Thank you everyone for the Welcome. The only reason I asked if there was a Stealth specific site was that I couldn't believe how little (Stealth specific) information was available here.
Good to be back on a common board with you again Rolf!
I won't be able to do what I did with Whisk because of fragility issues and Buoyancy issues. We carried six or seven hundred pounds of cargo and crew when visiting Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands. Needed to have a motor. We also got tangled in very large kelp beds at times.
Catalina Island is a possibility however. I can sail there without having to load the boat up as severely. Time and testing will tell. I have my eyes on a trip in late June. Till then, I'll be sailing her in the Santa Monica Bay (West side of Los Angeles) and an occasional outing in San Pedro Bay. (South side of L.A.)
I'll give you my impressions of the F16 and the Stealth now, but obviously the opinions are in their infancy and will continue to develop.
Thanks for the report Phill. I'll wait to hear from the guys you mention. Sounds like there may only be about 5 Stealth owners visiting this forum.
Codblow (Cod? Mr. Blow?) I'd love to hear more about the Stealth SXL. May be just what I need. It is going to be a real shock moving from the dry buoyant Mystere 6.0 hulls to this veritable pair of torpedoes.
My initial impressions of the F16 and the Stealth:
I first sailed on John's Blade in Long Beach. Since he had not planed for me, he was not sloop rigged. We had just enough wind to sail single trapezed upwind. I was amazed at the behavior of the hulls in the water. (As many might do, comparing to memories of a Hobie 16!) Was very pleased to see that the boat could actually handle the weight of two men. More than pleased that the mainsail alone gave us lots of power.
Downwind was a wet ride! The ease of use of the spinnaker was a pleasant treat. The helm responsiveness was fantastic. The build quality and the way the boat is outfitted gave me instant admiration for the VWM Blade. A very beautiful machine!
It was my first time under a wing mast and I found the trimming process to be intuitive and natural.
Stealth:
There is no way around the fact that the rudders are going to be a challenge in the ocean where eel grass and kelp can be found; will be and have been found!
When I test sailed this boat, I was amazed at how the hulls handled the weight of two men. This boat just does not mind having weight on it. The hulls are fast even if heavily loaded.
Learning / testing is progressing very slowly as I have had a lot of various obstacles. I have finally had her out in the ocean.
I'm going to quote myself from a note I sent to a friend here.
I took the Stealth out in the ocean yesterday and it was very rough out there. Blowing 11 knots with rough seas; steep 4-footers. I was overpowered with main only and had far too much weather helm so I guess I'll start playing with mast rake. Downwind I was too frightened to run the spin but cruised along at 9 knots average without even easing the outhaul on the mainsail. Upwind speeds were far less than impressive; 7 knots average. A flatter sail with less aft rake should take care of some of that trouble. Flatter seas will certainly change things.
The horizontal foils (I'm calling them wings or winglets from here on out) must do an awful lot because this beast goes over and through waves like something I've never seen before. I'm really afraid that I'm going to wash off of the boat when trapezing and with no inside the hull access, I'm not sure what to do about foot straps.
Back to the wings. All of the pitching happens in slow motion and is severely dampened. This reduces the sudden velocity changes across the sail and the power is smoother than when things are bouncy. When the bows get past the top of a wave, they just hang there in mid-air when you would expect them to drop. After only one day of sailing fast enough to see what these things are doing, I must say that experimenting with them on any cat should be a necessary part of research and development.
My inclination would be to build a foil on the outside of each hull, just ahead of the transom that could be withdrawn or pushed in by contact against a floating obstacle just as the centerboards on a Tornado or P19. This brings to mind a pair of amas that I've seen that have winglets at their sterns. Perhaps the extra material in the stern could double as a foot-strap backing, extra transom strength, etc.
These hulls pierce so well that they look like torpedoes to me when they occasionally go under. Very fitting that the designer's name is Pierce.
It seems that there are very many folks out there intrigued with the concept of winged rudders. Kudos to JP and SG for actually bringing them to market on a production catamaran. What's even better is that they are available at a very reasonable cost so that should give anyone who wants to experiment with such a system the opportunity to get quality parts to do it with.
I would encourage people to do just that. The rudders are beautiful and light. I'm sure that if you showed up with a pair in your neighborhood, that you'd have people lined up waiting to buy them from you when your done testing. A short note to John Pierce was returned with pricing information.
Also, for all of those folks drooling all over themselves when they see a carbon mast: Stealth Marine offers their masts for a VERY competitive price.
What I don't like about the Stealth is the inability to sit at the gunnel. The top of the hull is about as far out as you dare go or else you roll backward off of the boat. I did just that on my first solo sail. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> Righting the boat was child's play.
Another pet peave is the way that the steering cross bar has no torsional rigidity and this disallows you from using a twist lock tiller extension. I already miss my cork ball handle and am already seeing signs of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in from handling the 9' long tiller handle. I think that I'll put a few balls on the stick; that may help.
GARY
