop. This is the kind of thing that makes her interesting and challenging to sail but it also means you'll need 5 or more bulky mates on a breezy day and you might be asking them to stay in the bar in the light stuff.
So...rewind to the Round the Island Race last summer. There we all are with a proper race crew and we're chasing down the RF290 "Red Fox". The RF was built from the Laser 28 moulds and is to all intents and purposes a Laser 28, apart from it doesn't have a keel stub and the keel fits into a socket. This particular boat is sailed by people who know what they're doing so no surprises that they could stay in front of the likes of us; but...they did not seem to be exhibiting the heel with the lack of people they had on the rail. This started my mind whirring.
It's an old story but the only time we made gains on them (in about 25 knots of breeze) was a close reach as they had white sail, genoa and we had an old SB3 asymmetric kite up - until we blew the kite to pieces.
As we returned from the race, we short tacked along the beautiful Dorset jurassic coast whilst Red Fox were inshore gunning the hell out of their little engine heading west. They must have bailed out because she was later alongside in the cove at Weymouth. I considered having a dive to have a look underneath, but you see I'd spent a long time on that freezing, soaking rail considering it: they'd stayed in front and we'd had a lot of spinnaker time round the back of the Island. This had to mean that there wasn't a bulb under the keel, surely the drag from one of those would have meant that we'd have walked all over them (broaches aside!)? It had to be something else, was it the Mark Mills keel? Was this the same shape as could be seen on Shasa from Jersey (now Encore)when she was sold?
When we look at the difference between that and FarrOut's standard (Bruce Farr) keel
So off to the Sailing Anarchy forums and I find a photo of the Mark Mills keel
Surely this is Shasa parked in the same place in a previous year?Well it looked like a nice solution to the upwind = weight on the rail vs downwind = lots of smiles connundrum should you sail in a place where you've got some water depth (we do!). I asked Mark Mills, who replied pretty quickly giving me the email of the guy who had the keel changed on Red Fox. He was very helpful and told me that it had been produced by Iron Brothers foundry so they would have the designs, he also confirmed that the Shasa photo was the type of keel he put on Red Fox . I tried an email enquiry to Iron Brothers to work out how much they would charge for a new keel. They were good enough not to answer...really if we're looking at changing the keel on our lovely 26 year old boat perhaps we should be looking for a different boat! Maybe not just the Farr 30 rudder but the rest of the boat as well.
But it looks as if Red Fox does have a Mills keel unless it's been changed back. I'm kinda guessing it hasn't! If only I'd taken that swim...
Monday, 15 April 2013
Spring Series race 1
Great to get back out on the water. Last sunday had to be spent putting the rig up so we lost our chance of getting a shakedown sail. So we went out to the startline very rusty with an unproved boat. Not only this but we had Jack and Adam unavailable for the race so were lucky to have Jon and Celia to step into the breach.
Celia was the best choice for driver so that Stephen could do the bow and Nick on mainsheet. Quite a good solution to our crew positioning problem but it did mean that Stephen and I had a foredeck / pit domestic argument - just like the old days; ho ho "shut up at the back!".
A new boat for us to play with, Mark & Rima Bugler's new Saskia VII is a J97 - the ex-"Jika-Jika" so nothing to live upto there then. Wildfire the 36.7 was out, The Commodore's Arcsine, Arcona 370 and us made up the IRC and "Fast" class. Swenn and Loo-lah were the only ones out in the slow class.
A mid line start for us, in front of and out of the way of the bigger boats. Our speed was good up the first beat as well even though we were all very rusty. A great course for us was a triangle with two 110-120 deg apparent legs which we ayso'd with nice gybes at the corner.
The problem came as we arrived at the windward mark for the second time and there was a big bang from the rig. We took the foot off the pedal and dropped the headsail, the leeward shrouds looked slack but nothing was too untoward. On checking after the race we'd lost a bit of rig tension so can only summise that the mast foot had been hanging up on the extrusion. As there was no real problem we carried on with the race but we'd lost maybe four or five minutes.
We went down the deep run under the symmetric kite and nearly caught up with Arcsine at the bottom. The wind had started to puff up a bit and 3 handed was probably a bit much for them.
We got a 3rd under IRC and a third under NHC. It was won by Wildfire IRC and Saskia VII NHC.
Roll on next week. But first of all I'm going to have to re-tune the rig, and it was all nicely taped up as well!
Too busy for photos in the pit so here's a nice one of a little issue in the yard....
