Now that a number of folks have had the opportunity to sail the Blade I'm really curious about the "feel" of the boat in chop and waves, especially upwind, in comparison to the T4.9. I've been told the T4.9 is both smooth and quiet upwind in chop (ie, a "cutter like my current H17 and the I17 since the bows really slice through the water and don't have much or any bouncing tendency). One would think that with it's wider bow bottoms and lower volume distribution the Blade may get a little bouncy and/or noisy upwind in these conditions (like some A cat designs aka "planers"). Or, is the Blade somewhere in between the cutters and planers?

Thanks for the input,

Jerry

Although no one has yet responded to my last post I'm hoping someone will. Come on you Blade sailors I know you're out there! Really all I want to know is how much the Blade hulls slap in chop and waves. Wouter had a very good post in the past on "cutters" vs "planers". Neither is better, they're both fast and provide a slightly different experience. As Wouter said, some people like cutters and some like planers. I'm just curious where the Blade fits in based on actual experience compared with the other designs.

Jerry

Jerry,

It depends heavily on your definition of waves or chop, and how much wind there is. Here is a rough shot of my experience, Phill may want to add some more.

The Blade has a very full almost flat bottom, so in conditions where you are dropping off the back side of 6' footers, or sailing in the bay with 2' short chop and boat wake with light air, it does make a lot more noise slapping the water than a V-hull. These are the 2 conditions that I have actually noticed hull slap. Chop under 1 foot clears the hulls fine. In the bigger chop, as soon as you have a little more wind (enough for both people to sit windward when 2 up) the boat drives right through it.

Everything is a trade off when talking design. The additional slap present when it is choppy and light, IMO is far out weighed by the the benefit that the volume distribution provides in minimizing pitching. When you can keep the boat from pitching in waves you can sail a lot faster.

M

While the Taipan 4.9 cut really nice is most conditions it can get pretty bouncy as well.

Just last weekend. We did a comparison between a new FX-one and my Taipan F16, in sever short with a wavelength of just about one boatlength.

The FX-one looked rather stable in these conditions, I felt like I was on a bronco. It was just absolutely the wrong frequency for my Taipan. The wind dropped so I could really use the sail to stabilize the boat. Finally I moved around a little bit and found a spot that was sort of acceptable. Boat was still going up and down but not coming to a full stop every 20 seconds.

Still showed to be on the good side of the FX-one though. Saved my honour there, but it must be said, its hull shape took the conditions better despite being noisy. My point being that there will be a set of conditions where a cutter won't really do its thing when a wave-piercer will.

2 weeks ago I encountered conditions that really did favour a cutter. Each time when coming of the short waves the hulls would sink in and act like a suspension system keeping the rig moving about slowly through the air and not shake the attached flow off. It was just a beautiful delayed reaction the oncoming waves.

But I too think that the trade-off is in the favour of the newer hull shapes like the one used by the Blade.

Wouter

Wouter,

I think the difference in your experience with the FX1 is the same thing we have noticed against the F18s, that in certian conditions with big chop and relatively light air, the extra weight of those boats helps them through the conditions. Not necessariliy the hull shape.

There were some very good reports on the Capricorns from the Worlds that play off this same argument. The Capricorn shape is extremely similar to the Blade. They lacked the level of professional drivers racing them, but still had quite a few boats up near the top.

Like Wouter said, no boat will perform perectly in all conditions. I am very sold on the new hull shape, and feel we have an advantage in upwind performance over other boats in most conditions.

M

Matt and Wouter,

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I agree everything is a trade-off and I was trying to get a feel for the magnitude of the effect. If it's true that the slapping in 2 foot chop tends to dissapear with enough wind that indeed is good news since it's more common in most places to get 2 foot chop with at least 12-15 mph in my experience (with the exception being psycho chop caused by motor boats on light air days).

Matt, at roughly what windspeed were you referring to at which point slapping of the chop tends to less of an issue? Also, I'm curious if there's a differnce in the conditions in which slapping is noticeable for singlehanding vs doublehanding?

Jerry

Matt,
Jerry and I had a long chat some time back. Therefore I've been running on the assumption that Jerry was looking for input from others.

Jerry,
I hope you are enjoyinhg your H17.
If there is anything I can help you with please email me.
Happy to talk boats, anytime.
If there is anyway to organise it you need to take a Blade for a ride.
Only then will you get to experience the smooth feel of the boat. Compared to other boats this is especially noticeable when sailing in rougher sea consitions.
I love it.

Regards,
Phill

Phill,

Good to hear from you and thanks for the additional comments. I've heard nothing but great things about the Blade but you're right that a ride is worth a thousand words. None in my neck of the woods yet so I may need to take a trip and visit Matt in Florida (if that's OK with him). I'm definitely interested in a boat that handles well singlehanded in higher winds and rougher seas, whether I'm crazy enough to go out in those conditions or find myself in them by accident. That turns out to be something that the H17 does reasonably well but the trade off is it's not as exciting as it could be in more mundane conditions.

Thanks,

Jerry

If Matt is too busy, you can always come to South FL. That, plus in South FL, there is TONS more to do and see than in Titusville.

hell, Jerry (RBJ) can go to several places in the world now and get a test ride on a Blade.

Take your pick !

Wouter