Hi all,

yes Altered was tested on the weekend. Club called off race to windy? 25kts. In frustration I went sailing anyway, first opportunity to realy try out boat without being to extreme.

Sailboards and kitesurfers were having a good time and so did I. Wind was very gusty couldn't handle kite in gusts , not with any mainsheet on anyway. So did some sailing downwind without spinnaker but apart from that handled it all. Gusts to 30kts. choppy waves about .5m, nose dives, kite flogging, even a capsize.

To gungho trapping with kite up and a fair bit of mainsail on. Bearaway, nosedive, thrown forward off trap onto hull bounced off ended up around bow under bridle. By this time boat stopped nosediving but tipped over sideways kite flogging and main still cleated (just can't find the crew who should have attended to these things). All the usual fun stuff for catsailors.

Conclusions, I now have confidence that hulls and mast are basicly strong enough to handle normal sailing. All that is left is to test her speed against faster cats. STAY TUNED.

Regards Gary.