I've lost track of what has gone where, and I think I'm going to have to look seriously at a Blade. I know about the guy in Albuquerque, some question about its sailability at present.

If there is one in Nevada or SoCal I could easily work out a look at your convenience. I live in SLC area, Utah. Thanks, Steve

There is a Blade in CA, NM and AZ.

Give me a PM with your contact details.

John D. has a Blade in Los Angeles. He sails it just about every W/E out of Claremount ramp in Long Beach.


He took me for a ride back in November.

Mike.

And what do you think about the boat Mike? Would be very interesting to hear, especially if you compared it to the bit-T.

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.

Mike:
Thanks for the great writeup.
I appreciate you spending the time to do such a thorough job.
Not to hijack the thread, but tried the new drysuit out for the first time last weekend in 57 degree F water and 63 degree F air. Seemed to perform as it should. Some sweat moisture seemed to accumulate in areas where vapor transfer through the fabric is restricted by boots or trapeze harness. Have you experienced that?
John
P.S. When do you find time to work <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
JD

Steve:
Happy to take you out if you find yourself out here.
Same goes for any other prospective Blade or visiting F16 owner. I figure I'll learn as much from each of you as you'll learn about the boat.
John

Thanks Mike! Interesting reading and quite favourable for the boat. You said the most with:

Not sure what to make of the "wrath of wouter" exactly, but having sailed with both the Ullman sails and the Glaser sails I can attest that the Glaser sails (= Alter cup boats)are alot more firm in the leach and do pickup speed in the puffs better. I am really impressed by the Glaser sails. We too thought the Ullman mainsail was a bit flappy up top, probably just what you want for 1-up sailing but not to attractive in 2-up sailing.

Wouter

But why is the Ullman sail more "flappy" than the Glaser? Factors affecting the leech which I can just pick from the top of my head is mast bend vs. luff curve, batten stiffness, batten placement, sheeting and eventual construction differences?

Hi Mike
Thanks for your positive and unbiased views about the Blade. I noted with interest your comment about the Spi sheeting issue. I have had adjustable tracks since I bought my Stealth but do the total opposite adjustments i.e windy fully forward, light fully back. My reasoning behind this is that the way you do it on your T is exactly what all the books tell you to do for the Jib, Genoa for good upwind performance = speed and height. So when flying a kite downwind you still want speed but also depth. Fully forward when it's windy because you can sail lower without decreasing speed and right back when it's light as you don't want to bear up too much for speed and make the wind do too much work over the sail. These are the main reasons why I differ. Have a little think about my technique and I'm sure you'll understand where I'm coming from. If you still disagree then that's probably why manufacturers don't bother with spi sheet tracks <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hi Mark,

While your reasoning sounds logical...the reality is you need to open up the leech in high winds (15-25 kts). Opening the leech (like having more twist on the main) and tightening the foot does this. You're moving the center of effort higher up the sail...decreasing stability. It's more about power control in winds 15+ kts. Boat speed will be much higher and so apparent shifts further forward. Yes, it's possible to drive lower, but the top racers keep so much speed, the sail still needs to be very flat and open...otherwise the gusts will knock them down.

In light stuff (around 7 kts or less) is where we start moving the block forward past the "standard" location at the 4th tramp lacing. This powers up the sail making it fuller. We've learned by much empirical experimentation during races that heading up to go for better boat speed/hull lifting is not worth it at or below a certain wind range. Better to stay as low as possible but to keep moving well. We can head 5 or 10 degrees lower on average with the fuller shape than with the flatter shape at around the same speed...so vmg is optimized with block forward, powered up sail shape.

One day I'll need to get out and do some more GPS tracks with different settings to later analyze with GPSActionReplay...this tool can really help clarify what's working and what isn't.

Cheers!

PS., I like the shot of your Stealth. You tramp wraps over the main beam just like the T. Your beam bolt arrangement are what I amd familar with. I like the high mounted beam saddles. And, the bike water bottle cradle on t he boom is a great idea!

Meant nothing by it...just poking some fun at you Wouter! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />




In this shot of my boat, the leech looks great to my eye. This is on a reach in only about 7 or 8 kts. It is an Ullman (Zuccolli) sail as well. On the blade Ullman, I'd expect a similar shot to look quite pronounced with the upper leech (roach) falling off and not standing up.

