Despite the mishap at the nationals, Russell is progressing slowly. Each week we tinker a little bit and get him sorted out.
I am tempted to adjust spreader rake, mast rake ect, but I am still fine tuning all the running gear, placement, strengthen ect. We seem a little bogged down up wind, even struggling to get 2 on the wire, but down wind were getting a combination happening, with a measurable improvement against the A's at my club.

The ute is on loan from a friend of mine who sells them. I enjoyed the drive, she enjoyed the sail. A fair deal...

A couple more shots

The repaired carbon mast is quite likely the stiffest part of the boat. I am sure it's part of my up wind problem.

How far north of Sydney are you? Nice looking boat!

From the airport it,s about 1hr & 45 mins north.

LOL..... Love it. May stand out on the start line though.

Wouter bought a Blade?

Is this a home build?

Yes Russell is a ply wood home build.

Any pictures of the process?

There are plenty of photos of Russell being built on this forum. But you have to go and look for them.
Here are a few I can still find at home.

Another angle showing where the bridle attaches, and bulkheads, You can see the cedar templates for the deck supports.

More bulkheads and deck fittings. You can just make out the center board casing.
The bow needed to be extended because there wasn't enough ply. Just scraps glued together and glued on. The glass on the bow before the join had to be cut to allow for the bend.

The fairing had begun. With out a doubt the hardest part of the build. It took months to get it even close to good enough.
The bottom photo shows the foam bulkhead I put in as bouncy.
I had foam bulkheads cut out, but I took them out and decided to have two bouncy tanks. A problem if a direct hit.

The rear beam landings and a cedar strip on the stern to take the redder gudgeon.

Rear beam landings, I glued some foam blocks on and shaped them so they are more stream lined. I like the lookk of them and they seem to work fine.

Looking towards the fore deck. I built up around the fore beam landing as well. Plenty of faring here as well. The last 45cm is another foam block glued on and sanded to shape and glassed over. I was very happy with shape.

Here I was getting ready to mould up the beams. It took a fair while to get everything straight. I then strapped it to the floor. You can see the tool tech on the beams which allowed me to use the filler and not have the beams glued in.

Rigging up the spinnaker before using it. The pole is a fiberglass two piece wind surfer mast. I use a thicker section for the boom. They both work fine.