Celia was the best choice for driver so that Stephen could do the bow and Nick on mainsheet. Quite a good solution to our crew positioning problem but it did mean that Stephen and I had a foredeck / pit domestic argument - just like the old days; ho ho "shut up at the back!".
A new boat for us to play with, Mark & Rima Bugler's new Saskia VII is a J97 - the ex-"Jika-Jika" so nothing to live upto there then. Wildfire the 36.7 was out, The Commodore's Arcsine, Arcona 370 and us made up the IRC and "Fast" class. Swenn and Loo-lah were the only ones out in the slow class.
A mid line start for us, in front of and out of the way of the bigger boats. Our speed was good up the first beat as well even though we were all very rusty. A great course for us was a triangle with two 110-120 deg apparent legs which we ayso'd with nice gybes at the corner.
The problem came as we arrived at the windward mark for the second time and there was a big bang from the rig. We took the foot off the pedal and dropped the headsail, the leeward shrouds looked slack but nothing was too untoward. On checking after the race we'd lost a bit of rig tension so can only summise that the mast foot had been hanging up on the extrusion. As there was no real problem we carried on with the race but we'd lost maybe four or five minutes.
We went down the deep run under the symmetric kite and nearly caught up with Arcsine at the bottom. The wind had started to puff up a bit and 3 handed was probably a bit much for them.
We got a 3rd under IRC and a third under NHC. It was won by Wildfire IRC and Saskia VII NHC.
Roll on next week. But first of all I'm going to have to re-tune the rig, and it was all nicely taped up as well!
Too busy for photos in the pit so here's a nice one of a little issue in the yard....
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Shore bound but Itching - Here comes NHC
We last went racing on boxing day, 26th December, last year! Almost two and a half months ago and I'm feeling it. I think this year has been harder than previous years due to the amount of sailing club work I've had to do in my role of Vice Commodore, that's a lot of talking about going sailing without actually doing any.
This season has lots going for it and I'm especially looking forward to our channel crossing at the end of June. Not a particularly taxing bit of navigation (I hope!) but it will be good to stretch the legs a bit. Work and family life makes it difficult to do any passages, the only time we got out of the bay last season was to go to the Isle of Wight for the Round the Island Race. This year I won't be going as I will use my time allowance to go to Cherbourg. Also looking forward to racing the Yacht Club de Cherbourg in the Grande Rade.
Once in Cherbourg it would be great to carry on going. I'd like to go down to Jersey, but I guess we will have to return home. Perhaps we can get another weekend later in the year and go to Torquay or something.
But with the racing season coming on I'm trusting that we will keep our present, highly tuned, crew. It really does make a difference when everyone knows their job and can do it, it's something that money can't really buy and we're definately not the most monied campaign out there. Our season starts with the YCW Spring Series held on four consecutive sundays starting 14th April. I think currently we're the only entry and we've already bought our IRC certificate.
This season sees a mighty change in club racing in the UK with the sport's governing body, the RYA, abandoning Portsmouth Yardstick (PY) for yachts. The system is to be replaced by "NHC" a varying handicapping system which has had input from IRC in its concept as well from WSC's own HALS race results. It's a performance handicapping system who's number evolves as the data gets plugged into it, a bit like the Irish ECHO system. In fact the success of ECHO is one of the only things I can see that it has going for it, I dislike being penalised for being good or encouraging mediocrity. However I accept that club racing needs a fresh injection to make it more appetising. I'm sure that IRC see it as a way of getting more take up for IRC as serious racers will prefer to be rated this way. Perfect, but I think the feedback from the customer to RORC rating is that the price of an IRC certificate needs to be halved. The combination of these two moves will ensure the future of IRC. I even suggested to the boys that we didn't buy an IRC cert this year in a moment of madness, they of course would have none of it. We might not win all the time but at least we are racing and rated fairly.
The introduction of NHC at Weymouth Sailing Club also sees the continuation of all-in fast & slow class starts. This means that NHC/PY/IRC boats of a similar speed all start together, this improves the racing experience for everyone.
At the end of the day it's the wind in your hair and the spray in your face that should be drawing people to yacht racing. Do you know, sometimes you don't even have to go and look at the results? Racing is not about winning, it's just better when you can't wipe that grin off of your face...that's what keeps you struggling and competing. Handicapping can niggle at this experience, one design removes this a little but will expose you as not as good a sailor as you thought you were. IRC rating is a middle way that definately gives the correct results in our bay - more boats need certificates and I'm sad to say Mr Urwin cutting your costs/expectations and halving the costs is the only way that we can save club racing in these parts.
