Sunday, July 22, 2012

Townsville Sailing Club F18 News

The newest T.H.R sailors Mick Guinea & Viv Heydon sent though a quick report and some photos from the Townsville Sailing Club.
Mick has replaced a few blocks on his boat with the new T2 blocks and included a few photos of them also.

From MG;
The 2nd half of the season at Townsville SC kicked off on the weekend with a 20-25knot Sou-Easter.

Nice signage work by Mick
Four races were planned for the day, however only two were conducted after the breeze picked up to 25+ in the afternoon.

It was awesome sailing in very flat water. We are currently trialing a few new systems on the boat so it was good to see how they go in some breeze.

The weekend kicked of a busy few months for us, training towards the F18 Worlds in Long Beach in mid September.

We will travel to Cairns for the Ellis Beach Regatta later this month where a strong fleet of F18s is expected, do some big boat sailing in August before heading to America early in September to get prepared for the F18 Worlds in Long Beach.

After the Worlds we get back just in time for the Sprints Regatta and Round Magnetic Island race here in Townsville, followed by the Airlie Beach regatta and the Mission Beach regatta.

We are also now using some of the new Harken products, we have installed the T2 40mm soft attachment blocks for the spinnaker sheet and are using the T2 29mm blocks for the jib sheet and the tack line.

AUS26 in it new glory

T2 40mm Loop blocks for spinnaker sheets

T2 29mm blocks for the tack line and jib sheet

We are also working on a few new concepts which we hope to have sorted soon!

Thanks Mick
Can't wait to see some new concepts, we are working on a few down here also.
Some new F18 parts are in the Harken pipeline but you did not hear that from me.



Friday, July 13, 2012

Stephen Brayshaw European Videos

T.H.R member Stephen Brayshaw kindly let's us see some of his on boat footage and some off the boat (on it's side) of the A Class European's last month. Enjoy.

Brad Corlett in the back ground (AUS 10)


Off the boat footage

By the way nice hat bloke!

Plus here's a couple of happy snaps.





Can't wait till the season starts down here (2 months away)

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

C Class Videos

Here's an couple of great videos of the C Class Catamarans sailing. This next LAC is going to be extremely cool and I'm going to be doing everything I can to get there and be part of it.
You never know maybe even a Aussie entry (or two)?

The first video is from Magnus Clarke and shows a nice little pitchpole at the end.


Next video is from the boys at SA and the highlight reel from Newport RI. A huge thanks to them for being there and filming it all as I spent every night glued to my computer screen watching the footage.

Monday, July 9, 2012

PUMA Videos (My new favorite team)

Nothing to do with multihulls but hey I love these two videos from Team PUMA in the VOR.Sit back watch, laugh and enjoy.





Like they say at the end, PUMA 'your new favorite team'. Mind you they were my favorite team to start with.

USF18 Eastern Area ACWS Demonstration Event

Over the weekend of June 30- July 1, the USF18 Eastern Area Fleet had the tremendous opportunity to stage a demonstration regatta in front of the crowds attending the ACWS Season Finale in Newport, RI.  With the excitement for multihull sailing being generated by the new format for the 34th America’s Cup and the America’s Cup World Series, our fleet felt the ACWS Newport was an outstanding opportunity to show off the thrill of Formula 18 sailing. 

Annie Gardner and Eric Witte showing the Oracle boys how it is done! Photo from Carol Vernon.

The format for the event was simple- the F18 fleet would race on Saturday and Sunday morning from 10 am-12:30 pm, immediately before the AC45s took to the water, and mere feet from the spectators lining the shore at Ft. Adams.  With launch facilities at Sail Newport and Jamestown Boat Yard, the Eastern Area Fleet stepped up huge with 18 boats turning up to entertain the crowd before the America’s Cup racing began for the day. 