It looked like the additional cloth up there on the Blade sail was what was causing the effect I was seeing. Drawing a line from the sail head board to the sail clew, you could very easily see how much more cloth there was in the Blade Roach area.

Has anyone tried different batten strengths?

Also, what about diamond tension? Perhaps John's mast was over done for the conditions, thus really lossening the leech?

I would think you'd need a way to adjust from no flapping to lots of flapping, no matter if one up or two. Having the flap in light conditions doesn't make much sense to me...but I'm not a sail designer!

Downhaul is a great way to adjust this, combined with spreader rake and diamond tension. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
I dont make sense for me either to have a flapping leech when not overpowered.

The way you sail your spi was the same way we did it on the T, but we found it to be faster with just 45deg of "fist-twist". I guess it comes down to sail trim, helming and conditions. Setup would probably differ between different sails and classes.

Even with the downhaul completely off the top would twist off very easily in lightish winds. The Ullman sail that I sailed with on the Blade was made by Ullman USA and is different from Zuccoli (Ullman Italy).

We layed the boat flat on the beach with the mast horizontal and felt the "springiness" of the flap. It was extremely easy to have it twist off. Even under gravity alone it would twist off.

Several "solutions" were tried over a longer period of time including different battens and none improved the behaviour. Actually, the original battens and setup proved to be the best given the limits posed by the mainsail design itself.

Again, it does really seem this mainsail is rather good as a singlehander sail. So it is not bad in any way it just "different" then what you want when sailing/racing 2-up at 140 kg.

Wouter

John. What were you wearing inside the drysuit? In those temps you shouldn't need much, maybe shorts and T shirt, more when the wave action is enough to keep wetting you. Even though the suits are "breathable" when sweat occurs it really doesn't have anywhere to go. Ed

Ed:
Re: "In those temps you shouldn't need much, maybe shorts and T shirt, more when the wave action is enough to keep wetting you."
That was probably it. I was dressed for the probability of being wet from spray with fleece shirt and pants. There wasn't much of that though so stayed pretty dry.
John

Mike
I can see a lot of sense in your explanation of the spi sheet angle. I will definitely experiment when I go out next, unfortunately I haven't purchased a GPS but will see if I can borrow one and use it properly to butts any gains. My F16 main is currently having some work done to it so yesterday I was crewing on a Mastrom Tornado. For the past 6 yrs I've only sailed singlehanded apart from a couple of long distance races, so I'm not the worlds best crew, and in fact if I was to be honest I don't enjoy crewing that much!!
As it was I kept my mouth shut most of the time, tweaked the downhaul and jib a couple of times to appear interested but really really enjoyed the ease and grace at which the Tornado cruised around the course. The wind was around 10-12mph and was continually veering W-NW. Even when the helm lost concentration and ended up pinching the boat didn't make any dramatic complaints just a gradual reduction in speed hilst I on the over hand was left bitting my tongue hoping he would notice the tell-tales. When we were right in the groove and a small gust would come along there was no drama. The windward hull would lethargically rise up and the boat speed would increase so fluently and effortlessly it was a joy. Tacking was so boring and slow compared to the F16 and after each tack I would have to re trim the jib to avoid the leech curling on the spreader as the mast rotated, obviously not a major issue and one which doesn't occur with their newer jib I believe. The spi is big and sheet loads were heavy when going high and again everything happened as if in slow motion, gybing, bearing away, the lifting of the windward hull. The only thing which wasn't slow was our speed. At this point I would like to say that we won the race which included 2 F18's and 3 Dart 18's but as we sailed the wrong course which was all my fault due to me having a blonde moment we probably ended up last.
As for the difference between Big T and F16. The T is like an old gentleman to me, very polite and well mannered, not in any particular rush to do anything out of the ordinary apart from going super fast in any given direction. Getting it to point in that direction can be a little slow. The F16 in single handed mode on the other hand is more like a teenager, lots of mood swings, needs telling twice what to do occasionally, you can't take your eyes of them if you want them to behave. Basically a different kettle of fish all together.
However, in saying all this given a choice of which one I would most enjoy sailing then it would only depend on the type of racing involved. Round the Cans would be F16 any sort of distance racing then Big T. Unfortunately this experience has only put the F18 and F20 further back on the list of Cats I most enjoy sailing which currently stands at F16, A Class, T , Dart 18, F20, F18. I must try and get a ride on a spitfire one day to see how it compares.

Hey John. If you're ever in the DC area come on out and sail with us. Ed