Sunday Racing

Weather forecast looks great for tomorrow.
I shall be practicing putting more kicker on downwind and posssibly hoisting the kite from sitting on the wing.

Can't wait....hopefully get some moe pictures for you.

:o)

Error of my ways

I think I have found out what I am doing wrong.

I need to apply a little more kicker, when going downwind, so I shall try that this weekend and hopefully get some better pictures.

:o)

downwind piccy

D-One tuning guide Part 2

Mast Rake = 6m80 light to medium
                     6m70 Strong
Light winds Upwind
Traveller 15-18cm from centreline
Kicker = take up slack while mainsheet tension on
Mainsheet = tight to get leach tension
Battern tension = slightly increased to add depth.
Downhaul = off

Light Winds Downwind
Traveller centreline
Kicker = loose to create nice slot and get the mainsail telltails flying correctly
Mainsheet = boom in off rear gunwhale.
Downhaul = off

Medium to Strong Winds Upwind
Traveller keep easing as the wind gets up
Kicker = take up slack while mainsheet tension on

Mainsheet = tight as you can get it.
Downhaul = on and progressively tighter as wind gets up

Medium Downwind
Traveller centreline
Mainsheet = boom in off rear gunwhale, maybe eased slightly before gybe
Downhaul = off

Strong Downwind
Traveller centreline
Mainsheet = 1ft off rear gunwhale or more if survival conditions, deffo eased slightly before gybe.
Downhaul = wack it on if really over powered.

Reaching in all winds
Kicker = on enough to keep boom level and not riding high when mainsheet is let off.
Downhaul = on if you need to depower else off.
Traveller = eased slightly as wind gets up.

Mast Rake

I mentioned last week that I changed the rake to a sweet position but I didn't measure it....

Well today I measured it for you.

6080mm

But.....today I think I could have put it further back, because it was really windy.....

but your are getting the idea.

Just the one swim please Mrs Wembley

I am 89kgs, look how nicely it sits waiting to be righted.

The mast is sealed and so turtling just doesn't happen....well it hasn't yet anyway.

Saturday Windy sailing

Wow it was windy today.

I needed to change tactics a bit for the downwind legs.
I got punished for having the main in too tight (just off the rear transom)
One huge gust hit me and it just tripped over.

So I decided to spill the main a bit further in the big stuff.

Who needs windsurfers to go fast!

Hove To

I keep forgetting to mention about the hove-to scenario.

I think there is a pre-conceived idea that a fully batterned mainsail would be difficult to depower in between races and when having a rest or on water bimbling.

So just to give you an idea of it's capabilities.... On Sunday in a Force 3 gusting 4 after one of the races I wanted to make a few adjustments to the downhaul and mast rake.

This meant moving to the front of the boat for a bimble.

Procedure was kicker off, downhaul off, mainsheet track completely off to leward.

In the time it took to undo the mainsail tack line round the mast, and the block that the downhaul attached to the mainsail with, in order to adjust the length (to avoid it riding up the mast track) unthread the downhaul, put it all back together again and change a chock for the mast rake, I can say that I had started to drift backwards at a slow pace, but the boat did not want to tack or anything that would have me worried about being at the wrong end of the boat without a tiller in my hand.

So I was very happy with that....it's very well balanced.

Tuning guide

Ok so today as the wind got up I felt that I was hiking like crazy upwind but feeling a bit overpowered.

So I decided to drop the mast rake backwards by one thick wedge / chock .....I am afraid that I forgot to measure it, however I shall do so next week.

The upshot of that was the ability to plane earlier upwind and generally felt really great on the helm.

The chocks are held in with elastic and so adjusting rake is a extremely easy.

I am thinking that the probable measurement will be approx 6070-ish.
I will confirm

PY Performance

As I am comparing myself against the RS400's today was the day that I think I cracked it.

Once I got her planing upwind, I was not too far behind them and if I can hold my own against them upwind then downwind is good, because as you would expect....the D-One goes mental.

I had an interesting moment while racing with the kite up against a 400....

I had to bare off as the gust hit, however the 400 could hold it and I couldn't bare off infront of him, so I simply had to hike like crazy.....I even wacked the downhaul on to depower a bit.

Great fun, but could have done with a tad more leverage if sailing on that angle.....bearing off like stink in a gust is the way forward (as you would expect)

Honestly, I think 950 is probably a little too hard, it may in the longterm increase a little.
Certainly in the lighter stuff it's a tuffy, but as soon as the wind gets up it's not too far off the mark.

Time will tell.....hell its fun trying.

Gybing mainsheet cleated

Whoops.....unfortuneaty I tipped her in on a gusty gybe with the kite up today....that pesky cleating the mainsheet trick.

I think that it's worth letting it off a bit as the wind gets up, so as not to get punished, however cleating it is the way forward for sure....just be careful that's all.

Mainsheet Cleating angle wedge

Well, I finally managed to get some longer bolts so I could attach the really thick mainsheet wedge.

This is now final....my conclusion is that the thicker wedge is defineatly the best.

Sheeting in the mainsheet and having it cleat automatically is now really easy.

So I recommend a thick wedge from Harken, the thickest one they do....can't remember the part number.

Sunday sailing - Perfect D-One Weather

Had a fantastic day today, sunshine and a gusty wind.

Managed to keep up with the leading 400's, keeping the 700's behind too.

Boat going very well indeed.....very very pleased.

I did try and get photo's but no luck, guess the rescue boats were busy.

