Right at this time the Taipans in Australia will have completed their first race day.

The races can be followed at the following website :

http://www.mccraeyc.com.au/default.asp?Page=27367&MenuID=Regattas/11927/0





It is not really clear yet how many boats and crews have entered as their is no online registered listing but the training race of yesterday showed the following fleet sizes.

Taipan 4.9 solo (cat rigged ) : 25 boats
Taipan 4.9 double (sloop rigged) : 16 boats

Taipan 5.7 : 3 boats
Capricorn F18 ; 4 boats

It is very much possible that we'll see more teams have entered as yesterday was the last day of arrival and measurements. So not all may have participated in the training.





For the results go to :

http://sailmelbourne.com.au/race-results/2007/taipan/invite/series.htm


Lets see who gets out on top, over the next couple of days !

Wouter

Hi All

The top six cat rigs within 30 seconds of each other on the finish line, should be a close battle.

I hope to go down there Monday for a look.

Regards

Matt,

Make sure you make lots of pictures and have time left to write up a race report on this Forum afterwards !

Many will be very appreciative, including myself.

Thanks,

Wouter

Hi all,

interesting results from heat 1. Cat rigs didn't see the usual suspects, Dennis and Noel at the front. Sloop rigs the first 2 where from Frankston and normaly sail with spin.

Mind you McRae is a very flukey place to sail, will see who rises to the top after a few races. Every time I sail at McRae I swear I will never go back.<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

I guess it is not blowing on the bay like it is on the lakes, has been 30kts. plus for 2 days here. Mind you it's brilliant sunshine and about 24 degrees c. So I had to go sailing anyway, no yachts could stand up Hobie Getaway snapped the top of its mast, so I pulled out the old sailboard and had a blast <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />, until the water police turned up and told me off for exceeding the 5 knot zone which is in font of the yacht club beach I launched off <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />. Will have to watch out on "Altered" next time I am out.

Regards Gary. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

New link to the race results.

The link provided in my first posting does not display the actual championship results but only the result of the training.

The real race results can be found at :

http://sailmelbourne.com.au/race-results/2007/taipan/open/series.htm

Already 5 races have been completed !

And the fleets are :

27 x Taipan 4.9 cat (singlehanded)
17 x Taipan 4.9 sloop (double handed)

4 x Capricorn F18
4 x Taipan 5.7

Hi All

The way I see it is, in the cat rigs, after race 5, George Hooper 1st, Noel Grellet 2nd and Liam Goodall 3rd. This is without factoring in a worst result drop, which would put Noel at the top (go the timber 003 <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />)

The Sloops would be C.Hooper 1st, Luke Donovan (go the seedy pirate racing team <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />) and Steve Kiely 3rd, again that would change with a drop.

I can't find results for Race 2 and Luke Donovans phone keeps ringing out, but I'll go out on a limb and say lack of wind. I don't know what happened in Race 5 either, with 5 of higher ranked Sloops recording a DNF.

Bye

Do they take the time to weigh all the boats prior to the regatta? I am interested to know if the timber 4.9's weigh the same as the glass boats. I also think it's great that there are so many 4.9's racing solo, do they cary the spinnaker when racing solo?

Tim,
The spinnaker is not class legal in the Taipans.
So neither do the cat or sloop rig boats use the spinnaker in national or state competition.
As far as weighing the boats this should be done when you get a measurement certificate for your boat. The ply and glass boats are pretty much the same weight.

Regards,
Phill

No spin's on the 4.9's. What about the 5.7's? Looks like they have them in the pics when mixed in with F18s (unless that photo is from another regatta).

Spinnakers are included for the 5.7s.

Hi All

Measurement and Registration was held on the 27th (day before the start of the championship) for those who don't have a certificate.

Noel Grellet told me ages ago, that what the boats weighed was sometimes different, due to them using different scales, he said that according to one set of scales he had put some weight in the main beam to bring his up to minimum and next time, he got to take the weight out.

Regards

Hi all,

interesting mix of results, great to see variety of winners cat and sloop, in the Sloops there are a couple of interesting names, I think C Hooper would be Cameron, who I ran in to in Darwin he had not long bought the Taipan and has been racing with spin. in Darwin against the local Tornado fleet and getting some good results, he was very keen to go to Global Challenge when it was going to be in Singapore. He is a ex Melb. boy and has sailed Hobies with Tim Shuwallow to win at Port Melb. a couple of years ago, can't remember the Title it was Worlds or Asia Pacifics, something like that. They beat Bundy amongst others so standard is high. Macatack the current F16 state champ is hanging in without spin, so good luck James, if he wins I won't feel so bad about him beating me <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />.

Regards Gary. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

In the picture of the 4.9 Uni start I notice the square tops are quite narrow at the top, is that also a class rule about how fat the sail head can be?

Tim,

From memory I think the limit is 440mm for the top of the sail.
A bit of a claytons square top by todays standards.

Regards,
Phill

Ahhh...that explains it. Do you know about what percentage of the fleet is wood vs. glass? Looks like a good turnout of both types.

There are not too many people here in the US who have the time/skill/knowledge to build a good wooden boat any more. There are a few companies that sell wooden kits for kayaks, stitch and glue, that have become popular but they don't offer any catamaran type kits. I emailed one of them to ask why not and he said it would be too hard to convert the tortured ply method plans to stitch and glue plans and that to build a tortured ply boat would be much harder than what they do.

Tim,
I don't know how any ply boats are in that fleet.
I would guess that around 10% would be timber.
This is just a guess from what I've seen over the years.
As far as kayaks go-
I thought I'd build some kayaks during the winter and got some plans from one of the US companies that also sells kits.

Pretty easy to build from the plans. It is easier than tortured ply but uses/develops many of the same skills.
I'll attach a pic. Anyone thinking of building a cat and does not have the confidence to jump straight in could try a kayak first.

Regards,
Phill

Phill, those are beautiful, I love the Super Man S! Do you think those hulls would be strong enough to handle the loads of cross beams, center boards and the stays for a mast? They make a sail kit but it's a very small sail. I was thiking of putting two of these togeher with cross beams, adding a mast, off you go! Not nearly enough freeboard up front though.

So I thought, if you just changed the shape of the hulls, to a Blade type, could it be done using sticht and glue and be strong enough? My guess is no, or it would already be done that way.

Tim,
They are too long to make an F16.
I built them to paddle so putting sails on them would just make me lazy.

Regards,
Phill

Yes, I they are great for paddling but if there is any wind, you can't tell me you wouldn't be out there wishing you had a mast or a kite!

Speaking of kites, you have no doubt seen the kite boards. What if you were to use a smaller version kite with your kayak? Take it with you all packed up early in the -no wind- morning and then use it to pull you home later when the wind comes up! Anyone try that yet? I thought I saw a photo of a couple guys on a real catamaran, no mast, using a kite for power.

I'm pretty sure there are tiny little "fishing rod" masts and square sails for kayaks.

Lots of stuff:

http://www.easyriderkayaks.com/down_wind_kayaks.htm

http://www.vision.net.au/~jennings/sail/sail.html