Video from F18 training session.

During one of the training sessions I shot some video with the Gopro headcam.
I'm thinking about making a few videos during the season so plz tell me what you do and dont like about it (dont hold back! ).

Nice, it gives a good idea of how it feels to sail an 18 downhill

Who's the coach?

Mischa Heemskerk and Oscar Zeekant where in the RIB.
What they noticed was that the spin luff was too flat which made it difficult to sail deep, something to fix for tomorrow.

G-R-E-A-T! This gives a good impression how F18 sailing actually is.
But: is The Netherlands so much warmer than Germany - can you sail the whole year through?

Well...ok, here goes, you were Crewing, which means you were trimming the main going upwind and the kite going downwind, right?

Did you edit out all the 1000 times you looked up at the main going upwind and leading edge of the kite going down?

I usually tell my crew, "If I look at you and your eyes are not on that kite luff, I'm going to punch you in the head! DO NOT take your eyes off that kite luff!"

(any wonder I can't get crew?)

Maybe that's why your kite luff was too tight? At least it didn't collapse, which is even slower...

Your kid is a lot bigger than you are...

Yeah, that's why I usually put him on the Prindle!

Like Mohamed Ali said, "I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. You can't hit what you can't see."

When in doubt, duck!

LOL, You make it sound like we sail on Ibiza! (Actually, a few weeks ago you could walk where we sail.)
It was only like 3 degrees that day, and with my drysuit still broken was wearing a wetsuit.
You are only a 4 hour drive away, you should come and do some races here sometime.

Upwind in steady breeze I never look at the sail and trim according to how much the
windward hull flies above of the water (ideally just above).
Its much more useful to look upwind at the gusts then to look at the sail anyway.
I want to keep the mainsheet as tight as possible to keep the sail flat and fast.
But if I pull it tight and the hull lifts too high I put on as much downhaul as needed to bring it down again.
(And if that isnt enough I will put on more diamond tension asap).

Downwind I do actually look at the luff of the kite but do a lot on feel as well, in lighter winds it is basically all I look at though.


Note to self: NEVER crew for Timbo!

Timbo,

If I'm spending all my time looking at the sail, how in the heck am I supposed to call the laylines, make your sandwich, your scotch and soda, clean the hulls, plan your next vacation online, and improve your financial portfolio ?

At least the wind at Tradewinds wasn't too bad because I'll say that making Bananas Foster over handmade ice cream for the skipper in heavy wind is a bi$%h

Downwind, only the skipper can see the layline, the crew can't see anything behind the kite! (at least on my boat) Upwind they can both see it. I did not mean to imply that the crew should stare at the sails the entire time, but in his video, unless his head cam was pointed down while his eyes were up, he -never- looked at the sails. An over trimmmed kite is slow.

Go watch the Mischa upwind video on the CRAW site (thanks for that TEH!) Even he looks at the sails once in a while. I think he said he spends his time looking outside the boat vs. inside, about 70/30, but zero "inside" is not a fast option, especially when it comes to the spinnaker.

Oh, and if you crew for me, bring your blender... ;^)

No Wonder at all!


Note to self: Get Waterbug_wpb on the boat!

He's on KP.

couldn't have said it better myself. Curious, are you going to loosen the luff of the spin by easing sheet a bit (would soften it a bit) or looking at a more "macro" change such as reduce the distance from the hoist point on mast to the spin pole (i.e raise the pole up a bit)?

You mean about the flat kite?
There is a line that runs inside the luff that probably needs some tightening, it will make the luff slightly shorter but should make the sail a bit fuller.

You can always crack off the halyard just an inch or two rather than raise the pole tip if that's all you want to do, unless you have the "all in one" tack/halyard set up.

Fiddling with all that is slow.

And if you're trapped out properly (low), you can just sneak a peek under the spin once in a while... But yeah, it's hard to see laylines

Agreed, but not that slow if you have a long downwind and the tackline "is right there" for playing with (i.e on Starboard tack my tackline is right at my feet. That said, I was talking more about "macro" boat settings, i.e before you go out sailing, making sure the distance between the pole tip and the hoist point is correct for the sail. Sounds like it isn't (based on OP comment on it being flat).

Never thought of the luff line in the sail, never really played with it actually.