3 IC's, 2 hangovers & 20+knots. Yeehaa

If only we had packed up at this point. It blew hard! 25 knots with 30+ gusts sorted us out, I broke the carriage, Kyle (blue Nethercott) is just broken and Pete (yellow flatpack) capsized and pulled out early (which was a smart move).

The gusts with big windshifts simply 'snotted us'. I broke my carriage on a screaming reach in a gust when I had to take evasive action of a capsized fireball (what is it with me and fireballs). I plowed the end of the plank (with me on it) into the water hard and the carriage made a very loud crack noise. Turns out I've opened up a corner, which I'll try to repair before we leave for Yarrawonga on Friday. I don't think there is a weakness here as such, as I've don't think I've ever gone that quick in an IC before and I slammed it into the water hard to avoid the collision.

I need to better sort out my vang still, I'm thinking of just biting the bullet and putting on a radial track system before the Nationals.

Quietly progressing

Been a bit quiet on my blog, Christmas can have that effect, but I've been sailing when I can and look forward to racing resuming next weekend. I've found a configuration with my current rigs that seems to work best: My old AUS018 mainsail with the new Irwin jib - this seems to perform best in all conditions but does leave me .8m^2 under size. Not sure if I will have time (or access to a sailmaker) to sort this about before the nationals in 7 weeks.

Got out for a great sail yesterday before the 40+ degree heat kicked in, the boat is really feeling good and I am really hoping I can run with Hayden, Phil and Alex at the upcoming nationals. I'm also hoping to see if I've pegged back anything on Hayden over the Australia Day weekend at Yarrawonga (we all know how much I love lake sailing.....). Hopefully I can run with him on speed, if only to prove to myself that the Flatpack is a great boat let down by the nut on the tiller.

A year after starting the build, I finally get some bullets!

The boat went really well but I was a bit rusty:

Race 1 started in about 4-6 knots, and I was starting with Pete (in AUS 9) a bladerider, about 7 finns and 6 OK dinghies. I shot out to an early lead despite feeling like my pointing was a little low and soon had about a 2-300m lead over the fleet. However I sailed into a hole on the right of the course and rounded the top mark behind several of the Finns. I overtook the Finns on the reaches of the first triangle but on the 2nd upwind leg I had a shocker and let all the Finns and nearly all the OK’s through on me (basically I just parked in a piece of glassy water). I caught all but 1 of the Finns and ended up crossing the line 10 seconds behind him. In those light and flukey conditions the speed difference upwind between a Finn and the IC was small – I would accelerate quickly but stop quickly while the Finn would point slightly higher and maintain momentum.

Race 2 was a windward leeward 3 loop sprint race – I had my racing brain in gear this time and had a few more knots of wind (it was now about 10-12 knots) – I hit the start line with good speed however I missed a lift and let the fast finn pip me at the top mark. Again sailing the angles downwind I had him at the bottom mark and then just powered away from him (like an IC should). Once the IC was planing I found I was pointing as high as the finn and still footing fast. On the second loop my rudder popped up and I sailed one long tack to the top mark with it not in the water – but by overstanding the mark I gave myself enough time to push it back down, tack and sail to the finish.

It was great to get some bullets, and I now need to spend some time in the boat getting back up to speed – it will always be tough to win on YS on short course racing but I was pretty disappointed with 19th and 15th respectively overall (http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/results/adelaidesc/2009/club/north/singlehanded/series.htm )– the only small positive on my results is that we have some hotshot laser and Finn sailors at our club at the moment.

On the boat: the boat felt great, but in the light stuff I was using huge amounts of Cunningham to get the battens to pop (infact after stuffing around releasing and tensioning the Cunningham – Iended up just racing with it on). Next week I will fit the other set of battens Lindsay sent to me.

New Rudder

New Rudder stock - Geoff has been busy putting together a new rudder stock for the flatpacks after some issues with the original design (and then the change from kick up to cartridge rudders). I've just glued in the stop pins an lockdown tab at the rear and given its 40 degrees here it shouldn't take long to dry. If we get some breeze I'll get it out on the water this evening.

In other awesome news, the 2010 Nationals will be at Adelaide Sailing Club in March next year!

Frustration

I just haven't been able to get the paint on the hull in time to race this weekend; sub 10 degree nights and driving rain has made it near impossible to paint for the last 2 weeks. However I have a window of opportunity tomorrow and Monday so I should be able to have her already to be back on the water for a Friday twilight sail before racing Saturday.

As you can see above in the pictures, Pete has traded the FD for a 12 (woo-hoo), my rudder is now a cassette drop in (note the squared off stern - Hayden said my IC was to long), Winglets tapered to remove the '2nd hollow' from when looking at the boat from above.

Pressure

No, not work or family, but barometric pressure is what has been hampering repairs (well that and a large ingress of water in the kitchen!).

However after racing Petes FD last weekend, I got the incentive to finish the boat repairs no matter the weather (yes the FD is a pretty boat but so boring after sailing an IC).

Geoff posted the replacement rudder blade with the new stainless steel and Carbon shaft and I dropped it into my rudder stock this morning. I then bit the bullet and cut the stock up to change it from a swing up arrangement to a conventional (in IC terms) drop in rudder. While the araldite is drying on that mod I faired the bow repair and put in a second filler coat. Once this is dry I will lay up a layer of carbon around the bow then fill and fair (ditto with the stern). Unfortunately this work, and timelines means I will miss the Zhik regatta, but will be on the water at ASC with the boat on opening day.

Given the inauspicious start the flatpack has had, and the start of a new season, I am thinking of painting her a different colour and giving her a different name.

AUS31 needs a nose job

I must have accidentally laminated a black cat into AUS31 as I seem to be having some bad luck:

I broke the rudder right on the start of race one on Saturday (no kidding, it was on the start gun), even worse is that I was in a great position so I ploughed at near full speed into a fireball underneath me. His boat is holed, my boats bow is open and I have no rudder.

So tonight I'll give it a really good clean and work out how we do the rhinoplasty on the bow, meantime the rudder goes back to the workshop to have a stainless steel pin put through it (Insurance will probably have to handle the damage to the Fireball....)

Back to the shed.....