Saturday started off with a light Northwest wind making life very difficult for the volunteer race committee.  Keeping with the spirit of the demonstration event, a course was set parallel to the Ft. Adams shore, making for some high intensity reaching starts and a blasting spinnaker reach in front of the spectators.  As the morning progressed the legendary Newport seabreeze began to fill, creating chamber-of-commerce hull flying conditions for the sailors and spectators alike.  After six races, and with floating billboards making their way onto the course, racing was called for the day and crews joined the thousands of spectators watching the AC45 racing.

Sam Adelman and Chris Titcomb reveling in the famous Newport seabreeze.  Photo from Lindsay Smith.

Sunday morning started light, but the seabreeze began to fill early, allowing for six more races to be completed in a growing southerly.  The races were challenging, with extremely short courses placing a huge emphasis on starting and managing the corners of the course.  Just as the AC45s experienced during their racing, the current played a tremendous role in decision making, and choosing how far to push into the shore on a short windward leg was a critical moment.  As the breeze built on Sunday, the top boats were completing each two-lap race in just under ten minutes, pushing crews to the limit!

Overall, the weekend was an event few of us will soon forget.  Six races were completed each day, with an average length of fifteen minutes.  With the leeward mark mere yards from the shore, the sounds of screaming fans accompanied every rounding and spinnaker douse.  Packing up the boats after racing, I received incredible feedback from people who arrived early for the AC events and enjoyed watching us racing.  While multihull sailing might not be for everyone, I hope we showed that the F18 Class is THE place to be for performance small boat sailing on the US East Coast. 

Last, I want to thank everyone who made our event possible.  Sail Newport and Jamestown Boat Yard were incredibly accommodating, allowing us to launch on one of the biggest weekends Newport has seen.  The Fort Adams Sailing Team loaned the fleet a RIB and marks for race committee, and I cannot thank them enough.  Finally, the biggest thanks goes to the RC of Kerry Sullivan, Stephen Reed, and my lovely wife Lianne for running twelve great races in challenging conditions amidst a spectator fleet that grew into the hundreds. 

See you all in LA!

Jeff Dusek

USF18 Eastern Area Rep

Results:

Team
Sail Number
Boat Type
Points (12 races, one throw-out)
Easton/Burd
11
Infusion MKII
15
Merrick/Burd
281
C2
32
Tartaglino/Burd
1563
Infusion MKII
42
Gardner/Witte
USA
C2
52
Reed/Dusek
753
Infusion MK1.5
59
Boueilh/Picard
 CAN R
C2
60
Giuliano/Giuliano
94
Capricorn
86
Riccardi/Scanlon
215
C2
90
Adelman/Titcomb
1405
Infusion
92
Zellmer/Valante
685
Infusion MKII
96
Andrepont/Funk
1273
Infusion MK1.5
116
Denton/Denton
856
Infusion
129
Malesci/Orioli
122
Nacra F18
130
Vadasdi/Lewinstein
147
Capricorn
148
Garbero/Gerbero
245
C2
163
Helmar/Helmar
882
Infusion
165
Toland/Hurwitt
1586
Infusion MK1.5
166
Fleury/Angle
1713
C2
185


Sailing for the ACWS Demonstration event took place immediately off the America's Cup Village at Ft. Adams.  Photo by Stephen Reed.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

A Class mast development @ DNA

Arno @ DNA has been doing some development with masts which I thought I would share.
Jack Benson and Steve Brewin gave the masts a run at the Europern's but with the limited testing time so the whole sail/mast set up was not right hence their let's just say not their best results (still good but not great)

What it does say is Stevie is right on needing to use every mast design so he can design sails around the mast rather then the old if you have this mast brand mast you need this brand sail. Doing this you will be able to order a sail that will already be matched to your brand mast.


DNA Mast Development
We will officially introduce our mast at the Europeans. We have tested the mast for two years now and are happy now both with the performance, the looks and its strenght.

The whole idea was to make a mast which was both faster and stronger than the existing masts as we felt that the mast was the weakest part in the pakage. Mast breakages are not good for the class and with trapezing downwind you have more hard crashes.