This season has lots going for it and I'm especially looking forward to our channel crossing at the end of June. Not a particularly taxing bit of navigation (I hope!) but it will be good to stretch the legs a bit. Work and family life makes it difficult to do any passages, the only time we got out of the bay last season was to go to the Isle of Wight for the Round the Island Race. This year I won't be going as I will use my time allowance to go to Cherbourg. Also looking forward to racing the Yacht Club de Cherbourg in the Grande Rade.
Once in Cherbourg it would be great to carry on going. I'd like to go down to Jersey, but I guess we will have to return home. Perhaps we can get another weekend later in the year and go to Torquay or something.
But with the racing season coming on I'm trusting that we will keep our present, highly tuned, crew. It really does make a difference when everyone knows their job and can do it, it's something that money can't really buy and we're definately not the most monied campaign out there. Our season starts with the YCW Spring Series held on four consecutive sundays starting 14th April. I think currently we're the only entry and we've already bought our IRC certificate.
This season sees a mighty change in club racing in the UK with the sport's governing body, the RYA, abandoning Portsmouth Yardstick (PY) for yachts. The system is to be replaced by "NHC" a varying handicapping system which has had input from IRC in its concept as well from WSC's own HALS race results. It's a performance handicapping system who's number evolves as the data gets plugged into it, a bit like the Irish ECHO system. In fact the success of ECHO is one of the only things I can see that it has going for it, I dislike being penalised for being good or encouraging mediocrity. However I accept that club racing needs a fresh injection to make it more appetising. I'm sure that IRC see it as a way of getting more take up for IRC as serious racers will prefer to be rated this way. Perfect, but I think the feedback from the customer to RORC rating is that the price of an IRC certificate needs to be halved. The combination of these two moves will ensure the future of IRC. I even suggested to the boys that we didn't buy an IRC cert this year in a moment of madness, they of course would have none of it. We might not win all the time but at least we are racing and rated fairly.
The introduction of NHC at Weymouth Sailing Club also sees the continuation of all-in fast & slow class starts. This means that NHC/PY/IRC boats of a similar speed all start together, this improves the racing experience for everyone.
At the end of the day it's the wind in your hair and the spray in your face that should be drawing people to yacht racing. Do you know, sometimes you don't even have to go and look at the results? Racing is not about winning, it's just better when you can't wipe that grin off of your face...that's what keeps you struggling and competing. Handicapping can niggle at this experience, one design removes this a little but will expose you as not as good a sailor as you thought you were. IRC rating is a middle way that definately gives the correct results in our bay - more boats need certificates and I'm sad to say Mr Urwin cutting your costs/expectations and halving the costs is the only way that we can save club racing in these parts.
Tuesday, 12 February 2013
Yard Work
Haven't made a lot of posts recently it seems. I guess it's just hard to get around to blogging in the winter when we've finished sailing and are frantically trying to find enough time to work on the boat. So what's happening to FarrOut:
*Having a new headsail built by Paul our local sailmaker. Pentex taffeta, so a lot more hardwearing if not faster than our current Kevlar number.
*The engine is out of the boat and is going to be rebuilt in time for launch on Good Friday.
*Her bottom is all rubbed down and ready for anti-fouling. This year we've got a new reverse, inverse Starsky stripe. Google it kids.
*The mast is down and Stephen is replacing all the wires.
*Jack has organised new Neil Pryde team jackets.
*Still haven't applied for our new IRC cert yet - need those sail dims for the headsail.
*Kind of got invited to enter a youth team event, but I think we need a TCC of 0.900 which means we'd have to revalidate with the genoa. I think they might need to choose someone else.
*Not doing the Round The Island race this year as I'm going to concentrate on WSCs centenary and get offshore a bit more.
*Having a new headsail built by Paul our local sailmaker. Pentex taffeta, so a lot more hardwearing if not faster than our current Kevlar number.
*The engine is out of the boat and is going to be rebuilt in time for launch on Good Friday.
*Her bottom is all rubbed down and ready for anti-fouling. This year we've got a new reverse, inverse Starsky stripe. Google it kids.
*The mast is down and Stephen is replacing all the wires.
*Jack has organised new Neil Pryde team jackets.
