Interesting point this one...
The leading boat helm was 90kgs
Second place helm weighed 70kgs and he was faster than me in the windy stuff and I am 90kgs too.
I have seen some amazing tricks that you can do to make the d-one perform even better than I thought it could, its a very clever piece of kit.
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Monday 26 April 2010
Weight range of helm at Scarlino
Sunday racing Scarlino regatta
Sunday racing proved more of the same weather, sunny and light winds coming from the land
The first race as the wind started changing into a sea breeze was cut short to wait until it filled in, which it did.
The first two boats had one point between them to win the event and with the last race counting double points it was all to play for in a strengthening sea breeze and building swell.
Andrea Giammarini and Tim Garvin tacked off early to go far right on the beat and rounded 1st and 2nd comfortably with the pack following behind.
At the leeward mark Tim Garvin's spinnaker drop went horribly wrong and dropped to 3rd as Agustine Zabalua. showed his speed by holding 2nd to the finish from Andrea Giammarino.
By covering Agustine downwind Tim Garvin let Michele Tognozzi through who carried on to far right of downwind leg and pipped a 3rd position. 5th place was Stephano De Carta.
So overall regatta top 5 results
1st Andrea Giammarini ITA
2nd Agustin Zabalua ESP
3rd Michele Tognozzi ITA
4th Tim Garvin GBR
5th Stefano De Carta ITA
With 16 boats in total.
The prize giving was followed by a fantastic spread of Italian food, hams, cheeses and sparkling Italian wine, all laid on by the host Club Nautico Scarlino and Devoti.
Utterly fantastic event especially when the sea breeze filled in!
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Saturday 24 April 2010
Scarlino regatta, Italy
15 d-ones from various countries, UK, Germany, Italy here for the Scarlino regatta.
Friday saw 7 d-ones go out for a 3 hour practice in a force 3, some fantastic photos by Francois Richard to follow.
There was a welcome dinner in a lovely italian restaurant and the italians who were working friday, all turned up to give me a 40th birthday cake....nice touch.
Racing got underway today in a force 2 but as the wind dropped to nothing, race 2 was cancelled until the breeze filled in from completely the opposite direction.
Unfortunately I am well off the pace in the light stuff, however when it was windy I was 5th to the first windward mark.
6m 80 seems to be the right mast rake setting, so at least I got that right!
I'm off now for another social, meal included in the entrance fee, food is great weather is great and set to get sunnier and windier for sundays race.
Some more UK people should try and charter a d-one for the next event....it is a great atmosphere.
Some smart looking new boats hot off the press, to look at.
I shall update tomorrow, maybe get photos too
Ciao
Timg
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Wednesday 21 April 2010
Scarlino Regatta
Well thanks to Easyjet not ever cancelling our flight....we have finally made it to sunny Italy.
Tomorrow will be setting up the boat with my bimble bits that I brought with me, and all ready for the regatta.
Just tucking into classic Italian food.....lovely.
Pictures to follow tomorrow.
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Sunday 4 April 2010
D-One Golden Rules of boat handling
The D-One controls leech tension using mainly the mainsheet and traveller, and when they are eased, the kicker comes into play.
In the lighter winds you do not need to worry about how much power you have (obviously) however as the wind gets stronger and stronger you need to start thinking about controlling the power in the mainsail.
Not necessarily dumping power….but controlling it with kicker and traveller and downhaul..
Light Wind sailing Upwind
Keep a lot of mainsheet tension to get a nice mast bend and tight leech.
Traveller just off centreline and progressively let it off as the gusts get up.
Kicker is on enough to get yourself under the boom in a tack and to keep the boom horizontal when mainsheet is let off.
Light Wind Sailing Downwind
The less centred the mainsheet the more power you apply to the boat going downhill.
As you have a short bow you will know when you have too much mainsail presented to the wind and you can progressive move the traveller more centreline to depower.
Keep enough mainsheet tension to keep as much leech tension as you want.
Keep the kicker on to keep the boom horizontal, however you can loosen it off a bit to create a nice “slot” between the mainsail and the kite.
Light wind reaching without the kite
Keep the mainsheet traveller centreline and keep the boat flat and trimmed…if you need more power you can start easing the traveller slightly, but never too much.
Kicker needs to be put on tight to keep a nice leech tension….tighter than you can get under the boom…so don’t forget to release it before a tack.
The D-One has plenty of power options and light wind sailing is really fast!
Heavy Wind Sailing Upwind.
Keep a lot of mainsheet tension to get a nice mast bend and tight leech.
Traveller will be nearly all the way eased, however in the lulls it pays to pull on the traveller to gain pointing ability and more power….as the gust hits…..let the traveller off again…..”Power on Power Off.”
Kicker is on enough to get yourself under the boom in a tack and to keep the boom horizontal when mainsheet is let off.
Apply downhaul to flatten the main off. (The downhaul is very effective and works well with the mast and the mainsail)
Heavy Wind Sailing Downwind.
It’s very important to centre the mainsheet traveller BEFORE bearing away to hoist the spinnaker.
