Post Nationals

Been a little quiet since the Nationals, catching up with family after spending the last 6 months in the shed.

However AUS31 now has a conventional Jib sheeting system and a new set of spreaders - 150mm lower than the old ones. Hoping to get some good weather next weekend to hit the water.

Meanwhile here are some pics from the Nationals http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.php?oid=35025993421&view=all 

AUS 32 Launches and the 2009 Nationals

Though the images appear in the wrong order chronologically, they are:

1. Broken Self Tacker - AUS31 on Heat 6 of the Nationals
2. Broken rudder shaft - AUS32 Heat 3 of the Nationals
3. Nethercott, Flatpack, Serendipity (flatpack)
4. AUS32 'Serendipity' on her maiden sail

Pete launched Serendipity (AUS32) in almost no wind the day before the Nationals and quickly discovered that he needed grip and that he needed to plug a leak in the transom.

Hayden ran the measuring stick over AUS31, and pointed out that I needed to fair in the ends of my flares to reduce having 2 hollows in profile view - this is an easy fix. I also need to fair my tiller stock - which I was planning on doing anyway as i am switching from kick up back to cassette rudder.

For an overview of the Nationals I suggest you check out the Nationals report and results (which I will publish shortly) but here is my bullet point take on the nationals:

• AUS31's rig needs major work, the self tacker flexed too much meaning the jib pulled to dead centre and back winded the main badly - upwind I was lucky to be withing 15 degrees of the other boats pointing range. 
• The mainsail was far to full and the battens just would not click over, after day 1 I switched back to the old flat AUS018 mainsail and immediately performed better
• The hull slipped very easily through the water, and makes very similar noises to Haydens 'Miracle Drug' upwind. Though I was getting a gurgling sound down aft which may be a bit of air getting sucked in around the kick up rudder.
• I need to do more work on my plank to get it to slide better
• I need to round the leading edge of my foils a little more - suggested by Seth after he noticed it took me a little while to get going after tacks
• I need to move the daggerboard slot further forward, the boat was hard to tack
• I need to put on a conventional jib sheeting system, this decision was made easier by the self tacker ripping out of the boat.
• I need to strengthen the rudder axle on my boat as insurance against what happened to AUS32
• I may look at a different vang system to the GNAV
• I need to rub back the boat and get the finished surface that I want.

Overall I am disappointed with my result in the Nationals, but I am pretty pleased with my first 5 and a 1/2 races in the first boat I have built. Though  could not run with the other new IC's i could beat the Nethercotts when things held together even though I had some very visible major rig issues. I need to sit down and work with Geoff on a plan to address some of the above issues and incorporate the changes into the flatpack building instructions so that others can benefit from this Beta testing. I am looking forward to taking the flatpack back east in October to see if I can apply what I have learned.

Hitting the road

The Adelaide Sailing Club Express is packed and ready to roll:

• AUS 31 (Christian) in the trailer
• AUS32 (Petes) on the roof
• Brendans and Andrews RSX Sailboards on the trailer roof

Both AUS31 and 32 need a couple of things done before we race, but we should be able to take care of those Friday before we race.

Safe trip Pete, see you in a couple of days.

Pre-nationals float

I got out yesterday for about 4 hours:

Launched at about 1200 off of ASC; it was an offshore breeze with about 10 knots on shore and 5-15 on the water. I have kept the kick up rudder but substituted the bolt for a S/S pin as the hinge and have also made a better lock down system which worked fine – useful since I’ve nearly had IC’s get away from me while mucking around with rudders on the downwind leg. I ran out of the bay and got myself sorted out in the boat then beat back into shore, my impressions were:

• I was sitting too far aft, so I moved the carriage to just over the aft edge of the c/b
• I had forgotten my gloves
• My mainsheet didn’t seemed to run freely on starboard tack, and the plank didn’t slide all the way on this tack either.
• The Main seems very full in the head

I chucked in a few tacks then decided to come in and address some issues and get my gloves. I went over my mainsheet and found I’d fastened the pulley on backwards (meaning it had to twist a long way to get to stbd tack), I also fed all my control lines to a piece of elastic on my seat (so I could pull them all to me while on the end of the plank). I laid the boat over and tightened the top two battens as there were some creases running up-down over those areas.
After doing this and getting my gloves on I launched again but the wind had dropped off to under 5 knots, the boat sailed along nicely but I was having major issues getting the battens to pop across (needed a massive amount of Cunningham and a bit of vang to do it). All the control lines to the seat looked messy but actually worked quite well (we’ll see if it does when racing); I also let off the leeward stay downwind for the first time since completing Flatpack and the boat seemed to respond positively.
Unfortunately with no other boats on the water I still have no real idea of how fast the boat is, but she is slipping through the water nicely and feels good. I am concerned about how full the main looks, and may run it up the mast tonight to see what other adjustments can be made- worst case scenario is that I will have the old AUS018 main if it looks like being a super windy series. I think I have goofed with the plank/carriage, with one end being wider than the other – I will sand again tonight, but I think I need to have a good look at this (unfortunately after the Nationals) to see what I might have done wrong and how I fix it. So, tonight is a quick rig and check, then a wash and pack up of the trailer ready for Pete to drive over Wednesday.

The 11th Hour

4 days from packing the boats into the trailer and AUS32 emerges from the shed. She's had a few modifications made: Gnav has been substituted for a regular vang, she'' be racing the nationals with Kinder sails and not new Irwins (until we get the mast bends fully sorted), and she may still have her centreboard moved.

Boats get packed on the trailer Wednesday, and Pete hopes to have her ready for a test sail by tomorrow afternoon. Meanwhile, I'm off to ASC for my last float before the Nationals.

Broken Vang

The fitting pictured above is the universal joint between the GNAV strut and the mast - it seems the proctor plastic isn't up to the task. Pete is going to knock up some alloy ones tomorrow while I finish putting his carriage together. 1.5 weeks to nationals and the primer is still drying on AUS32.

More Mast work

Did some more mast bend work on the mast last night as it seems the original data we took my have been incorrect (bugger).

A=5710mm

B=1840mm

% 40kg 50kg

25 100mm 110mm

50 133mm 146mm

75 96mm 110mm

87.5 61mm 70mm

The rain got too heavy to do Petes on the boat, so I used the CST method:

M Point zero load 25kg load

1000 0mm 21mm

2000 0mm 35mm

3000 0mm 42mm

3710(LP) 0mm 40mm

4000 0mm 37mm

5000 0mm 33mm