Well I got to do my first race in my mozzie today... Winter Series at Christies Beach. The day started out with a 4kt/W but was forcast for an 8kt/S. Before the start she blew up to maybe 10 to 12SW which was fun and we had a small shower. Once the race was underway it settled into maybe 4 - 8kt/S for the duration. During the race I had an old tall ship pass me by then an old WW2 aircraft flew over me relatively low and to top it off I had two dolphins swimming on my bows and 8+ behind me for around five minutes. A pod of 40 or so dolphins had entered the race. Can't ask for better than that. Oh and I came second... only two mozzies and the rest were T/S. Hehehehe. All in all a great day and the mozzie performed well with all the changes working as advertised... coulda been a tad more wind but... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Tony,

Excellent !! Just the sort of wind you need to sort out any potential issues. How did the Mozzie feel in terms of weatherhelm or lee helm ? Was 1st place the other Mozzie and if so how far behind were you and could you get some time to benchmark against it ? I bet the water was bloody cold !! About time for a dry suit in this temperature.

Peter

Yes certainly don't wanna go out first time in a blow... The mozzie felt quite good. I have changed quite a few things with help from a few fellow Christies Sailing Club guys and I have slight weatherhelm with a nice light feel on the tiller. I have mast rake at literally zero degree's. I could be wrong here but I reckon I was getting close to the bottom mark when the first mozzie hit the beach.. so I'm guessing around 20 minutes... sounds alot but I was expecting getting lapped as the other mozzie (D.Kopp - 1704) is very good!!! I was happy to just sail my own race and take it all in. I certainly wasn't thinking I was gonna be competative in any way.. it was an effort just to make sure I did the course correctly. Yes the water was cold but in 4-8kts you can pretty well guarantee you aint gonna get wet. The sun was out most of the time and relatively pleasant. Darryn has been tremendous with helping me tune. He kills me upwind but down wind I think I do ok... I seem to keep up with him but then again he could be playing with me.. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> I am still wearing my Ronstan shorts and I am not feeling the cold yet...

Cheers

Regatta Season is over and my Mozzie is hibernating for the winter. Though I'll have to wake her up soon as I have some work planned <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />. She's going to have a Mk 2 option installed. Good to hear some keen sailors are getting out on the water. You'll have to give the rescue boat crew a camera and get some happy snaps.

Col

Yes... is it keen or stupid, I wonder sometimes? Considering we have the nationals at my club in 6 months, I need to work out which way the pointy bit goes and get as much practice as I can. Hehehehe... The rescue boat guys are too busy fishing during the racing to be taking happy snaps of me.. and besides I'm not as pretty as my mozzie so I'd spoil the shot <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Cheers Col, if you come to the nationals make sure you come and introduce yourself.

Tony,

Sounds like you need to make some adjustments for the upwind leg (downhaul and mainsheet tension) to get some upwind speed. Did Darryn have his sail relatively flat upwind in those light conditions ? I don't believe he's playing with you downwind; he just wants go fast all the time and you had the correct settings for downwind.

Regards,

Peter

Tony
Prior to the race, downwind, you where definitely sailing faster then me.
Darryn

Peter

Mmmm, yes I agree. Can I say at this stage, I only know where the steering wheel and accelerator is. Haven't really worked out how to change gears yet but I am working on it. I didn't really notice Darryn's sail shape because at the start I blinked and he was gone... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> He has great acceleration. In regard to the downwind stuff its good to know I am doing at least something right.. I am trying a few things this weekend to start on learning to change gears, etc.. Whats best for acceleration, 1. more mast rotation or 2. less downhaul or 3. less mainsheet or a combination of the above. I think I am getting a nice fast sail but struggle with the acceleration bit <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> and I just need alot more sailing time to really get to know my sail in terms of performance settings.

Cheers

Darryn

Good to know... Just gotta work on upwind now which I am sure will be fun <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> Good to have you to benchmark against.

Cheers

Tony,

I'm no expert but it seems that your sail was too full for the light winds. Did you feel like you were heeling over rather than accelerating on the upwind legs ?

It would be a good idea to play with the sail shape on the beach before you set out. Adjust downhaul, mainsheet tension, outhaul and mast rotation for the upwind closehauled setting. Each sailmaker has their own designs so it's hard to say what works best for your sail.

Get Darryn to have a look at the sail shape and mark some positions on the mast, boom, mast rotation and mainsheet for reference. It will only be an indicator due to it being a static measurement with no boat speed and minimal wind force on the sail but it will put you somewhere in the ballpark to begin with.

