Friday, August 26, 2011

Wednesday night beer can race

This Wednesday was the first sail in decent winds.  Probably around 8-12 knots gusting to around 15.  We were not able to make it to the start and met the fleet a few minutes after start, fell in behind the last boat and sailed the course from that point.  A 15 nm triangular course.  Crew was one man on a sail boat for about the third time, one very experienced cruiser not familiar with this boat.  We sailed conservatively and did not use the spinnaker, we didn't have the option of using the screacher without the bow pole.

On the reach we sailed pretty well, hitting 14,5 knots in a gust with the sheet well out and the traveller down.  The boat was absolutely stable and would have been able to take a lot more power. We had a compression fracture between the plastic insert and the carbon in the mast foot and had to rake the mast more forward to keep it rotating.  One more issue to address when indoor again.

The downwind leg was pretty boring without the spin.

We put in a reef before the upwind leg and did 11 knots pointing as high or higher than the rest of the fleet.  Neutral helm and almost no movements due to waves.  Pretty impressing! The wind died after a while and we shook out the reef, but continued to make huge gains on the fleet including a Dragonfly 28 sport.

Conclusion:  It's a rocket.  Can't wait to learn how to sail her!


Ytteroya rundt 2011

There is an annual distance race organized by the local yacht club every August.  It has been the big goal for the season to get the boat ready for this race.  Unfortunately, I crippled my boat the night before, and the forecast suggested all big sails available should be used.  At the time of the start it was absolutely no wind, and after a two hour postponement the race started but a lot shortened.

We jury rigged the spinnaker from the remnants of the bow web and was able to get it flying.  However, the wind was so moderate that I struggled to get the boat moving AND go downwind at the same time.  We gained rather well on some jibes, and lost it all on others.  We would probably been best off just drifting along with the others.

After a while heavy rain started and the wind died.  Anyway, we managed to get the boat moving.  We had to try both tacks to see which one gave movement, as the wind was undetectable to the human organism, but when correct we sailed almost one knot while all others were drifting, bows in all direction.  After a while I was wet, it was getting late and I was tired of this kind of "sailing" and withdrew.

Conclusion:  The boat has a lot of potential, we have a lot to learn.


Another unfortunate happening

While sailing to the start of last week ends race on Friday night, close hauled under main and screecher doing about 7 knots in far less wind, the bow pole diverted sideways and ripped the bow web apart.

Although much of my rigging is not exactly to plans, such as the mast section, the bow pole was rigged, to the best of my abilities, according to the instructions. 

I had my side stays go three rounds around the pole and locked with half hitch knot but this failed to keep hold of the pole and caused the failure.  I will get the boat up and indoor again this week end and start the repairs.







Monday, August 22, 2011

Unfortunate happening

I guess this is what you have to pay for trying to do things better than before.  The way the shrouds are attached to the mast has been given a lot of thought, and I still think I ended up with a very good solution proposed and made in cooperation with John Franta of Colligo Marine.  Just a matter of correct sizing to make things work.  I allready got new lines in the post the day before this happened.


Mast still on the Link SP II total hip replacement ball after falling over


No visible damages and after changing to the new attachment lines the more practical vertical posistion was regained


Then put the mast back down making ready for launch


Daggerboard

Finally got the daggerboard out of the mould. Looks great. Quite a bit taller than me.  Need a bit of paint.


Painted with a generous coat of epoxy primer


And fitted while the boat was suspended in a crane in Guttorm's farm.


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Launched.

I apologise for not responding to all tips, tricks and good wishes lately.  I've been busy at work and finishing the boat. I launched around last midnight. Now I'm going for sea trials. I'm racing this week end.  I'll get back to the blog when time.

BTW she floats so high I was afraid she would turn sunny side down when folded, so pulled her back on the trailer and unfolded before relaunch.  Sailed 2,5 knots in about no wind at all on the mast alone.  It was dark, no visibility at all and raining.


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Party!

I had good helpers, friends and family over last Sunday to celebrate and officially giving her the name "Panta Rei" while my wife poured Calvados over the float.  My brother in law OJ took a lot of nice pictures, enjoy.

Navnefest for Panta Rei

Daggerboard

It has been an extremely long way up to actually start making the daggerboard.  Making the files for milling the moulds turned out to be more of a challenge than expected, and when I finally got the moulds it turned out a big void had been created when I glued the MDF-boards together.  But I finally got to start the actual build today, and hopefully I will have the board in a few days.  Due to limited space on my vacuum table I have to make one half at the time.

After sanding the epoxy I applied two layers of mould sealer and 5 layers of mould release.


Then all the cut outs for High Density inserts was made, and the HD inserts were shaped by hand.  Foam blanks had been made on the CNC along with the moulds.


Cutting carbon for the skin and structural reinforcements


Ready for lamination. Vacuum bag attached at left, release film and breather visible in front.


The carbon for the first half waiting


Starboard daggerboard half under vacuum.


Pulling hard....


Mould, foam and carbon for port half waiting for available vacuum table...

All those couple of hundred small things.... part 5

I have been more busy trying to sort all those things out than taking pictures and posting updates.  So launch day is getting closer.  I got the rest of the folding system done, with the bumpers and folded retaining system.  Picture of one of the retaining brackets.


I've been splicing bow pole side stays and front net forward wires.  No pictures at the moment.  All float hatches have been sealed and attached.  The side nets are more or less attached.  Does any of you F-22 sailors come up with a clever way to lash the nets to let the boat remain foldable?  I haven't yet.


After I had the name giving celebration last Sunday roller furling line leads have been attached.  Still some splicing to do on a bow pole lead for the screacher furler.

Today I got the long awaited USPS shipment from Colligo Marine containing soft pad eyes and loops for attaching the head sail halyard blocks.  Hopefully I will find some time to get these on tomorrow, after a daggerboard session.

Friday, August 05, 2011

Rig weighed

I got the mast including five halyards, standing rigging, antenna and wind transducer on the scale the other day.  I was a bit disappointed as it showed 64,9 kg.  The good part is the top was only 26.