We choose to make a tapered mast which is slightly wider in the bottom and smaller and thinner in the top.
The profile in the bottom is slight rounder and becomes flatter in the top.
The shape has four advantages:

  1. It suits the soft fore aft style better as the mast will easier bend in the top
  2. The difference in profile between bottom and top accomdates to the difference in windsheer at boom and top level. There is a built in windsheer compensation as the exit in the top is flatter than in the bottom.
  3. The mast has less drag which leads to higher speeds and more height
  4. The mast is stronger as it is a RDM style mast. Reduced Diameter Masts do break less as the wall thickness is higher than in bigger masts. You see the same trend in windsurfing
There are two disadvantages:
  1. As the mast becomes thinner in the top we have to use more high modulus in the top to make it as stiff as needed. This makes the mast slightly heavier (200 grams).
  2. The mast is a bit more expensive as we have to use more high modulus carbon fiber and because the mast is made in a more expensive mould.
Our base mast is 76-137, which is suitable for most people. We have tested with sails which were made for both the Saarberg and the Fiberfoam masts and these rigs were fast. We do see now that the first sailmakers start to design special sails for it. (Landy , Stevie). The sailmakes can add just a little bit extra luffcurve in the topsection (between batten 3 and four; the powerzone)



Sail development

The membrane sails of Glenn and Landy are the newest trend. These sail hold their shape very well and are clearly faster downwind than most other sails.
The sails are significantly lighter. We still have to see how durable the sails are though.
Another trend is the return of the positive roach on the sails of both Glenn and Stevie. The consequence is slightly smaller heads (in the case of Stevie), but better control of the overall shape with your mainsheet.
The membrane sails are fast downwind because the leech is stiffer than most other sails. The Maxx sails are relative soft in the leech which leads to fast sails upwind but makes it harder to use downwind as you easily pull too hard on yoour mainsheet. It is not that the Maxx sails are exactly slow downwind, but certainly harder to use.
The Stratis sail of Glenn is very hard to trim upwind as it is more sensitive to mastrotation and cunningham than the sailsof last year. We do see higheer endspeeds though.
The membrane of Landy is claimed to be easier to use and is in essence a second generation membrance sail. I have not used it myself so I cannot comment on its performance.
Stevie has switched to radial sails which seem to be very fast downwind. Center of effort is pretty high up as he uses a high clew and the sail is relatively wide at the hounds. The radial sail is also stiffer in the leech than last year's Maxx and might therefore suit heavier sailors better.
Micky made a very nice Maxx Pentex sail for Chris Field with which he did very well at both the German and the French Championships. Although he uses pretty soft cloth he aligned enough fibers along the leech to have a good downwind performance.
My conclusion is that it makes sense to use stiffer sails on softer masts. This can also be accomplished with traditional sailcoth by changing fiberorienations and/or by using other fibers.
Another prediction: The difference between rigs for the ligher and heavier sailors will become smaller!
Adding more luffcurve for the heavier sailors does not make always sense as it can hurt their endspeeds. If the lighter sailors still can flatten the fuller sails on their masts, they will use the fuller sails as well.
Last two seasons the lighter sailors were way faster downwind, I do think that this will be no longer be the case as the sailors will get more power out the sails downwind and the higher righting moment leads to higher speeds.
The longer daggerboards do help the heavier sailors as well as it seems to be easier to keep the boat on its boards especially in rough conditions with waves or big swell.
Thanks Arno you can get more info on DNA's here

MANTA Regatta Update

Report from Ian (Storm) Johnson up in NT (That's the top end of Australia for you over seas readers)


Up here in Darwin we are having very unseasonal strong south/south-east winds with the possibility of not sailing today.

The invitation race on Saturday was held in 6-8 knots of breeze. Sunday the first two heats were sailed in 10-12 knots and yesterday the wind started at about 18 knots and faded to about 15.

