Extreme Sail
I went out for a sail on Wednesday with the new CST Nano Extreme mast. It felt really good.
The leading edge is down to 35mm which is quite noticable. I used the standard KA cambers with more spacers to take tighten the luff pocket. Here is a few photos.
Fastacraft Launches Gen3 Foils
Two months to the Worlds and it seems everybody is rushing like mad to launch their new products. CST has launched Nano Spars and I just got a few photos from John about the new Gen 3 foils. Rudder in particular.
For Fastacraft the launch of new foils represents the end of a long road with over 12 months design and modeling work. They were designed by sailing enthusiast and aeronautical engineer whom has customised the aircraft software to take into account the sail, rigs and the full dynamics of foiling.
As seen in the recent full scale tank testing done in the USA there really was a neglibile difference between the eliptical Fastacraft foils and other products out there. Will this be the next step? Who knows. I will get a chance to test them in about a month.
Stay tuned for more on the centre board….
Time to think.
I’ve been on a short holiday over the last few days and loving the extra time I have been having to exercise, think about the boat and sailing plans in general. Still no closer to decision about Gorge, but that’s probably a little out of my hands anyway. It’s all about the moolah. or there lack of…
In the meantime, the club had it’s annual presentation night and the AGM is on next Saturday. I think it would be a good time to think about introducing windward leward courses as the club has all foilers now. We have at least one Assassin joining the fleet and should see similar numbers to last year. Probably about 13-14 registered.
Also, as few would know I have been working at CST Composites for a little while now in a Marketing/PR role. The company is happy to announce the sponsorship of the 2009 Worlds and I will be working closely with IMCA in promoting the event. I think the announcement is great news for both parties. The sponsorsip support will insure adequate funds for running of sucessfull and professional event and CST will once again be in the forefront of our technology leading class.
Speaking of technology, CST Nano TM spars will be hitting the market in a short while. I have been testing these with Dave and will have the new mast out again this weekend. Then there is sail development in progress as well, hopefully the wind will be good for some testing.
Trailer, anyone?
I’ve just put my trailer for sale on the IMCA AUS website.(I now have two so one has to go).. Here is a photo for those interested. It’s Galvanised, 98 built and registered for 12 months. $600
Season ends…
With last race sailed on Anzac day, this officially concludes the 08-09 sailing season. I read an article yesterday where it mentioned taking time off after mayor regattas and winter time to reflect on your achievements and avoid “burning out”. … I’m finding it hard to do this as the weather has been near perfect last Saturday and looks pretty good for tomorrow’s sail at Woolahra as well. Rumour is that Rohan and Rob Gough are flying in today to continue their training program with Nathan. Should be a good weekend with plenty of fast boats around…
Speaking of fast boats, I did some sailing with Dave recently and I reckon he is faster than ever. I can match him for upwind speed, but downwind he just charges ahead. If he decides to go to USA he should be a real contender for the tittle.
I still haven’t decided if I am going. For me it’s only worth going if I have a realistic chance of being in the top few. Unfortunately I can’t afford to do it for the experience or a great holiday, as the aded costs of boat freight, insurance, regatta fees etc make it an expensive one at that. It’s also possible to imagine someone rocking up with a kick arse piece of equipment and winning on boatspeed (and skill) like Fastacraft boys found out at Garda. But than again, things have luckily changed now as I don’t think my boat is all that slow…(just take Dave out of equasion).
Lots to think about, and I will have to make a decision soon with little over 3 months to go.
NSW States
One day to go!
