As the rumours are starting to fly, I thought it was time to relay at least our version of the Blade Tradewinds introduction.
We loaded up Friday morning in a torrential rain storm, and took long enough that we arrived in Miami just in time for rush hour traffic made worse by the rain and 1001 accidents. Long story short, we did not get to the keys till late Friday night, and were not able to start rigging till Saturday morning.
Saturday morning we set to assembling the boat in its entirety for the very first time. This was only slightly complicated by the fact that I had left the bridal wire assembly back at our shop during our haste to get on the road. I had an old H16 bridal that we extended with lashes, and after collecting some additional parts from the masses, we were able to step the mast. The rest of the rigging went very well although we were working right up to the point of launching for the first race. This put a damper on my ability to get some good photo's myself. Thanks to Robi for his shots, and there were some others as well that we are collecting to get posted on the web site in process.
The boat looked really good, and given that it was the first time on the water with no opportunity to trial or tune anything, I can say that I was incredibly impressed with how everything went. The sail controls all worked great and we were very pleased with the ergonomics in how they ended up being placed. Sailing this boat upwind is a great experience. The platform is extremely stiff, and with the volume of the hulls being so low, it gives you the impression that you are moving on top of the water instead of through it. I was very apprehensive about this shape going into this regatta because of how I though it may behave in chop and going to weather. I need not have worried because we seemed to be able to sail both higher and faster to weather than any of the other boats on our start and when close enough to tell were keeping pace with the bigger boats as well. We set the mast, ran the main sheeted in tight and played the down haul, and it was unbelievable how in control we felt in the blows, the boat accelerated out of every puff and we never felt like we were fighting at all to keep in control. On Sunday when the wind really started picking up and the chop got worse it was the same. We ran the bow tip just barely in the water and the transition coming off the transom was clean. The small chop we did not notice at all. We had to keep back just a small amount as the waves grew larger, and the small hobby horse effect that comes from being back in short waves was quickly damped out by a single step forward. Those used to sailing short hulls effectively will have no problem in getting used to the motion as it takes a lot less than some of the other designs out there.
This was the first ever experience for my wife sailing a spin. As such we had at least our share of learning curve. By the end of Saturday though, we seamed to have most of the bugs worked out. The boat when trimmed right moved very well under the spin and seamed pretty well balanced.
We had a few "prototype issues" that caused us some difficulty on the course. The port hull was taking on water. The board trunks were made from a temporary mold and each face glassed together at assembly. This was done to experiment with what spacing we want to use for board clearance in the end design. The one trunk subsequently developed a significant leak. After 2 races we were forced to sail back in to shore to drain it as it was half full of water. Even with 20+ gallons of water in the 1 hull we were able to sail up wind higher and faster. Down wind the extra weight was a noticeable detriment. The third race on Saturday when the hulls were empty and most of our spin hoisting issues were a little better under control, we finished quite a ways ahead of all of the other boats on our start. Also, I am going to need to up size on the pelican striker pole. The one we used kept collapsing under sail and for most of the regatta we had no jib halyard tension. This is a pretty easy fix though.
The other low portsmouth boats in attendance were for the most part 20 footers. The race committee in there attempt to spread things out then moved us to the high portsmouth start, and the short course. This meant the F16s ahd some very long waits between races and with the short legs and a 1 way course , we were not able to mix things up very well. As such, when Sunday came around some of us elected to race the long course, even though we were still scored with the other boats running the short course. Given that Gina and I were not taking any of the scoring too seriously. We were however, having a great time mixing it up with Seth on the other Taipan running full up. In race 1 on Sunday we hoisted the spin going around A in first, only to remember that we were supposed to be going to B (On a tight reach) As the spin was up we decided to see just how well it would do trying spin reach on a 16 footer in 20+. All I can say is that it was very wet, but we made it and hopefully provided some very good entertainment value to the guys watching us try. We did end up dumping it later in the race downwind when I ran the tiller through the arm hole in my life jacket and got pinned to the wrong side of the boat during a jibe. (No problem righting the platform). In the last race we were still having a great time racing, when we came around the last mark and headed back to weather with the wind continuing to build. We had just crossed the Taipan at the layline for the finish, but were aiming dirrectly at the beach at Gilberts. Taking this as a sign, we went in feeling extreamly good about the weekend.
My wife was very nervous about getting on this boat. She is a long time H16 crew and not really wanting to move up, in crew responsibilities or power. This weekend blew up to 20+ on Sunday and even given the fact that she hates big wind, she is now fully converted. She is now actively pushing me to get rid of our H16 as the F16 has been "accepted" as our new boat. Everyone who came up and looked at the boat as well as those seeing it on the water seemed to have very positive things to say. I have a small bias as I built it, but it is definitely a great looking package. My compliments to Phill on designing a fast and sharp looking hull shape. Given some more time to work on the tuning and some additional sparing with the hot dogs it is for sure going to be one of the boats to beat.
Have a bunch of tooling set up, a few sourcing issues and some little rigging tweaks and we will be fully up. Hull set 2 is in the mold and we hope to get 5 of them ready by the end of March.
The next race we will be able to get to will be the Hagar in Feb. I know I gave Wouter hell for being wordy so that is all for now. Look forward to getting out again.
Thanks for everyones help.
Matt
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Re: BLADE #1
[Re: Matt M]
#43074 01/19/0501:50 PM01/19/0501:50 PM
Matt: Enjoyed having dinner with you. Gina is Charming! Says a lot for the platform that she adapted to the chute so quickly. I wish I'd spent more time studying the boat, only after I left Tradewinds it occurred to me it might be a versatile option for future racing. Hard to think of a 16 footer being fast, hope you've changed that perception. Know you're still working out some fine points, but what do you project to be a production schedule for the Blade? I am probably going to buy an F-18 just cause that's the growing class in South Carolina right now, and we have committments to keep one design active, especially in the wake of the recent Hobie Changes and their effect on the local fleets. I've been through a H-16, H-17, Nacra 5.5, Inter20, and Hobie 14 all in the search for a cat that will be fast and versatile, yet still allow relaxed sailing with the family when you're off the reacecourse. I don't want to be the first kid on the block, but I think the Blade is probably a much better boat choice for me, and the Family. Hope you sell a bunch of them, especially in the Southeast so we can get some 1-Design racing started in an F-16 class. Will look forward to watching your progress so we can convert some of the F-18 class to a different platform on the F-16. I'm particularly intrigued by the claims that one can race head to head with F-18's or ACATS just with changing the sails around. Equally interesting is that boatspeed is supposed to be little affected by variables of crew weight. Can't wait to see how this all turns out. Sell some boats, Wouldja? Cary Palmer www.seacats.org
Yer not fat, if you had one of those 12 foot beams on your Bill Roberts Special, you'd look pretty skinny. CARY (Also wanting the scoop on a 20 foot version)
Dave is still covered in bruises. I pulled a shoulder muscle from all that extreme crankin' on the sheets. Serious conditions. It doesn't get any better than that! At least we had the photographer there to capture the moment on film. (See Attachment) Cary www.seacats.org
I am boatless 
It sucks! 
