A Class Worlds (Punta Ala, ITA) Update

Well I am kicking myself now! Why did I not go?
Looks like a great spot and some good racing starting to happen.

I've been getting my Harken Team boys on the ground over there sending me back reports and videos that I will share. Also getting some great reports, photos & videos from Martin over at www.catsailingnews.com He always does a great job at reporting and staying on the top of all the latest in the multihull game. If your a multihull sailor check out his site and add it to your daily bookmarks. I hope you do not mind me re-posting some of your photos MV..

Steve Brewin - Pre regatta

The racing has seen pretty much all the conditions that you could ask for from what I hear. This gives a good indication as to what set ups are the best, mind you it's still early in the game. What I personally see is the head of the current sails will be coming down in size and the power moving down lower to help with foiling. Whether we all start getting deck sweeping sails i'm not 100% sold on that yet (still wait and see).

What we have seen is Misha & Glenn step the game up another level which is great. Glenn has always been the man to beat but Misha has found something and stepped his game up to the same level. 100% nothing against Misha as I respect him totally but in the past he has been a heavy air specialist and not so great in the light but this regatta has changed that and he has found the answer to being an all rounder now. That has come from a lot of hard work, practice and development so good on him, that's fantastic.

Steve Brewin - On the fly

In saying all this I know Steve Brewin has also put in a truck load of practice and development but we have been more focus on foil development and not so much in the rig development. To me it looks like Stevie has a good foil package (with a small rudder mod) and Misha has a good rig package. So imagine what what is going to come out of this Worlds in six months time after they have all gone away and worked on each others ideas. I can't wait!

Manuel Calavia ESP 11

 The systems are the next thing to look at and Misha has always lead this dept. As you can see in a new approach with his foil control system. I like the idea behind it but the only thing I do not like is the number of pulls to induce rake in the system (you see this in the video).

Misha's belt driven rake control

All in all awesome regatta from a far. Cannot wait to see more video and photos from the boys.

A Class layout (Part 2)

So I kind of left you hanging a little after the last post showing the set and never showed what was going on under the tramp.
I spent the weekend cleaning up my hulls with the boat upside down so took the opportunity to snap a couple of photos (sorry no video this time)

What we have going on under there;
Foil control - Blue line; what I have done is made a cascade system (using 2x 2161) as this gives the extra purchase without the friction of the larger blue line doing more turns, it also limits the amount of rope I need to pull for full AoA. It's a continuous line (4mm Marlow Excel Control) lapping the whole tramp with a simple take up in the middle aft.

Foil Control cascade

Rotation Line - Yellow Line; Again continuous loop with a very simple aft take up. The take up from this is also the take up for the righting line at the other end.

Overview of the mess

Also under here is the tramp shock cord and a Black righting line that you can see taking off from each side of the front beam. 

Now that I have shown this I should say I plan to change it all soon as it's too messy and can be done better.

I'm thinking about removing the righting line all together as I can use the rotation line or something else to right the boat. (Or just don't capsize!) 

Will up date when this happens. No rush at the moment as it's more important to spend time on the water sailing tweaking those foiling skills.

I have only had 9 days on the water sailing since I re launched in February and we are already seeing more stable flight with speed. My boards are a little further aft than most people which I think is making it a little harder downwind to get the stable flight but I think it has also helped me keep my upwind speed. 

It's like everything the more you practice the better you go. 

A Class Walk Around / Lay Out

Little video and photos I did over the weekend showing the lay out of my A Class Cat.
I thought this might help a few people looking at setting up foiling systems in their boats and also converting current systems.

Hope you enjoy.

Foil Control

Harken Traveller Car with Spinlock PXR cleat on it. Works great.

A Class Foiling Mods

It's been a while between posts but I thought I should share the latest updates I've done to the A Class for the foiling generation. I'm hoping to start posting here again more and more so stay tuned.

The start of this re fit was the scary part when I had to take a 4" grinder and start hacking into 26K worth of boat, but once you start that is it you are committed. Hey at the end of the day there is always a professional boat builder down the road that can fix anything I muck up.

So I've taken my 2011 DNA and added the Exploder Z boards and T rudders to the boat. Me being me just could not copy everyone else and make it the same so I've made a couple of changes in the set up of the systems.

The Master at work / Spare boat in roof in case it all goes pear shape

The main changes I have done is add in a HD spring to pull the board forward and run the purchase system inside the case rather than on top of the deck, this gives a clean low windage deck. I also played around with the foil leads to different parts of the boat but the current one with the cleats near the boards seems to be the best.

Boards have been moved 70mm out and 75mm forward

Cutting the old case out. Hole at the front is where the arm goes in to cut the bottom of the case out.

The part that took the longest was the measuring and re measuring before cutting, i really took my time in doing this as i only wanted to do this once and make it as light as I could without going to far and it all falling apart on the first sail.

Grind out all the old case to save weight

The new board case is just stuck in with Sikaflex with some laminated at the top.

Foam glued in to save weight filling in the gaps before the carbon was laid over the top. Nomex removed and solids added where the screws will go for the slider plate. 

Almost finished product

Internal workings, I have gone up a spring size since this photo.

Exit hole for the foil control.

The first sail was good, the rudder set up felt very nice and the rest of the boat felt just like it was last time I sailed it. There was only 6-8kts of breeze but I still got a little bit of foiling happening so it felt very promising. Heading out again this weekend after a few adjustments so we will see how it goes and fingers crossed some more breeze.

Pretty much ready for testing but far from finished.

This has been a great exercise to re test my boat building skills and learning process about foils. Still a long way to go to get the finished product but the end is near in the building part. The learning part will never stop.

More to come soon.