*Still haven't applied for our new IRC cert yet - need those sail dims for the headsail.
*Kind of got invited to enter a youth team event, but I think we need a TCC of 0.900 which means we'd have to revalidate with the genoa. I think they might need to choose someone else.
*Not doing the Round The Island race this year as I'm going to concentrate on WSCs centenary and get offshore a bit more.
Monday, 3 December 2012
Winter Series 3 - Sublime to the Ridiculous
After the 40 odd knot debarcle last week we were guaranteed to have no breeze at all this week. Actually there was just enough to sail with a shifty and patchy north westerly of around 6 knots. It actually made the race quite exciting as boat speed and playing the shifts was what it was all about, as if it wasn't all the time!
FarrOut made a good report of ourselves with a win for the Melges 24 Crazeology who managed to keep themselves going, second for Foxed 2 Corby 29, and third for the Sigma 33 Scoline who played a blinder.
Highlight of the race for us was port tacking in front of the entire fleet on the start line....you don't get many of those.
Crazeology, Draig and Scoline hoist in very little breeze.
FarrOut made a good report of ourselves with a win for the Melges 24 Crazeology who managed to keep themselves going, second for Foxed 2 Corby 29, and third for the Sigma 33 Scoline who played a blinder.
Highlight of the race for us was port tacking in front of the entire fleet on the start line....you don't get many of those.
Crazeology, Draig and Scoline hoist in very little breeze.
Monday, 26 November 2012
Winter Series 2
After not getting a race last week due to there being no wind at all, it was irony that this weeks race should also be abandoned due to too much wind or perhaps race officer panic.
Steve Fraser's report on the WSC website shows it quite nicely with a photo of FarrOut goosewinging into the leeward mark after having done an early kite drop.
http://www.wsc.org.uk/node/1688
The upwind section after this point with a lot of wind prompting me to request shortening sail. Sharpo (driving) preferred just to flog the crap out of the sails and rig, I had to point out to Stephen (main trim) that he could say that because it wasn't his rig! We took a reef....a good move as we were then met with 41.8 knots of wind. Interesting that the tough little Laser with 7 on board seemed to fair a lot better in the weather than some bigger and more expensive boats. God love her.
The best bit for us was a lovely chinese gybe following a little lay down. Two crew, Jon and Alice got wet legs in that one. They were smiling afterwards. Rumrunner did something similar but managed to break their spinnaker pole. Shame.
Steve Fraser's report on the WSC website shows it quite nicely with a photo of FarrOut goosewinging into the leeward mark after having done an early kite drop.
http://www.wsc.org.uk/node/1688
The upwind section after this point with a lot of wind prompting me to request shortening sail. Sharpo (driving) preferred just to flog the crap out of the sails and rig, I had to point out to Stephen (main trim) that he could say that because it wasn't his rig! We took a reef....a good move as we were then met with 41.8 knots of wind. Interesting that the tough little Laser with 7 on board seemed to fair a lot better in the weather than some bigger and more expensive boats. God love her.
The best bit for us was a lovely chinese gybe following a little lay down. Two crew, Jon and Alice got wet legs in that one. They were smiling afterwards. Rumrunner did something similar but managed to break their spinnaker pole. Shame.
Friday, 9 November 2012
Vendee Globe starts tomorrow 1302 GMT
I can't wait. If there's any yacht racing that I love to follow it's this.
The Daily Sail have had Alex Thomson and Mike Golding on the pontoons walking around the boats and having a chat. There's a few videos on YouTube, this one about Bernard Stamm's Chiminees Poujoulat:
If you're doing the Virtual Regatta Vendee Globe, then I'll be FarrOutGBR814WeySC
The Daily Sail have had Alex Thomson and Mike Golding on the pontoons walking around the boats and having a chat. There's a few videos on YouTube, this one about Bernard Stamm's Chiminees Poujoulat:
If you're doing the Virtual Regatta Vendee Globe, then I'll be FarrOutGBR814WeySC
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
Autumn Series Race 4
A glorious 4th place for FarrOut in this sunday's race. A lovely brisk breeze saw us overpowered towards the end of the race. The start was good and we didn't really let the faster boats get away from us too much. Draig was third by 12 seconds corrected and Crazeology, the Melges 24, 8 seconds behind. Winner was Wildfire and second was Foxed 2. Not bad for a 28' cruiser built in 1986!
Friday, 26 October 2012
This looks fun!
Coastal 2012 Crusader 35 from Nick Bastow on Vimeo.
