Sauna Sail Results

Not a bad fleet Gary. Looks like it was A Class weather.

Great to see a Dolphin take out the Div 2.
My first cat was a Dolphin and had a lot of fun on them. Underated boat.

It was not entirely windless, but very shifty and gusty - a real test.

Thanks Gary and Tim for promoting the weekend it was your posts that got me interested enough to drag the boat 1500km. I've finally seen the F16 in action and am impressed. There was more wind than the results showed, I know one Tornado under spin that shortened the wing on a 14ft skiff with its shrouds. The weekend was great fun and well organised by the club, see you next year.
regards

The Blade passing the Tornado (not sure who's in front?)

And another

Gary,
Did Greg sail 1up? I saw he was finishing toward the front of the fleet pretty consistantly, although behind the A's.

It looks like the sort of weather where the less weight on the boat the better!

Yes Greg sailed 1-up.

So how is your judgement about sailing the Blade 2-up in lightish winds !?

Wouter

Hi all,

finally have time to post. Work is a pain. <img src=

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So 26 boats in our division mixed fast cats. A's, Tornies, F18's, Taipans, Hobie 18 and two F16's. Greg on Viper one up and my brother and I on FCA Blade two up (crew weight aprox 150kg).

Courses where 2 triangles, 2 windward returns. Water flat and about 24degrees <img src=

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/>. Winds where generaly light, max gusts of about 12 knots for a few seconds <img src=

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/>. Very shifty all weekend as hot water effects the wind when it is not strong. Despite being born and bred at Hazelwood (my dad came up with the idea of a Sauna Sail regatta)I couldn't come to grips with the shifts and lost more upwind from poor choices and too many tacks than boat speed.

One ups dominated the weekend with the A's leading the way most races, Greg was in the mix but never really challenged the front A's just to many of them. I must say it was frustrating to watch Greg sail away down wind in the light stuff, now I know how I have made others feel for years. <img src=

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I was happy with the two up performance of the FCA Blade, by the end of the weekend we where going faster in the light stuff as I came to grips with how best to sail 2up and I think this showed despite the smaller fleet on the last day, as we almost got line honours against the best Tornie and A. We where very competitive against the Tornado's and F18's most races and with the best F18 just back from 3rd. in the Tiger worlds they where hard to beat. <img src=

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Am realy looking forward to sailing the FCA Blade two on trapeze upwind one day. Trapezing was very brief over the weekend, although we did twin trap once on a tight reach with the kite up for about 30 seconds.

Have attached a great photo that I got from the Sauna Sail website, of the FCA Blade and Viper amongst some mono's. Can somebody please put it in a post. Long wait for next regatta August maybe? Hope you Northerners are getting some sailing in. <img src=

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After a quick resize.

Look how distorted the seams look on the black chute.....

Whats the explanation for that, age? It looks so much smaller than the yellow one to!

Age, blown out, cut the cloth wrong, cloth is too light, used something new to glue the seams, optical illusion etc. etc. Very hard to jugde from that photo.

Look at how hard the spi on the Viper is sheeted and what it does to the luff area. Compare that to the Blade. I would say the Viper is in pinching mode while the Blade is in

go

mode. Comments Gary? Greg dont post here, so..

Pictures are so much fun <img src=

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Hi Rolf,

I can't even remember this situation <img src=

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But my guess is I am in clear air and the boats below are sheeting harder and sailing higher, each in turn harder and higher, to increase pressure and try to keep moving whilst getting covered. You can see the Blade is depressing leeward hull while Viper is sitting up. Gusts could be very localised also, so it is possible that I was first to pick up a gust and this has made the wind situation for leeward boats even worse.

Regards Gary.