Kicker and Mast inversion downwind

Well I have had a long think  about today and talked quite a lot.

Sorry no pictures, but there was the Schools Nationals on at our club, so no spare camera man/woman.

Nevermind

So I got to thinking today when I felt that I was not going too fast downwind when the wind had dropped off a bit.

It was very up and down in gusts today.

So I thought... what would happen if I applied some kicker downwind (contrary to how I have been achieving nice sail setting with spinny and the slot)

So I applied the kicker and hey presto I felt powered up....so here's the rub....no kicker or SOME kicker?

I reckon (no doubt in fact) in the windy stuff....NO kicker downwind....in the lighter stuff....maybe a little kicker tension just to keep a bit of power until you feel "in trouble"

Again....technique in progress, watch this space.

:o)

Mainsheet Cleating Angle

Think I have mentioned before about placing an angle wedge on the mainsheet cleat fitting so that it is easier getting the leach tension correct with one pull upwind after a tack or after dumping the main in a gust.

Well I think I might just leave it as it is.

Today I was concentrating on sitting further back to aid planing upwind and the sheeting angle was nearly just right.

I think this is technique in progress....I shall keep you all informed.

I might just add that as I am sailing on the inner setting for the wings it has made a difference to the sheeting angle.

If you are lighter you may find that the angle is better for cleating the main without a wedge.

Spinnaker Halyard

Ok, I am still not sure about the thickness of the spinny halyard.

I am sure it is 3 mm.

I think it maybe too thin.

There is simply no friction while hoisting, but I think I could get away it being a bit thicker just for the grip.

It slips through my hand if I don't keep my eye on it.

Undecided on this.

Colour coordination

A couple of times today when I went to adjust my mainsheet track I grabbed the adjustable toestraps rope instead (both same colour Black)

One of them simply has to go!

Saturday bimble part 2

Earlier I mentioned the bimble to the traveller.

This is now fixed and the tightening the screws on the track did the trick!

After a days racing, no wear and tear.....as one would expect!

Racing a Musto Skiff over a windward leward course

The Musto Skiffs at QM are faster than me and I am nowhere near them, yet.

I think I have a lot to learn about going fast upwind, that seems to be the difficult bit, I need to get the mast rake correct.

Racing an RS700 in between races

Ok this is the weird bit....I just can't work out what is going on with speed.


Having previously been talking about how difficult it was to beat the RS400's today I had a bit of a moment when I was sailing downwind with an RS700 chasing me.


We were both in quite a nice breeze and I was ahead by 2-3 boat lengths, RS700 (prob a force 3)


When a bigger gust hit me and I had to bear off  to keep the D-One flying, the speed difference between us was marginal.

I have to say until today I hadn't quite believed the video footage in Garda of the racing the 700.

Let me also say that as soon as the 700 went higher a bit and really used his trapeze caught a gust and went deeper again, he defininately speeded up a lot quicker, but I can honestly say that there were a few wonderful moments that I was able to keep him at bay.....amazing.

So here is the conundrum.....faster than a 700 on a straight stretch of water but struggle with the 400's Windward / Leward?.....go figure.

Faster than a 700 overall - no I dont think so, but good fun fending them off in a blow with the kite up. Brief moments of equal speed.

Trying to beat the 400's on the water Windward / Leward - difficult.....although I am messing around with the rig and learning all the time to see what works and what doesn't.
If I can keep up with the 400's upwind (difficult) I am a shed load faster downwind, when the wind is constantly up (force 3-4)

hmmm.

Sunday racing

Well today was really strange.

Remember back in the Tuning guide I mentioned mast rake settings?

Mast Rake = 6m65 - 6m60 all wind conditions

Well I think that is a BIG mistake.

I was really really slow and couldn't even keep up with any of the RS400's.

So on the water I adjusted the rake by moving some chocks (really easy work, the mast is really light to move)

As it turned out I had adjusted it to 6m85 (so more upright)

This increased my speed by a shedload and I was back in contact with the 400's.

I still could not beat the on the water today.

I the first race it was quite light winds (and I was the wrong rake)
The second race the wind was building, and I think I may have over cooked the mast rake as I was a tad overpowered upwind.

Shame really as previously I have been mixing it with the leading 400's.

I did beat a 29er today in both races, but then....so did the 400's.

Rememberance Day Sunday Race

Preparing to launch the mainsail was just in the track when I noticed I could not hoist.

The main halyard had popped off the wheel and jammed between the wheel and the carbon mast.

I was already at the waters edge....so it was a loong walk back up the side of the reservoir and back to the clubhouse steps to un jam it...I would be really late for the start.

So I was just wondering what to do when I remembered that the mast can just be lifted out of its collar.

Fabulous idea.
I untied the mast rope that keeps the mast intact in the event of a capsize, lifted the mast out and layed it on the ground.
Took the halyard out and popped the mast back in and re-tied it.

Wonderful, took 3 minutes!

:o)

Saturday bimble

I noticed that the rope that tied the mainsheet blocks to the traveller had worn through the outer layer.

Weird I thought....I better replace it before I end up with a handful of mainsheet and no control.

I was thinking of replacing it with thicker rope (current was 2mm Harken block rope wound round 3 times)
As I was threading it trhough I realised that a couple of screws for the track were not quite flush, thus causing the wear n tear.

So I tightened them up and put some new 2mm rope back on.

Bimble over ready to race on Sunday

Scotland

Spent last weekend in sunny Scotland.
So no D-One behaviour....however this weekend is on.

Watch this space!