Perhaps these larger cats act a bit differently than their smaller counterparts when the lee-bow goes under. I recall one race chasing Randy back from Ship Rock under spinnaker - doing the wildthing at 20 plus - and driving the hull well underwater. The boat simply lost speed, pivoted slightly off weather, and then continued on again. After changing my underwear, I experienced the event two more times with the same result. Now I'm not saying a pitchpole can't happen, but I sure was glad it didn't!

Mr. Krantz, have you ever gone sub-mariner with the R33?

John Papa,
http://33n.us

I have not driven the hull under on the R33. Not that I'm saying it can't be done, it's just that I haven't had the conditions to push it that hard, yet...

An RC-27 will pitchpole pretty spectacularly. Beside the deceleration, you also have to content with the height off the water as the hulls bury to the main cross beam and the transoms are 10' or more in the air.

The actual 'stock' rig for the RC-27 was originally 45'. Bill Roberts configured his first RC-27 with a 41.5' mast, which put the height off the water around 43.5'. The Shands bridge for the Mug Race has a clearance of 46' at high tide, but the Mug Race rules stipulate a max mast height of 44' for the south course.

So, to be accurate, the RC-27s and RC-30 that race the Mug Race carry a custom mast which is shorter than the 'stock' mast. It so happens that the 41.5' mast is the only mast I have and the only mast that Mike Tierney & Rich Brew have a full set of sails for. The boat is under powered most of the time, but when the wind gets above 15 kts when everyone else is over powered, the 'short' mast RC-27s and RC-30 kick butt.

Rob-

Hows the new partnership going???

I took the 22 out with a prospective crew. He doesn't want to go anymore... thats with the high wind sails and roller furling spin not the full race setup. It was blowing 15-25 with gusts. The original design for the 22 is for steady winds below 15mph in South Florida or similar conditions not what we have here...if it blows its usually what I described.

thom

Rob, do you need Mug race crew this year? Also, are you still racing A cats at the Rudder Club? We are due for some big wind this year after that abismal flat calm we had last year.

The partnership is going well. We just finished planning some upgrades and our race schedule for this year. I kind of took this past year off of racing (at least not serious racing) to work on a certified flight instructor and instrument instructor rating, as well as just getting current flying again. I has taken a lot of time and money, but I am wrapping it up in the next two months.

This has given my new partner, Tony, a chance to get used to the boat.

I usually love going out for a sail in a good blow, but I have used these bad weather days to study flight regulations.

Tim,

Tony will obviously be one of the crew for the Mug Race. We haven't chosen a 3rd yet.

The A Class fleet sort of morphed and moved to Gainesville. Charlie Johnson retired and moved to Ocala. Chris Cordes is between jobs and sold his boat. Eveyone else was closer to Gainesville, so they are mostly sailing out of Lake Sante Fe. That is just as well for me since, as you can see from the post above, I have been a little busy.

You got that right about the Mug Race winds. We could definitely use some more wind. Let's just hope it doesn't turn out like the last blow out, with 30 - 35 kts out of the north!

Rob, congratulations on getting the ticketts! Fly on down to Sebring (cheapest avgas in FL, they claim... $2.75 rigtht now) and I'll buy you lunch at the new Airport Cafe.

bttt

(that means back to the top for people who don't have time to "browse" and "post" on the internet, or who have less than 2000 posts, whichever applies to you)