Mainsail up:



The daggerboard you can see is in so that the bottom of the plate is at the bottom of the hull to give some idea of the depth of the plates.

First sail today in about a F2-3.

Initial impressions are that the boat picks up very well in the gusts (it is considerably lighter than the 17), but the boat also feels very stiff. The boat tacks VERY quickly compared with the 17 (long thin plates must help alot) and I could only get one fully down today as they must be slightly different widths - must take some of the packing off the inside of one dagger slot.

Mainsail looks very good, twists off very well (in the small gusts today) and the kite looks very different when sailng to the 17 kite.

This kite is VERY easy to oversheet and so I'm going to need to be very carefull. Boat tracks well upwind, but I need to move the mast back a little (more rake) as there is not much feel.

Had a good sail around the lake on all points of sail and it all appears to work (telescopic tiller came apart at sone stage, so I need to talk to John to make sure it does not happen again !) Rigging has already streached a little !

Did some wiring with the kite up as well and now decided I need longer kite sheets.

The Ratchamatic mainsheet blocks are a very nice touch too.

Overall a good days first sail and givcen it was only F2-3 was quict pleased to see my GPS give a Max speed of 16.1kts and a few plots at around 17mph.

Just need to sort a few niggles out and get down to some serious sailing over the winter.

(Rolf, Spi pictures to come once I get a day when there is light enough wind to fly the kite.