Leave the kicker setting on (same as upwind setting to keep the main under control)
Leave the downhaul on.
Let the mainsheet out until the boom is approx 45 degree angle from the mast, hiking on the wing and sitting back.
The D-One will shoot up onto the plane and from the wing and on a REACH (not dead downwind) you will be perfectly balanced enough to reach in and hoist the spinnaker (arm over arm with tiller in hand also)
Once Spinny is flying you will be flying off downwind (bearing away in the gusts) and you will be able to gauge how much more power to apply (should you need to)
If it’s blowing dogs off chains then you can quite happily sail downwind with those settings, however if you want more power then release the downhaul completely, and also start easing the kicker (not too much) and also you can release a bit more mainsheet, but not too much as this is keeping the leech tension tight enough to hold the mast from bending forwards.
DO NOT ease the traveller, leave it centreline.
Heavy Wind Reaching without the kite
Keep the mainsheet traveller centreline and keep the boat flat and trimmed.
You will not want too much power which will put your bow down, so keep the traveller centred.
Kicker needs to be put on really tight to keep a nice leech tension….tighter than you can get under the boom…so don’t forget to release it before a tack
In the lighter winds you do not need to worry about how much power you have (obviously) however as the wind gets stronger and stronger you need to start thinking about controlling the power in the mainsail.
Not necessarily dumping power….but controlling it with kicker and traveller and downhaul..
Light Wind sailing Upwind
Keep a lot of mainsheet tension to get a nice mast bend and tight leech.
Traveller just off centreline and progressively let it off as the gusts get up.
Kicker is on enough to get yourself under the boom in a tack and to keep the boom horizontal when mainsheet is let off.
Light Wind Sailing Downwind
The less centred the mainsheet the more power you apply to the boat going downhill.
As you have a short bow you will know when you have too much mainsail presented to the wind and you can progressive move the traveller more centreline to depower.
Keep enough mainsheet tension to keep as much leech tension as you want.
Keep the kicker on to keep the boom horizontal, however you can loosen it off a bit to create a nice “slot” between the mainsail and the kite.
Light wind reaching without the kite
Keep the mainsheet traveller centreline and keep the boat flat and trimmed…if you need more power you can start easing the traveller slightly, but never too much.
Kicker needs to be put on tight to keep a nice leech tension….tighter than you can get under the boom…so don’t forget to release it before a tack.
The D-One has plenty of power options and light wind sailing is really fast!
Heavy Wind Sailing Upwind.
Keep a lot of mainsheet tension to get a nice mast bend and tight leech.
Traveller will be nearly all the way eased, however in the lulls it pays to pull on the traveller to gain pointing ability and more power….as the gust hits…..let the traveller off again…..”Power on Power Off.”
Kicker is on enough to get yourself under the boom in a tack and to keep the boom horizontal when mainsheet is let off.
Apply downhaul to flatten the main off. (The downhaul is very effective and works well with the mast and the mainsail)
Heavy Wind Sailing Downwind.
It’s very important to centre the mainsheet traveller BEFORE bearing away to hoist the spinnaker.
Leave the kicker setting on (same as upwind setting to keep the main under control)
Leave the downhaul on.
Let the mainsheet out until the boom is approx 45 degree angle from the mast, hiking on the wing and sitting back.
The D-One will shoot up onto the plane and from the wing and on a REACH (not dead downwind) you will be perfectly balanced enough to reach in and hoist the spinnaker (arm over arm with tiller in hand also)
Once Spinny is flying you will be flying off downwind (bearing away in the gusts) and you will be able to gauge how much more power to apply (should you need to)
If it’s blowing dogs off chains then you can quite happily sail downwind with those settings, however if you want more power then release the downhaul completely, and also start easing the kicker (not too much) and also you can release a bit more mainsheet, but not too much as this is keeping the leech tension tight enough to hold the mast from bending forwards.
DO NOT ease the traveller, leave it centreline.
Heavy Wind Reaching without the kite
Keep the mainsheet traveller centreline and keep the boat flat and trimmed.
You will not want too much power which will put your bow down, so keep the traveller centred.
Kicker needs to be put on really tight to keep a nice leech tension….tighter than you can get under the boom…so don’t forget to release it before a tack
Lashing the boat to the trolley
Its important to lash the boat down to the trolley as it's so light.
Kicker
I have realised that the kicker is more imortant than I originally thought.
I noticed that it is important to be able to set the kicker while beating to windward, however this was not possible due to the mainsheet taking all the tension out of the kicker adjuster, so I attached a piece of elastic to keep it under tension allowing me to tune the kicker upwind, ready for the offwind stuff...it works really well.
I attached it to the pulley as my boom does not have metal fitting for the outhaul take off, however if you get a new boat, I think they are supplied with metal fitting to hang the outhaul end to, this is where you could put the elastic.
Batten Tension
I noticed that my battens were a tad loose so I tightened them, especially the top one.
It has got rid of the creases and also the top batten blades off when I apply the downhaul in a blow.
It has got rid of the creases and also the top batten blades off when I apply the downhaul in a blow.
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