Chris (Bundy) Batenburg has been flying on his DNA and won every heat so far. Yesterday he really pushed downhill and lead by a 300-400 metres over Chris Parker, John Dowling and Michael Kopp.


Of course the weather has been magnificent and the beer flowing freely.

Regards,

Storm


Tuesday, July 3, 2012

A Class Europerns Winner Aussie Andrew Landerberger

Sorry a little late but better late then never.

A-Cat European Championship 2012 - Final report and wrap-up

2nd Chris Field GBR / 1st Andrew Landenberger AUS / 2nd Brad Corlett AUS

First, let's talk about the location: Lake Garda, Arco and CVA proved to be an excellent place to organize the Euro. The wind conditions were excellent, hence the planned program could almost be followed to the letter. With winds in the 10-22 knots range and waves, Lake Garda is certainly a challenging location, but as well an exciting playing field for sailors of all levels.

Then, looking at the CVA club: the measurement certificate checks at the beginning of the week was perfectly organized, and the watering of 100 boats within one hour is certainly not an easy task, but it was well organized by the club and worked as expected. On the water, the race committee did a very good job with the start line and buoys placement, and the sailor had no wait time between the races. Roberto Vuilleumier did an amazing job at picturing the event. Back on shore, every hungry sailor found excellent Italian food.

Now looking at the sailors and their hardware: the top sailors at this event were on several different designs. In the top-5 list, one can find 4 distinct combinations of platforms, masts, sails. Exactly 10 years after Peter Tobler won the 2002 Europeans in Marseille on a yellow Scheurer, Landenberger was again successfull on a "G6" boat from the Swiss shipyard of Andy Scheurer. DNA, Vision and Nikita are equally well represented on the starting line, and no single platform showed a clear weakness. This shall once again show how our class is in excellent health, with many good sailors joining us from other classes. The development of vibrant designs, new masts, new sails, wingsails, appendices and new hulls is a tribute to our success.

Every nation is well represented on the ranking list, but the Australians are clearly the leaders. Only Chris Field could break their dominance with his 2nd rank. Scott Anderson had won the world title in this exact place in 1986, and is now 4th overall, while being Great Grand Master. This is a true achievement and we wish Scott a lot more years in sailing ! The European Championship was until now never fought so hardly, which is once again a sign of excellent health for the class.

On the sailing technique front, it now appears that trapezing downwind is the only way to keep up with the top of the fleet. The best sailors are mastering this new way of going down faster. When the boat sinks, the figures can be spectacular, but no one has been seriously hurt so far. 

It is now time to thank the organizers: Carlo Pompili president of the CVA, his office with Laura, Antonella, Sylvia, Tristano, and all the people on the water and shore who ensured a successful championships. On the SACA side, we had Yves, Franco and Dominik working behind the scene until everything was polished and nailed.

Thanks again to all who helped and participed, we wish you fair winds for your next races !

Charles Bueche, SACA president

All the news, results, videos, pictures and interviews will be available on the event website: www.acateuro2012.ch.




Sunday, July 1, 2012

Capricorn 3 Update from PSA

Chris from PSA has been out on the water testing the new Capricorn 3 and sent though a few photos and a great little video.


The boat now has all the bugs out of it and showing some promise so it will be great to see it out on the water at the start of the season in October.

They have been testing different rigs (AHPC & Nacra) and came up with a way of the platform being able to take any rig combo.

Go here to see the video and the boat in action.
http://www.gwizz.com.au/Client/Capricorn/Capricorn_-_F18.html


The first platform below is up For Sale from 12K (platform only) comes with a full Harken fitout and F18 measured with boards and rudders. (Chris needs to get some money back in so he build more)



The factory currently has 3 more boats getting built at the moment for the start of the season and will be out in force on the race track.

If you want any more info or want to buy this fine looking vessel contact Chris Caldecoat at chris@lasersailing.com.au