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What a FUN day! #50779
06/09/05 09:36 PM
06/09/05 09:36 PM
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,718
St Petersburg FL
Robi Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
Robi  Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,718
St Petersburg FL
So I decided to make my two small nephews out on a local lake. It was blowing pretty good 15kts and gusting to 20. Their combined weight was around 220lbs (size of a large adult). Even with both of them on the windward hull that boat was flying high.

So I call my crew up and inform him, that is blowing good and we should a practice run in.

Once we strapped in, boy o boy! The boat was screaming across the lake, too much fun.

I finally got my mainsail to bare off the top. My main problem (IN MY OPINION) was loose battens. I tightend them enough to where NO RINKLES are present wow did the boat feal diferent. I also started pulling a lot more downhaul that I have in the past, inducing more mast curve. I thought the boat reacted good before, now its just INSANE! TINY movements on any control line, or rudders, the boat will either STOP like if it had anti-lock brakes or accelerate like it has two TDO5 20G turbo chargers, running on full boost(sorry one of my car moments there, wont happen again)

A few times I had the windward hull high up enough, to where we were almost vertical and with a flick of the wrist the boat came down, like nothing happened. The controls are just amazing.

Today we were mastering downwind runs. Spin hoisted and crew on the wire behind me (skipper), wow that boat just flies.

As you can see I am pretty stocked about today, got there at 11am EST and left at 9pm EST. Got a good ammount of dips, teabags and close calls. We also recovered from what was ALMOST! a turtle I seriously thought we were gonners by then, but I got on the righting line and the boat just started comming up like there was no tomorow.

Seing how we almost turtled, and while lowering the mast we heard splashes inside, I am going to work on it tomorow and seal it up with some RTV.

WOW what a fun day!

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Re: What a FUN day! [Re: Robi] #50780
06/10/05 06:49 AM
06/10/05 06:49 AM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 9,582
North-West Europe
Wouter Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Wouter  Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 9,582
North-West Europe

Quote

... I thought the boat reacted good before, now its just INSANE! ...



Take away an important lesson from this experience. Now you know that the extra gears exist and that the only issue is to find the right trim to unlease it. This thing is impossible to explain to any new (or would be) F16 sailor. You just have to experience it yourself to believe it. But an important experience it is. Now you know how much difference a small adjustment can make, now you know what to look for. You are about to scale the mental barrier where the thing that is holding you back is not the sailing conditions or boat design but your mind that doesn't believe more speed is possible. Now your mind knows better and a new area of performance is opening up to you. Remember this always.

But it is great fun having this "Ohhh my God" experience isn't it ? Had mine about a year ago, during a strong wind distance race. I still remember the thrills and chills.

Okay now remember to write down what you exactly did before the turbo chargers kicked-in. Over time these notes will compose a complete game plan for varying conditions and you'll learn to completely understand the rig.

If you are up to it, try to learn the aerodynamics that explain these phenomena as well. These will really help you to form all these individual experiences into one big theory that you can use to "remember" what to do under varying or even new conditions. It will also aid you very much in optimizing the tuning of your rig (prebend, spreader rake, mast rake, stay tension etc).

One important thing to note is that when you accellerate or decellerate that you often must adjust the trim and sheeting as well as steer to keep the rig in its optimal settings. Things like apparent wind and windforce change significantly when accellerating and decellerating. Compensate for it proportionally. Things like release sheet tension when in the middle of the tack to speed up faster and sooner. These things will again allow you to find better performance on top of what you discovered just now.

Yep the learning curve is probably several years long ! So enough stuff to keep you occupied and enjoying yourself in the future.

You've been initiated with the F16 feeling (Bug)

Welcome to the club !

Wouter







Wouter Hijink
Formula 16 NED 243 (one-off; homebuild)
The Netherlands

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