Have Boat, Will Sail

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Garion

Thanks for the offer Jim I am very grateful, but if yoo can get hard cash for it then... go for it

Cheers

Gary

Well it's sitting there for anyone...all they have to do is pick it up.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Well it's sitting there for anyone...all they have to do is pick it up.

Knowing Newky it's probably up on bricks...

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Knowing Newky it's probably up on bricks...

LOL...I've some pics somewhere.

[Garion]

Jim I sent yoo a PM mate

Cheers

gary

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Garion

Jim I sent yoo a PM mate

Cheers

gary

Positively responded to

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by Platapus

I meant to ask whether you had full control over adjusting the sails (raising lowering, slacking and stuff)

The only RC control we have is the Main/Jib Sheet. Dowhaul, Vang, etc, are done manually on shore. The Mainsail is usually permanently attached to the mast, and the jib is part of the forestay.

Some guys will rig the boat once in the spring, and (barring repairs) only derig it in the fall. There's some many minute tweaks you have to do to perfect the rigging, it's not worth taking it apart twice a week. Variations as to sail curvature you have to set when you get to the pond, as you have to adjust for the wind conditions.

I used to race an Olympic class boat many years ago, and these are almost as technically challenging as the full sized boat.

[fireftr18]

Originally Posted by Gargamel

Full control, as sails/wind is the ONLY means of propulsion.

As mentioned, spent the night testing out rigging setups. Packed the 2 boats (fathers too) into the car and drove an hour to the west side (theres a west side and east side racing club, we have a home/away regatta every year, this was the away leg. Overall club v club scores). Got to the pond. (Satellite view here. The dock on the south side is about 15 feet long. If you zoom in enough, you can see the buoys we use for marks on the course). And I found one of my side stays had fallen off (fell off in the garage at home, previous owner had never closed any of the Eye-bolts). Had to quickly fabricate another load bearing rigging out of the trunk of my car. While I had plenty of spare parts, it completely negated all of my rigging R&D done the night before. Mast was all out of whack, my vang wasn't pulling right, back stay sounded like a guitar string . So while my jib was shaped correctly, my main luffed way too early. Ended up not even getting the top third of the main to fill right, which gave away way too much power on the up wind legs.

That said, first 6 races, averaged 3rd place out of 12. Even managed to win one. Tapered off from there. Next to last race, batteries died in the transmitter, so I had to set the boat into a starboard turn, turn off the transmitter (boat kept turning) and replace the batteries. Missed the start by like 2 minutes (which is huge in a 15 minute race). Ended up getting 4th.

Overall I performed well, easily taking advantage of others mistakes to move up, but the boat (and I) sailed like crap.

Next race is saturday, so a full rigging refit is in order, even going to rebuild the rudder mechanism and reinforce the inner hull.


Here is my boat, without rigging, open to dry the inside (small leak I have to find). Note lack of any propulsion!




Inside view of the Hull. Main servo can be seen, the large swing arm controls the Main and Jib (hidden) sheets. Need to also replace the main sheet as there is visible fraying. The long black (carbon fiber!) arm runs from the second servo to the rudder.

That is just way cool. I hope you have a lot of fun with it. And while doing so, have some fun for me. I have to admit I'm a bit jealous. The boat looks like a good size. How difficult is it to control? Is it able to go on Lake Erie?

[Gargamel]

It's a 1 meter class (Mast is 50 inches high). So, yes.... it COULD go on lake erie, but inside the breakwall. The downtown Cleveland club sails at Edgewater park on the lake, but inside the dock/harbor area. One of the guys in my club was sailing there and lost control of the boat (one of the batteries died). It just happened to be on a clear course for Canada. The coast guard had to go get it.

They are a little small for big waves, but if you battened it down correctly, you could handle some big ones. But given the cost (mine was around $400 used, Transmitter included), I'd be too stressed out to enjoy the seamanship.

But yeah, they are insanely fun if you have any love of sailing.