Regards,

Peter

Peter

No heeling.. Thinking about it now I think I may have had the leech too tight!!!! That is exactly what I was intending for this weekend.. sit on the beach and play with the shape and maybe mark a few points and head out to try out. In regard to last Sunday's race (8kts) I had the outhaul 1/2 way and the downhaul on 5 for upwind and off for downwind. But remembering Darryns sail on the beach with both our outhauls off his sail seemed to have a lot more curve to it. I may try more batten tension and see what happens as well. At the moment if I pull on full downhaul my sail goes almost dead flat. We did have a look at the sail some weeks ago but not really in detail... need to spend more time on the beach this weekend and work out settings as already mentioned.

Cheers Peter...

Tony,
Batten tension looked right, I dont think your mainsheet was on to tight. We need to put a telltale in the spot we discussed a couple of weeks ago which will help you point.

Darryn

Darryn

Yes agree, I meant to grab a telltale from Binks today on the way home from work but forgot. I will try and grab one tomorrow and fit it this weekend with your help for position.. Hopefully the rain stays away <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Cheers

Tony,

If you can flatten out the sail it's a good sign that you have plenty of scope to get upwind speed in light wind and heavy wind. My old sail couldn't do that so I was always losing out. If your leach was too tight you would have been hooking it and stalling. More downhaul and less mainsheet tension should work in those conditions. Good luck.

Regards,

Peter

Peter

Cheers, I went out today and I reckon it was close to or if not 20kts. I also wacked some luff telltales on the sail and they make a huge difference. I don't know how I have sailed without them. These little bits of ribbon quickly pointed out I have too much mast rotation. The rotation limiting device I have is not that good so I will need to do something about that. I tell you what, I was nearly airbourne their between waves . Got real choppy so we came in. It was an exilerating experience today.. never been in that big a wind/sea before.
<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Tony,

I bet you were glad to get the sail as flat as`you could in those conditions. Great to see you enjoying the Mozzie even though you were flat out with the sea/swells.

I use a 2:1 mast rotation control with a small pulley off the end of the rotation control level, a saddle on the bottom of the boom just forward of the pulley to secure the 5 mm rope and a pulley and cleat fitting on the bottom of the boom just to the rear of the pulley to provide the adjustment. It doesn't allow you to adjust from out on trapeze but you can`adjust just prior to the bottom mark or after you get around the top mark and have had a chance to get onto the trampoline.

Regards,

Peter

Peter

I generally run my downhaul at 4 to 5 on the Ronstan scale with the wrinkles coming out at 3 to 4. I hauled it on to 7 for those conditions and it was remarkably stable considering. I put some luff telltales on before I went out and I definitely needed more rotation so over the last few days I have rebuilt the rotation and the outhaul systems. I put the sail up today and now have a much better system with dealing with rotation and outhaul. In regard to your rotation, do you set and forget or adjust for the conditions? To my thinking you should try and have the lee side of the spanner in line with the apparent wind, (see pic). What do other people try and do?? Obviously you want minimal turbulence on the lee side of the sail..

Your right, I am 'really' enjoying myself...

Tony,

I really should have a mast rotation system that I can adjust from the trapeze so that it can be tweaked continuously for most efficient airflow <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> but usually I set it for each leg of the course along with outhaul and just keep adjusting the downhaul. The assumption here is that the wind strength will generally be consistent for each leg of the course and that downhaul will be used to trim the heeling angle.

Too many adjustment lines all over the deck tend to make it messier and easier to stuff up. Maybe I should also try to not loose concentration during a race !!

Regards,

Peter

Hi Peter,

my thoughts on adjustment of rotation on Mossie mast is that the shape of the mast does not make it critical enough to need constant adjustment, from a aerodynamic view point.. Much better to concentrate on what is going on off the boat.

To my mind major effect of rotation on Mossie mast, is on stiffness below the Hounds when you rotate more, more fore and aft load is taken by the Diamonds stiffening the Mast. Allowing you to power up the middle of the sail or less rotation flattening the sail and the entry at the same time.

Regards Gary.

Peter/Gary

I have temporarily installed a most rotation assisting rope because whoever set my mast up has the diamonds catching on the main stays when I go down wind. I never get 90 degree's only around 70. I am awaiting some light downwind sailing opportunity to try it out to see if I gain any more speed. I will fix the problem but in the meantime I just pull the mast around to 90... I can't see the need for fine adjustment, I just want better upwind/downwind control (settings)..

Gary, tend to agree with you there.. so do you deliberately rotate to power up your sail or do you just let it do its own thing from mainsheet position??

Cheers