Went out last night and had the opportunity to scream around in a brief (~1 hour) but wicked wind (sailing school knot meter showed the highest gust at around 55-60kph!)
Woo! What a blast the H16 is when it lets loose.
A couple of times I managed to dig the bows in, and they were going straight DOWN until I sheeted out the main, which I guess depowered the boat enough and it returned to the surface. So I suspect sheeting out is an acceptable pitchpole avoidance technique, as long as its timed right?
We figured that we need to be sitting further aft to avoid this in the future, any tips on what else I might be doing wrong, or could be watching out for to prevent a pitchpole?
Keeping the boat flat hasn't been too much of a challenge yet, so that tells me we could probably get out there and push a little more even yet. I've ordered Rick White's
...for the 90's
from this site and I anxiously await its delivery so I can start reading about all this cool stuff you guys keep talking about!
Oh, another thing. A couple times the boat was just HOWLING. Is this rudder cavitation? I'm used to a little bit of a hum when planing in a dinghy but this was quite an exciting noise, but it makes me wonder if I should be looking at my rudders and see if they should be sanded down at the trailing edge or something? (I know, I know ... read the book. It can't arrive too soon!!!) I measured last night, the rudders toe-in about 1/4". Is this acceptable or should I try to get them a little more parallel than that?
It also seems to me that the rudders kick up a little too easily, may need to play around with that a bit.
Sorry for the rambling guys and thanks for all your help! This is an awesome forum. Keep sailing!
I thought of some more questions. Anyone have any opinions on these? (anyone, anyone?? ![[Linked Image]](/forums/images/icons/wink.gif){kind=icon}
)
1. Mast rotation. It seems the settings are
all the way, e.g., 45 degrees, port
or
all the way starboard.
Is there any reason I might want less than 45 degress of mast rotation, and if so, why, and how do you control the amount of rotation? I tried playing with the traveller setting but that didn't seem to do anything.
2. Pitchpoling. I'm guessing that the tendency for the bows to dig down must mean the main is perhaps oversheeted. Does that sound like a reasonable interpretation? What about the jib, should it be looser or tighter and what about the slot, should it be opened or tightened if the bows want to dig in?
3. Outhaul position. If the bows want to dig in, should the outhaul be tightened? This will straighten out the main, thus less foil shape, thus depowered some. Yes? No?
4. Does the boardless design of the H16 contribute to the tendency for the bows to dig in, or is it more a function of the flat deck? (Or is it just a feature of multihulls in general?)
your boat is known for it's tendancy to pitchpole. murrays sells a planar for the bows of your boat, not class legal, but i hear it works well. keep your weight (and crew) back. as far as mast rotation goes, you can get a mast rotation arm. murrays sells them too. i am not sure if it is class legal though.
As far as the rudders kicking up, there is a great article on rudder tuning and mast raking (which I understand helps the pitch pole effect) on the
on the wire
website. The URL is http://www.catsail.com and look through the archieves (although the latest issue has a great article about mast raking which references the other articles about rudder tuning). Good Luck!
Try raking your mast way back in that kind of wind, it helps alot. Also, try putting a reef in the main in heavy wind like that- it will make the boat much easier to control. That humming you heard is most likely your rudders cavitating. If that sound is followed by a loud bang, that would be your rudder snapping!
(Wish I had wind like that around here)
Awsome wind! At that point we're strappng down the dingies.
Welcome to A Fleet
suggests drilling holes into the mast base and installing removable stainless pins to limit mast rotation.
Tony,
It always gets crowded aft on a 16 when one has good wind. The 14 and 16 does not have much floatation on the bows...look at how they are shaped compared to the rest of the boats. Yes, rake your mast as far back as possible in high winds; it shifts the weight of the mast and sails back, and depowers the sail some. I have a foot strap on the rear of my pontoons to step off the tramp frame and put my weight further back on reaches.
Your rudder noise is coming because of turbulance at the trailing edge. Take a sanding block and taper the trailing edge...about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch in and bring it to a fairly narrow edge; this will get rid of that howling sound.
All I can say regarding hull volume is if the H16 had a lot of hull volume it would be just like the rest of the cats on the market. I think one of the best things about the H16 is its hull volume and the fun this volume creates. In the surf there is no equal to the H16 and in strong winds there are no equals to the excitement that the H16 creates due to its hull volume.
So rake your mast back (if raked enough you should be able to sheet block to block), make the rid nice and tight (not overly tight), get your weight back, and go for it. If you think you are about to pitchpole let loose of the jib partially, turn up into the wind, let your main out if not going directly down wind, and keep your weight back. To me the H16 handles in some ways like a windsufer in strong winds – they get their weight back, rake their sail back manually to where the sail is touching the rear of the board.
Remember though a H16 hull is designed to dig in so try not to over react and create a pitchpole situation.
Good luck and have fun!