I like the sail tie to keep the leeward runner from flopping around. That could go wrong in the gybe!
Monday, 22 October 2012
Autumn Series 21st October
Let's face it we've been struggling for a few weeks now. We haven't got the boat going and two of our regular crew have been missing. I've been short on motivation the kind of yacht racing demotivation which is only cured by winning!
Then Darren jumps ship to Draig. These things happen. We had to clean her bottom because surely this was the major issue. Good job we did:
As we drove away from the crane she verily slipped through the water. So lacking crew and with something to prove the only option was for me to relinquish the helm. I'll have to admit it I'm better placed running the middle of the boat than helming. All I had to find was someone who was better at helming than in the snake pit...enter Nick Sharp.
Nick made a re-appearance on FarrOut on sunday and I was pretty pleased that he could. Not bad seeing the last boat that he'd driven was a TP52!
Results below:
Now if you consider that we had two kite hoists in the race and had problems on both of them, to do with clips opening, also that we had one newbee crew and one sea sick, then I'm happy with that. Alright it's third but look at the ratings and type of boats:
1.Beneteau First 36.7
2.Dehler 36 db
3.Little Laser 28
4.Sigma 33
5.Corby29
6.X99
7.Dehler 33
Everybody has got their best team out there at this time of year, so should we. That may mean that not everyone is going to get a ride every week for this and the next series but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Then Darren jumps ship to Draig. These things happen. We had to clean her bottom because surely this was the major issue. Good job we did:
As we drove away from the crane she verily slipped through the water. So lacking crew and with something to prove the only option was for me to relinquish the helm. I'll have to admit it I'm better placed running the middle of the boat than helming. All I had to find was someone who was better at helming than in the snake pit...enter Nick Sharp.
Nick made a re-appearance on FarrOut on sunday and I was pretty pleased that he could. Not bad seeing the last boat that he'd driven was a TP52!
Results below:
Now if you consider that we had two kite hoists in the race and had problems on both of them, to do with clips opening, also that we had one newbee crew and one sea sick, then I'm happy with that. Alright it's third but look at the ratings and type of boats:
1.Beneteau First 36.7
2.Dehler 36 db
3.Little Laser 28
4.Sigma 33
5.Corby29
6.X99
7.Dehler 33
Everybody has got their best team out there at this time of year, so should we. That may mean that not everyone is going to get a ride every week for this and the next series but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Monday, 8 October 2012
WSC Autumn Series - Race 1
With 3 of our regular 6 out this week for various reasons and an easterly airflow and predicted sunshine, this race was probably over for us before it started. As the slowest boat in the IRC fleet the predicted happened and the thermal killed the gradient breeze and we finished in very little breeze.
The start had been delayed as the race officer failed to hoist the IRC start and plenty of the fleet had started on the PY start. Bit of a mess and the rib was sent to call boats back.
Our start was a little slow because we were trying to control the pin end. We ended up at the back and we struggled to make our way through the PY tail enders as the breeze dropped.
As we were so far back we missed the pile up at the leeward mark. Effusion, Draig, Excalibur and others will be visiting a protest room sometime soon where no doubt the ins and outs of rule 18.2 will be discussed! Prang.
The start had been delayed as the race officer failed to hoist the IRC start and plenty of the fleet had started on the PY start. Bit of a mess and the rib was sent to call boats back.
Our start was a little slow because we were trying to control the pin end. We ended up at the back and we struggled to make our way through the PY tail enders as the breeze dropped.
As we were so far back we missed the pile up at the leeward mark. Effusion, Draig, Excalibur and others will be visiting a protest room sometime soon where no doubt the ins and outs of rule 18.2 will be discussed! Prang.
Monday, 17 September 2012
Sunday Series 3
Some great racing for us on sunday morning, a mid fleet result but I think you need to temper that with a financial touch, we are one of the cheapest teams out there of the IRC boats. Props to Scoline though who did very well on I guess a similar budget!
The start was nailed with a port tack approach, only trouble is the helm decided to vary from the agreed tactic until the rest of the crew shouted at him! Upwind is where we lose it on our boat but the tight triangle sausage played to our strengths of sail handling by a practiced crew and ayso and running kite options.
We had some argie-bargy with Effusion and got the red flag out for a bit. Rules stuff, keeping clear, overlapped boats all that stuff. Good that we're in those issues with much faster boats underneath, shows we're doing something right.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)