2009 US Nationals. Light wind, so they're not moving that fast, but it gives a feel for the racing.

[Gargamel]

So I'm looking for ideas here guys...

The hull and innards of the boat is adequate, but the rigging that came with is substandard. The mast is pretty bent up, and I have the diamond and fore/aft stays fairly tightly tensioned to torque the mast back into place. Over the winter I'm going to build a whole new mast/booms and rigging.

The issue I'm having is deciding on a sail design. The class is quite rigid on sail dimensions, but one vendor sells certified custom sails. I'm leaning towards the set below, but they also do custom designs. So I'm asking subsim to come up with ideas for me. If you have some designs you think might work with the hull color I have in the above pics, I'd be eternally grateful. I'd even add a tagline to the sail itself so you'd get credit for the artwork.

I'm leaning towards this (it's a stock design the vendor has), but the text, eyes, and class logo (the omega) in the same shade of blue as the hull.



The cost of these sails is not cheap, so I'll be using these for quite a while and want the right design.

More of their designs: http://www.beanbag.com/wjsails/soling.asp It's worth taking a look to just see the coolness of all their designs. They even have a crash test sailor sail set.

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by fireftr18

That is just way cool. I hope you have a lot of fun with it. And while doing so, have some fun for me. I have to admit I'm a bit jealous. The boat looks like a good size. How difficult is it to control? Is it able to go on Lake Erie?

This years regionals are in Cincy, so If you have a chance, check them out.

[Gargamel]

I know this thread has kinda turned into my personal hobby thread, but oh well. It's my thread dammit.

Our Club is divided into two fleets, Gold and Silver. Basically Varsity and JV. Keeps the the new guys from having to compete for the annual championship against vets. We all race at the same time, but are scored seperately.

When i first borrowed a boat to play around during some races, the guys joked they'll stick me straight into the Gold fleet from my performances. Having sailed comeptively before, I did have some experience, but I thought they were joking.

They weren't.

Last tuesday I had a rough night, miserable even. Went back to the drawing board (ie YouTube) and took a new approach to rigging and tuning my sails.

Saturday I was apprehensive, hoping I didnt get totally destroyed again. I just wanted to be consistently competitive. My mast is bent at the top in a place I can't rig it back into shape, and without forcing it into position for 3-4 months, it's not getting fixed, so I planned on starting a new mast/rigging this winter. So I have some of my settings maxed out to get the sails right.

Well it worked.





My finishes are the actual mass fleet placings. Wally only won one race overall, rest were 3's-5's, but best in his fleet.

The guy I kept beating, Mike, was (and still is) my mentor in the sport, he helped teach me to sail as a pre-teen, introduced me to the FJ racing class and had me crew there, and is still teaching me. He's even on the national board of directors for the class. But man did I spank him good Saturday! I destroyed him tactically and strategically .

It was nice to finally have a competitive boat. These are much like NASCAR cars, except the turn right. They are 95% or so regulated on specs, so there isn't much you can do to add performance, but a lot you can do to lose it. SO they say the skipper is usually the deciding factor.

/brag

So my goal now is to be able to be competitive at the regional competition next year, and have a chance to be competitive at Nationals within 3. They are (I believe) open registration, so anybody can go, but I want to have a shot.

[Gargamel]

Well I'm off tomorrow for the Region 4 championship series.

It's being held in Dundee Michigan, at the cabella's store grounds.

Anybody in the neighborhood that want's to drop in, you're welcome to do so!

Wish me luck!

[Jimbuna]

Good Luck

[Schroeder]

Sink em a....oh.....wrong competition....never mind.


Good luck.

[Aktungbby]

Feel your pain: just in after a five hour outing on the SF Bay. Light 10 knot winds and two foot waves with a tide reverse at 1300. Total good time. used new auto tiller I was skeptical of it at first but it really holds the heading assigned better than I do. Bilges no longer leak after recaulking the rudder pintles. Simrad TP10 works well under four foot swells the piston is a little noisy imho; better at coming about than jibing but a useful tool nonetheless. Essentially I'm a passenger in my own remote control boat!