Slip-to-Ship

How'd it go? The weather was pretty bad Saturday in Pcola Beach? Did the fleet survive? Was it fun? How was the new club house? Any race reports?

I think at least 4 F16s were there....

F16 take top 4 out of 5 in the spin fleet.
results

Phillip,

How did you get onto an F16 ?

And more importantly, what do you think about it ?

Wouter

I could not find crew for the N20, and Tom was unable to attend, so Tom graciously offered his ride to me. A most gracious act indeed. Thank you Tom. The good news is the Viper (F16) got great exposure and others are now interested in one.

What do I think about it? I was first impressed with the Viper when traveling down with Tom to pick up the boat and sailing on it with Robbie. I noticed a big difference in performance from my time on his Blade, and changed my opinion about being to heavy for F16. After sailing it this weekend I got some answers to some of my questions, especially sailing a 16 foot boat in waves, swells, and extreme conditions. Overall, I'm very pleased. Racing Saturday and Sunday, I sailed one up and was slow beating to weather, lacking the experience to trim a uni rig. I'm sure some time on the boat will fix that. Reaching I was fast, downwind was simply brilliant, picking off boat after boat. I really liked the cut of the spin, very easy to trim, flat, and deadly fast in a breeze, especially trapped out under the foot strap.
On Friday, I had the boat rigged one up to get some time on the boat. The wind/gusts was extreme. The boat felt great, accelerating with amazement. I went back to the beach and a good sailor friend ask alot about the boat and my experience and was genuinely interested in the platform. The wind had built considerable, I needed an extra hand on the boat, and weight and offered a ride. We went out with the single traps setup uni and at about 450#. The experience was impressive and amazing. We were off shore and got caught in a squall, with winds in excess of 30 knots for extended periods. Chris on the wire, myself hiked out. One person on the tiller, the other on the mainsheet, swapping the tiller and mainsheet at will. We were powered up and accelerating thru the gusts, with no popping hulls. We sailed around the storm to port and then the damn thing turned toward us, so up with the chute, and off we went. Great experience for both of us, and I learned alot about the Viper in high winds. The weight on the boat was a God send.

Sailing solo I missed the 4 feet of fat bows of the N20 and learned pretty quick that you can stand this rig on its nose. It accelerates very fast, but decelerates equally as fast

Just curious, at what wind speed does standing rigging start singing, cause it sounded like the string section in the orchestra tuning up for the opera!

Very glad to see you coming to the light! I'm sure a N20 will fetch a fair price.

I think the singing wires / standing rigging is Beaufort 6.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale
25 to 30 MPH

WOW !

We know the designs can carry more weight then many a sailor thinks they can, but 450 lbs of crew weight (204 kg !) is definitely outside of the design envelope !

And you guys were nicely powered up under mainsail alone ?

Okay there was a 30 knot squall going on; that may have helped, right ?

With regards to sailing upwind solo; yeah sail trim becomes important there. There are grooves there but we all tend to muddle about for a while before we actually do find them.

Great report Phillip, I really enjoyed reading it.

One question, if you don't mind.

You wrote :



I wonder in what way specifically and whether Tom's Blade had an Ullman suit of sails.

If you don't care to answer this question then that is alright.


Best of winds,

Wouter

Toms balde did have the older sails, and it has been proven a lot that there is a big difference in the old to new sails.
Phillip really did well this weekend sailing the boat in big winds solo. The rest of us on sat went main alone, 2 up and were just about right, but he was solo, trapping downwind and was just behind oley race one. With a little more time on the boat he will figure out the upwind groove then I think he will be hell to deal with.
It was a good weekend to learn more about the boats in higher winds and some chop. I was on the heavier side of the weight (combined weight around 340) and the boat still did great. I love these boats upwind, and downwind I just need more time to figure out where the limits area and where the boat likes to sail.
The sunday race had a reach down the backside of the island, and I learned the boat can take more then I can currently.
The more we learn about these boats the more the bigger cats better watch out.

I think he had the flatter of the two different sails, Ullman?

But, I'm not sure and can't remember. I did know, but forgot.


Here is something that a lot of people don't know about, the Vipers that are out this year(came over on the container that I bought my boat from in the US) have a different cut than the original sails. Basically, they are a second generation sail. Greg made some improvements over the first set and I think he made the luff a little more fuller, which would give the boat a little more power. At least that's what's been told to me. Now, he might have done that because the boat is a little heavier to give it a little more power. But again, I'm new so what do I know.

Chris Amador has the new set and he can sail a little higher with them than he previously could. Now, his other set might have been a little worn out so that might be the reason why he could point a little higher with the newer set than the others.

I think it's pretty cool that you can play with the sails compared to the older designs though. It doesn't give you a HUGE advantage, but it sure does make things more interesting.

If indeed he had the Ullman sails then that is the explanation between the large difference in performance. I've sailed/raced with both sails and the Glaser sails were a quantum leap up.

Basically, the concensus appears to be that the Ullman F16 mainsails of the years 2005-2006 are rather good as 1-up sails but lack significantly in the 2-up department. The squaretop falls away too soon when 2-up and also touching the downhaul or mast rotation would kill the sail in that usage. Overhere we settled on a single fixed mast rotation and downhaul setting and never ever adjusted it. Then the same boat owner got one of the Alter Cup Blades with the Glaser suit of sails. It was like someone had turned the afterburners on. So same platform and mast, same crew (160 kg combined), different suit of sails and a really noticeably improvement in speed.

Of course these Alter Cup sails (2007) where a first try by Glaser (after the prototype sail tested by Matt/Gina) and so yes a second generation design by AHPC/Goodall probably have widened the gap to the Ullmans even more.

But before we write-off the Ullman sails; I underscore that the owners do like them when sailing 1-up; the cut seems to be right for that usage and I may track one down myself as a dedicated 1-upper.

Wouter

Indeed, these are only small improvements with each step. However, over a longer time period these do add up and that is why SMOD classes like the FX-one, Spitfires, Tiger and Nacra 20 are suffering with respect to the A's, F16's and F18's.

Within these formula classes the rule is that if you got a proper sail design that is not older then 3 years (and not blown out) then you'll be alright competitive wise. Try to be competitive with a sail design that was designed close to 10 years ago and you'll be left hanging even if it is brand new (not blown out).

Of course after 3 years of use a sailor must replace his sails anyway as they will be too blown out for any highly competitive sailing in a heavily contested fleet. But that is no different in SMOD classes, so the overall costs in order to remain competitive are about the same.

Yeah, I think the formula concept is a major breakthrough in sail boat design/racing. It just works so well.

Wouter

The spitfire is doing just fine Wouter.

I don't understand why you state the Spits are suffering against the F16's, A's etc.

They have a modern sail plan than is very well tuned. Just as the A, F18 and F16 does.

I think this photo shows the two sails being discussed.

The sails were first generation sails and the plan has evolved over the past few years. They did have some conditions that they were very fast in. The sails will continue to change and develop. Unlike a mast or hulls, the sails can (and are expected) to be replaced every few years or so - a great chance to stay competitive!!!

Additionally, a more knowledgable person could have gotten more out of the sails than I was able to.