I have been busy again and only managed to squeeze a one training sail with Dave last night. Wind was light, but for the 1st time in a while I felt I had good boatspeed in under 12kn range. The rig tweeks I made have paid off and with a bit of luck this will be handy in forecast light winds for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Last weekend, I opted not to sail in a 20kn Southerly at St George with no time to fix anything if it broke in time for the regatta. Probably a good move as Dave broke both his centerboard and gantry. He did manage a top speed of 28.4kn, a fraction of the current record. Impressive stuff…
What goes around comes around
So when you sell a boat, you are meant to get a better one, sail that and hope the old boat doesn’t beat you. Yeah? Then you go and buy your old boat back…. aarr, no …of maybe yes? if it pops up for sale at a good price and your girlfriend wants to get foiling. So the boat in the banner is back home. We are back to having 4 months now which I feel is a minimum really. : ) Sure it has a lot more dents than it did when I had it, but it’s still as original as before. Quite unbelievable really, after 4 years it still has all the same ropes. I somehow don’t think it was sailed more than 10 times.
On the racing front, congratulations to Dave who won the St George Club Championship on the weekend. Since my last post I scored a win in heat 5, however Dave won the race on Saturday. I had to pull out with a broken wand, and the weekend before broke my bell crank. I think lack of boat maintenance due to lack of time is really starting to show. It’s 2 weeks before the States now, so might have to get things sorted sooner rather than later.
Interesting…..
It seems my life is either flat out or the extreme opposite. At the moment it’s flat out, hence the lack of posts. I did however get a chance to sail last two Saturdays in between work at CST and Sunday Moth coaching.
Bruce has some nice data on his website of the race from 1 week ago which for the record was won by Dave by 4 minutes. The tide turned (literarly) at St George this weekend after I won by a 2 minute margin. It good to see the 10 year old Dave v’s Luka rivelry still lives on. What would be even nicer, is to get a few others in there to mix things up. It’s been tough going though, with Lea braking his foil for the 2nd time and Bruce doing the same. Chris is out with a broken gantry, so the fleet is looking quite wounded.
Another interesting thing was talking to Julian Bethweite at Woolahra about the foiling 49er last Sunday. I have seen the powerboat prototype and the final configuration (at this stage) is a centreboard hydrofoil (no flaps) with a forward canard foil which will also act as a rudder sporting a small flap controlled by a wand. No rudder at back.
Certainly an interesting configuration and Julian seems adamant it will work. It has been tried by few on a Moths too, however all I can say if this is the final configuration this will be interesting. Launch day is in about a month.
Back to club racing
So I’ve had a bit of a break from it all… I think I needed it after so much sailing, however after the race last Saturday I’m itching to go out again.
Perhaps I’m addicted??
We did have nice, although rather light conditions with a 7-12kn SE breeze. It was actually very close between Dave and I, and after some very good racing I won the race by a big 15 minute margin. Admitedly helped by some breeze on the way to the finish while Dave low rode all the way in.
Fingers crossed for more breeze this coming weekend for heat 4 of the Club Championship… Perhaps a better turnout too?
Nationals Wrap-up
After my camping de-tour, we are back in Sydney with things back to normal…. It actually feels great. No boat work, late nights carboning….etc
I’d like to congratulate Nathan on a great win. It just goes to show how profesional and talented our best sailors are, being able to step into the class and beat guys that have been doing it for years.
Simon and Mach2 also had a great regatta as did Dave Lister whose hard work and preparation paid off.
I finished 8th all up, which is quite good considering my comeback from 13th with 3 days to go. My light weather performances really hurt, but I was able to win a race and finished off with a 4th. I’d like to thank ‘the coach’ (Lea) for his help, I certainly improved through the event and was more focused than in any other regatta thanks to his advice.
As most would know by now, the ’seacret’ bits appearing on St George boats have been seen by most. I wasn’t going to come out with it, but the ‘Damic Stic’ also known as the (Luka Wand) worked a threat. Basically it’s an adjustable ride height control on the go through wand lenght adjuster. I’ll be making and selling these shortly after getting approached by lots of interested people. There will be a Bladerider, Prowler and Zero model but I’ll go into more detail about this in later posts.
I also used a home built rudder to Dave Lister’s design but contrary to most peoples believes, wasn’t the reason for great downwind speed. There were other parts that remained un-noticed, but that’s a story for another time.
I’d also like to thanks the Geelong Club for a very well run series, it certainly is a great place to sail..
For now, it’s back to club racing and some Woolahra sailing before the States.
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