OK, Ok, enough of the arm twisting...been either too lazy or too afraid of the "Wrath of Wouter" <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> to write down my impressions of the Blade
But, here goes:
John D. (a lurker here) graciously invited me for a ride on his new Blade F16 back in Nov. First impressions had me thinking of how nice the hull lines, particularly the bow sections looked. I do find the more extreme wave-piercing bows/foredecks on other boats just look wierd to me...like the hull is upside down. The Blade didn't give this impression at all. Tramp and deck layout/equipement all looked well thoguht out. One point that did strike me as unusual...the beam bolt arrangement. Instead of the traditional bolts from the top through both sides of the beam then into the hull...the bolt only went through the lower side with a curved block of aluminum acting as a spacer under the bolt head. I would think this would reduce the resistance to twisting of the beam. One of these days I'll have to run this concept past my Dad to see what he thinks.
Another point to note...the fore beam is a smaller section than the rear and teardropped with a track for the tramp bolt rope. Reminded me of older style cats from the 70's & 80's. Would like to see this beam much larger diameter and possibly without the tramp track. The modern T has the tramp wrapped over the forebeam and attached to posts on the aft side of the beam.
Rigging everything up went smoothly and quick...even with me standing there like a bump on a log most of the time while John handled most of it :-) I recall there was an odd way (to me at least) to rig the boom...had to wait until the main was hoisted to poke it through the clew strap and attach to goose neck. Not sure if this would make life tough if you had to drop the main while on the water for any reason.
The snuffer system was an EXACT duplicate of what I run on the T...a Landenberger alu ring with nicely milled bolt rope groove and tapered dacron bag..even the color was same as mine...black! John had the pole end set low and thus sail luff tension was very high. The easiest solution was to adjust the tack & halyard bowline loops to gain back some slack...rather then spend a good 30 min. tweaking the pole end stays. Made it so we could twist a fist full 90 degrees and no more...originally I could not twist more than 5 degrees...super taught!
We set off from the beach in about 5 kts and flat water. John at the helm. Boat responded well to sail trim adjustments. Took the opportunity during the light conditions to check out the sail plan and wingmast. We had the rotation set way back past the shrouds nearly to the rear beam. Didn't like the look of the main, a big concave at the luff and a very full/baggy draft. Found the smooth transition point with rotation at about the shroud. With no DH on, I also noted the upper leech was flopping around more than I've seen on the T (with moderate DH applied). The sail cut (Ullman main) is much larger at the roach than the T, so I suspect this was what I was seeing. Normally, in light to medium air we try to have leech near centerline and standing vertical...not falling off with the slightest puffs. Maybe the top batten wasn't stiff enough?
As winds picked up, I was pleased to see the hulls not slapping each & every wave like the Bimare F18 HT I had sailed a few years ago. John did say that on certain wave conditions, he did get such slap. The T will just slice that type of stuff. Bouyancy with two of use aboard at somewhere around 350 lbs seemed fine. I recalled the HT seemed to struggle at similar weight.
Soon we could single trap. I took the main sheet for a bit and found I could work it to keep boat attitude where I wanted it. Had some trouble as the main sheet cleat was set too low for my liking so the sheet would always self cleat...making it tough to play the puffs cleanly. Yes, the boat seemed quite pitch resistant for such a water line length. I could see/feel the effect of the bow design coming into play as the wind picked up with small waves developing. Definately a different feel than the T.
Did a little spinnaker work. No surprises here, all worked nicely. I did like the single line tack/halyard and could see the advantage to a single handed sailor. Sail shape was fine, but may have been better if we had the pole height better...the slack gained by extending the tack/halyard bowlines does make the sail sit off wind further...not ideal. But, John mentioned the sail luff was more behaved than he had seen before...the loose luff was easier to keep inflated while making the sail flatter. Would like to see some ability to change the sheeting angle on the spin. On the T the top guys have told us they move the block further after for higher winds, forward for lighter...we've found this to be a big help. Many other classes seem to only go with one position.
I got a turn at the helm. Though the blades tacked/gybed the boat nicely, the tiller extension was a problem. John had to replace the original...this one was a rod of solid glass and was therefore very heavy. Unfortunately I found this quite distracting to work with. Took quite a bit more force than I'm used to to work the tiller. Gave me hand cramps. The T has feather light steering...I normally steer with the slightest movement of my thumb & forefinger. Hopefully, John got a nice carbon tiller from Santa!
Anyway, we got to double trap with even more wind. Again, I noted the feel of the pitch resistant bows going to weather. There were moments when I was prepared for a big pitch movement as we'd enter a wave...but it never came. Cool. Later while reaching in bigger waves and pushing quite hard, we slammed a few. The lee bow entered through, not over, and usually would be OK. Once in a while, it would fully stuff and almost stop the boat in a wave size that I think the T would have kept going over/through. The Blade would then easily shake off the water and get going again. It takes quite big stuff to make a T stop. I can't recall ever stuffing a bow and stopping while on a weather leg in the T. Certainly on reaches and under spinny this can happen. So, I think you can push the T harder/faster than the Blade before this is an issue. But, when you do stuff a T, it can be pretty dramatic as the foredeck is nearly flat and can dig real deep. However, the extra beam usually keeps you right side up ;-) With the Blade I had to un-learn my obsessive fixation on the lee bow tip ride height...the blade tip can & regularly does go below surface without issue. Need to re-learn when to worry and when to push more. I don't think I'm quite ready to give up all that extra bow bouyancy of the T...need more time to make the adjustment.
Winds now at 15 kts and we found the DH quite effective at depowering. Got John on the mainsheet and he did a good job working the puffs despite the cleat issue. Still had the upper leech flapping alot more than the T...but in the higher winds this is not a bad thing. We didn't quite get the feeling of the boat surging forward in puffs like you get from the T when both helm & crew are in sync. A few more practise days and I'm sure we'd be cooking.
Overall, an impressive boat. I could see myself owning a Blade or other F16 model one day.
Big Thanks to John and just a reminder that you have an open invite to come out for a T ride.
Mike.
