Onboard video from Tradewinds

Man, I'm greasing that mast step from now on! Great video Mike!

My comments on the day one video: This is a very useful video. Most other videos just show the boat going at speed in a straight line, they look cool but there isn't much to learn from them. This video concentrates on the transitions where all the hard work is done, much better.

Great vids.
Start Race 2 Day 3 , I bet Alex was PISSED.

You Guys Rock!

...the ole under the pole technique, Eh?

Does that help prevent wiping out? The over the pole boys seem to be doing a lot of barrel rolls.

I noticed the skipper handing the crew a line after he hiked out when going upwind, was that the mainsheet, or something else?

Also, I noticed that the skipper would hike out while the crew hoisted the spinnaker. I thought the skipper was supposed to hoist the spinnaker. Is your technique standard practice in the class?

Yeah, dammit. Let the skipper get the kite up and down for a change.

Crew Union #723

We have ways to deal with your kind.

What? JC did it on Sunday and he was super fast!

Crew raising the kite is standard practice in crewed spinnaker rigged catamarans...period. Unless you've knocked your crew out with a dogbone, so I guess their are exceptions.

I guess this is a way that cats are different than when I sailed monohulls. In my Laser II, the skipper hoisted and doused the spinnaker while the crew readied the spin pole, jib and guy... or maybe it's the difference between an asymmetrical spin and a symmetrical one?

Probably...on the cat, it's two lines to hoist the chute so the crew almost always does it. I stayed on the wire to keep the boat as powered up and fast as possible during the rounding. The trick is not turning the boat too sharply and literally turning the boat out from under your feet! That was me driving in those races. We do sometimes pass the mainsheet to the crew when driving - it helps the skipper focus on driving as smoothly as possible. It takes a bit of practice for the crew and skipper to get into sync.

Typical windward mark rounding goes something like this (I'm crewing)

1. On Layline, hand mainsheet to skipper
2. Come in off trap (skipper should ease to keep hull flying, but account for crew off wire)
3. Ease jib, windward board up, rotator off, cunningham eased (this should all happen between weather mark and offset)
4. Tack line out
5. Hoist like nothing else matters
6. grab sheet and trim (sometimes skipper will hand you the sheet if they're nice)
7. Kick joyriding skipper off trap if they are still there
8. Hook in, get back in the footstrap, maybe a chicken line
9. send it

I may have forgot something... but that's basically how it goes. The Skipper should also raise the leeward board while you are hoisting, not like they have anything better to do.

Why is the crew trapping so high? Waves?

How does this happen from the wire? Pull up lines lead aft and out?

On our boat we went with a board uphaul line that goes from the handle of the board, through a block lashed on the port shroud, then to a purchase under the tramp. Uphaul line comes out from under the tramp about halfway between the starboard shroud and the aft beam. Our system needs some work, it was a kinda rough solution before NAs. We didn't want to drill through our boards, so we went with the line to the handle.

I do raise the board with an up-ucker line. It's tied from the port board to hiking strap so I can reach it - but only right after I come in while crew is finishing the hoist. The best chance to get that board is when turning the boat to dip down low to make the spin hoist easier - the boards are pretty unloaded for a second or two then. The crew has their hands full with the kite so if I can get it at that moment, it's easy.

It's an infusion so it wasn't designed with this uphaul line in mind - but the board is drilled and the line gets sucked into the unmodified daggerboard trunk. It works well.

Nice vids!
Your boat seems to squeek alot on a port tack... did you forget to grease the wheels?

It's a speed secret!

Or...it could be my mast-step. About everyone that sailed by waiting for a race to start had some sort of comment on it. I hate greasing them because I always end up putting fingers in the mast base when loading on the trailer and get covered in it. I'll be seating the mast base - ball with epoxy stick to see if that will take care of it.

We use whipping wax on the ball. Works perfect. Reapply about every six months. The little ball of the wax I have will likely last a lifetime.

Jeff, can you do me a favor? I am re-fitting standing rig this year, and had thought of going to a similar configuration. My thought was to swage a ring, or pigtail on the port shroud. My boat is totally apart and I cannot measure the ideal placement of the ring on the shroud. Can you measure and let me know how high, as measured from the attachment point on the deck, to the location of the block as it is mounted on the shroud? I would be much in your debt for doing so. Rex

What is the purpose for pulling the board...less drag?
Thanks

Yup. It helps make the boat more slippery downwind. You still want enough board in that the boat mostly travels in a straight line (it's faster that way) and to ensure that you have enough bite in the water to fly a hull...but you're aren't too concerned about maintaining height since you're object is usually further downwind from your angle (so deeper is better). The boards present a good bit of drag - enough that you can feel the difference up vs. down...so up enough to maintain straight travel downwind but reduce drag.

Thanks Jake,

Is one side better than the other? Also, if the boards are drags, and to far down cause you to trip in other conditions, then why are they so long, and in some cases longer? Other than Mike's foils for lifting, can they be to long?
Thanks again

Forrest I-20

Deeper boards = more lift when going upwind, and will fly the hull quicker, so in light air, full down, and as the wind picks up and you don't need all that lift, you start to pull them up.

We lift both when possible - but the leeward board is more important...sometimes, if time doesn't present itself, we lift only the leeward board and get the other one on the next gybe.

It was blowing about 15 to 18 in those races. If you can see it in the video, we had our boards raised about 8 or 10" upwind too. The boat carries enough speed at those wind strengths that the boards are more effective and we didn't need all that board grip in the water...not only does it reduce the drag, but it helps to settle the boat down just a little by raising the center of lift and making the boat a little less tippy.

As to the perfect aspect ratio - I have no idea. Over the last 15 years, we've seen boards continue to get skinnier and longer. The latest F18 boards are over 6 feet long. The A-cat boards have also seen the same trend (until the last couple of years where the a-cat boards are all banana shaped). The trick is a compromise between slow speed handling (pre-start) and efficiency at speed. Longer narrower shapes (like an airplane glider) are better at producing efficient lift. Materials have mostly driven the aspect ratio of our foils - which is why we're seeing them become thinner and longer lately (more advanced use of carbon). I'm sure there's a point in there where high aspect ratio becomes a problem...but I can't image where that is.

How high up do your boards go with the up-fker? about half-way?

I like the system you describe (especially if someone besides the crew can do it, in case hoisting the spin takes more than 1/2 second), and the other suggestion about swaging a ring/block on the shroud with a purchase system under the tramp sounds very effective.

I believe they come up slightly short of half way (with the older, slightly shorter, infusion boards). The distance the line can go down into the trunk is limited by the depth of the hull...the line shouldn't protrude outside of the daggerboard trunk when the board is down all the way. This is really the limitation.

With the new Infusion Mk2 boards you have to hoist them with a block on the shrouds otherwise they wont come up far enough.

Rex,

I am in Singapore until March 3rd, so away from my boat. I can check with the Fiancee and see if she can pull the shrouds out to measure. Also, I am sailing the Thai Cat week in February, so I can try to measure there if someone has the same system.