SailMark said..

shaggybaxter said..

Donk107 said..
Hi Shaggy

Can you use a symmetrical spinnaker on her if need be

Regards Don

Gday Donk,
No. I did have the option at the build time to get the mast built to take a pole, but for some bizarre reason I said no at the time. Not sure why, it might have been handy a few times! Now the mast has been made , I can't add/plate/drill it, so Sprit sails it is.

What a shame shaggy. I have a spare spinnaker pole and heavy 210sm kite that I'm not using over the long weekend.

Hi SM,
Aargh! Thanks very much for the offer, that would have been a nice addition indeed
My light air kite I had made locally is 200m2, but I have to pull it down at 18 knots, a heavy air version would be interesting!

Donk107 said..
Hi Shaggy

Are there any Pogo's that you know of that have the mast ring and do they perform as well speed wise as when an Assy is used

Regards Don

Donk,
No I don't know of any, but it was offered to me by Pogo before the build started. Optimal VMG on the polars for most wind ranges is 150, but the polars of course are made for the sail wardrobe you have, so I'm not sure. I thought the hull shape would work against square running, but the flatter we get the boat when running, the easier it is to get on the plane, so that's not the negative.

shaggybaxter said..
I'm passage planning (or chook scratchings) on wind direction options to get out of the bay at the moment, trying to avoid any square running. I wish I had you gents' instinctive ability , I sadly have to draw it out to get it to stick in my head!


Jode, you mention a flatter kite for the run up the beach, I'm looking at that if the wind stays in around 120 deg TWD. If it swings 150 deg TWD, I'm tossing up to swap for a fuller kite.
I'm interested in what you think, you having done a truckload more of these than me, do you reckon it will be more ESE up the beach?

wow thats to complex for me i just make some numbers up in my head and hang as much sail as i can while staying in control with this forecast i wouldnt be surprised if you were in before sunset saturday we are thinking in for the billycart races sunday for us

We had the briefing last night, the forecast is for 10 odd knots from the SE at the start building to teens early Saturday for the run up the beach, then 20+ knots at Breaksea for the square run past Lady Elliot Island. Once past Lady Elliot it's a better angle , we may see hints of 25 knots.
The slower boats may fall off the back of the weather pattern, but the slightly worrying thing for me in relation to safety is the swell. An Easterly 3m swell on the Friday means we won't be surfing down waves, but more taking them on the beam. It is admittedly easing to 1-2mtrs on Saturday and Sunday, but managing crew fatigue and seasickness is occupying most of my head space at the moment.
Breaksea can be fearsome when it wants to be, it wouldn't surprise me to see the odd 6+ mtr swells as we go round the corner, it smells like that sort of conditions this year.
I love racing and we're competitive as the next boat, and it might not fit the he-man image, but I have to look after the boat and crew first, to finish, we have to finish with everyone on board and the boat and sails intact. I don't want to be doing MoB recovery at Breaksea, it's a race and not worth major injury or worse.
To all the skippers and crews I hope you have a great race, but's let's make sure it's a safe one first and foremost.
cheers,
SB

Thx Andy,
Its a shame you and Jode can't make it, but I'm taking a GoPro hung off the starboard quarter, I'll see if we can get some interesting action shots for you guys of some overpowered broaches on a breaking swell or summink

Fusion is looking the goods. Only the big boys in front. The weather for the rest of the race will suit them down to the ground. If they can keep it together overnight, there is a good chance they will be in the money.
Good luck boys.

Hi all,
What a race. That was champagne sailing, with enough wind that only a couple of boats survived without some form of breakage, mostly spinnakers thankfully.
Dekadence blew 2 kites, Coopers did 3 I think, Kerisma lost all electronics and the gooseneck, Envy snapped a bowsprit, Kerumba tore her mainsail, it was big seas and lots of wind, gusts up to 35 knots.
We had some damage too, ended up breaking the end of the boom on a nasty gybe in 30 knots halfway from Lady Elliot to Gladstone, so with some frenetic jury rigging we managed to keep the horde coming over the horizon behind us to hopefully take 1st in PHF overall.
Hope Boty had a great time, Jode and Andy would have excelled in those conditions. Great fun, and thanks to all for the best wishes!

Only the sticker holding the boom end on shaggy. That is radical. I hope you pull off the trophy.

First B to G and pulling off the trophy will be a big feather in your cap.

Are the results published yet?

Shoot!!! A cheque for $5,000!!

That may cover 25% of the costs of doing the race.

I notice the date on the cheque is 1/04/2018. Hope it is not an Arpril Fool's Joke.

You worked hard for it Greg. Enjoy the fruits of your labour. Well done.

Yes I second that Shaggy, well done. There must have been some hairy moments.

Great work Shaggy. You should be able to get those small jobs repaired in time for Hammo......

Hi All,
I threw together a quick video, this is the run from Lady Elliot Island toward Gladstone. I should have put up the A3 (deep VMG) kite up, but opted to stay with the gennaker, which is more of a reaching kite. It was a bit conservative as a sail plan, but being a wire luffed kite (furler) it meant we didn't have to be be trimming madly on every wave. We ran this kite most of the race, from the Caloundra turning mark to the finish. We just set the trim for the wind angle and then drove the boat to suit, we hardly needed to touch the sheet winch (the blue sheet on the winch under Helen's hand) except for the occasional big gust where we had to dump the sheet and grind it back on.
The seas don't look that big, but Dekadence who we were tussling with at the time had just shredded her big kite from the wave effect, as they accelerated down the waves the kite was collapsing and then filling with a bang as they fell off the wave, so the choice turned out OK in the end. You can see there is enough load on the mast from the kite to make the headsail furler all floppy, it's a weird feeling when you don't have a backstay to offset it.
Hope you like the video!
Cheers,
SB

Congrats Shaggy, great effort & thanks for the vid.

What a sleigh ride!! Thanks for the vid Shaggs.

Hi Shaggy

Well done to you and the crew for the win and the video

It looks like you had a great time

Is the Sydney to Hobart still in your future plans

Regards Don