First “sea trial” for my newly built Cobra 5, based on Bill’s plans, and its McRig. We found a small corner of our reservoir clear of ice to test the boat, my friend @ntoine had brought his Viperfish. We only sailed about 20 minutes, the cold was too much and ours fingers were numb. The boat and rig did very well, though my sail shed all its battens after 5 minutes, they were just glued on, maybe the cold. Thus the sail looks rather ugly. I also need to shift the weight aft. Besides that, the boat is tracking very well, pleasant to sail, balanced rig (that was luck, the middle hole for the mast step was the right one). Possibly the first McRig in France, certainly the first Cobra!
Looks like you did a great job, Patrick…thanks for building her. I’m very pleased to see my boats perform in other countries, and against other designs. It looks like Cobra compares favorably to Viperfish, and with a bit more tuning…who knows
Thanks to you Bill for sharing this design! To be honest we were not racing, just sailing together, but the speed appeared very comparable. I build her a bit heavy, around 950 grams ready to sail with battery, so once I get the tuning figured out I think I might build a second, lighter hull, incorporating learnings from the first one, a key one being to shift the weights aft. Have a Merry Xmas,
Patrick
