Who knows.

If they are keeping the boat down then keep it powered up.

You really can't tell whether or not they are overpowered based on a still shot.

Good point. seems like their slot might be somewhat closed which would be helped with less rotation though.

This is why I hate pictures being taken of me.

Every tom dick and harry can sit there and critique my sail shape

Incoming!

I'll freely admit that my sail shape sucks the last two regattas. I can't get the 2nd batten tight enough and so the whole top of the sail looks like a turkey-neck when I crank in on the sheet.

I do ! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

( I have to retain my rep. )





May work that way on a 180 kg barge like the I-20 but not on a F16. You are not looking for power but for speed. Certainly with the F16's these do not always go hand in hand.

A full mainsail will provide both alot of capsize moment and alot of drag. The first limits the amount of drive and the second eats halve of the sail drive that is produced. End result => slower speeds then can be attained with a flat mainsail.

Additionally, on the Superwing mast a funny thing happens when you strongly derotate the mast. The top of the mast bends away to leeward strongly and takes the top of the leech with it. In extreme conditions it even inverts the top battens. End result a very flat and low drag top while producing sufficient sail drive low in the rig => results in high speeds and a very calm feel to the boat.

Been there, done that. Did it singlehandedly with a doublehanded rig in those conditions, so who is your daddy ?






Does it look to you like they are underpowered then ?

Maybe this crew has just come out of a manouvre and haven't adjusted all the trim settings yet, that can be the case indeed. But I think it is pretty obvious that they are strongly overpowered.

You are not keeping two on the wire with a leech twisted like that in 8 knots of wind, remember that the F16 has less upwind sailarea then a Hobie 16 !

Wouter

... or testing how far you can slacken the mainsheet before the F16 mast pops





How to do this properly ?

-1- crew on the wire and to the rear of the skipper, skipper steers by tiller bar, not the extension

-2- pull the mainsheet tight and cleat it.

-3- run the mainsheet traveller up and down in the gusts, synchronized with the rudder movements.

-4- don't flog the spinnaker, pull it really tight if you want to depwower.

-5- run deep if you are still heavily overpowered

-6- don't pull a spi if point -5- still doesn't solve your issues.


Wouter

(It may be just me, but I think that the drag reduction caused by getting the hull out of the water more than makes up for the drag from the twist in the sail)

The bottom line is they are there doing it and well... you're not! You don't get to the Alter Cup by accident. It's not like they pick the most prolific and long winded blow hard forum poster to attend the cup.

PTP, how come you didn't attend the Area D South qualifier? Maybe you could conduct an on the beach seminar and help some of these folks out, I'm sure they would love to hear what you have to say.

How about doing both at the same time ?

Would that work ? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Wouter

Holy [censored]! Tad cracks a funny!

Yep, that is true. I can't say that I have ever broken a mast in my life.

One down and nine more masts to go ! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Wouter

The boat he had at the time wasn't up to it. I didn't sail 'cause I'm lazy and have no (sentence ehancers).

The A and B fleets change everyday? Top five against top five, bottom against bottom?

I love how every arm chair sailor can make such specific observations from still shots. seen it here and even more so over on SA... it just cracks me up that people can comment and even draw conclusions without knowing if it is a puff, lull, header, lift, driving down or pinching for tactical reasons....

A snapshot is just that, nothing more, nothing less. anyways, carry on if anything else it is entertaining to hear everyone pic a photo apart...

The sailors out there are TOP notch. I am sure all of them would whoop on anyones butts here, including myself and I have been on the boat for two years now.

Those folks are really making the blade scream up and downwind, it is a sight to be seen.

Jake and Kevin are doing an awesome job of turning boats around and fixing issues that arise. It is a tough JOB that honestly I would not be able to deal with, my hat is off to Jake and Kevin.

I am sure today there should be some good battling going on. I cant wait to see the results of each day.

At least we got the discussion fired up again. It had gotten a little bit quiet on this front lately.

I love the location however. Boy does that venue look nice and green !

Appears to be a very good spot to hold such an event.

Wouter

Lets see who these arm chair sailors are ?

Maybe Terry Back :

"Dunno' about Team Hess, but I was spectating just leeward of C and saw a couple of boats with the main sheeted "out" and traveller out ... we all commented about the boat ... "that mast is going to fold" ... it didn't but ohhhhh boy ..."


Timbo Bohan maybe ?

"I was there most of the day with Terry. (thanks again to you and your Dad for taking me out to watch the racing). ... I had to leave before the third race so I didn't see what happened with the mast failure thing. I did see some crews going downwind under spinnaker with the mainsheet eased WAY too far off, and you could see the mast bending the wrong way. I was amazed a few didn't break.


And the pictures provided certainly don't seem to go against these eyewitness reports.


<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> GASP !! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

They were actually there and wrote the very same things as I did ! How can that be when far off mr Pecorak and Ingram just KNOW that what these persons saw happening in front of their noses wasn't really happening !

Now all we need is some 15 year old daughter telling me that I don't know [censored] about F16's.

Wouter

I love it how "THE Chuck" made an appearance on the OFFICIAL, US AILING results page.

Most awesome dude.

You guys better hurry the [sentence enhancer] up! With such a personable, kind hearted, and easy to talk to spokesman for the class, the boats are likely to sail off the showroom floor by themselvesies.

You, yes you can join the F16 fleet and have this windbag be the face of your class all over the internet!

I don't see how Matt would be able to keep up production! I'm putting my order for 5 today.

You may have to take number.

Have you ever sailed an F16?



btw- This is what a new Blade owner has to say aobut it: "I just got back from a weekend of racing in Mexico. I still haven't learned to use the spin yet. One side of the welded loop where the spin pole attaches, sheared off after 3 hours in rough water. It looks like a bad weld.

I raced triangles Sunday in 7 to 10 knots of wind against 1-Inter20, 2-Hobie20s, 2-Nacra 5.8s, 1-Mystere 6.0. I was Uni-Rigged, only the mainsail. I was not scored against the Inter 20 because we don't score spin and non spin together.

Excluding the Inter 20, I finished first in 3 of 4 races. The race I finished second I was only 3 seconds behind a Nacra 5.8. The Blade single handed with only the mainsail was able to walk away from all but the Inter 20 and was able to stay very close to the Inter 20 every fist leg upwind.
Downwind is when the other boats would make up lots of ground but in only 2 cases at C mark I was passed by a Nacra 5.8.

The boat seems to be much faster that the handicap would lead me to believe. All the other sailors were amazed as to how fast the boat was upwind and how fast it was downwind with only a mainsail.

The handicap under these conditions resulted in all boats giving me time, but it seems like it should have been the other way around. I think the handicap will eventually rate the Blade F16 faster than, Nacra 5.8, Prindle 19 MX, Hobie 20, and possible the Tiger F18. I think eventually I should be able to keep up with an Inter 20 in conditions below 12 knots of wind. I don't think is an exaggeration. "