I agree with Bill; pretty tough talk for a totally experimental class of boat! And I am one of the newbies! My second sailing with my first footy resulted in it half filling with water. I had some issues…Needless to say, the elctronics went totally haywire and it started sailing off into the lake, a big lake. Luckily, the wind changed and blew it on a different course and it made it back to one of the docks. But it did not sink!
The point is, one of the things that interested me into building footies IS the experimental aspect without a great outlay of time and money. Even the electronics, especially if you go with some cheapo $40 unit from Tower. Don’t get me wrong, I would have been bummed if it had sank or sailed away, but I would have just built another.
And build others I will. Heck, I am jealous that none of my boats sit high up in the water like Bill’s does. But that just makes me strive for improvements. I got some ideas and experiments to follow and I sure am not worried whether some little boat is going to sink out in the middle of my test run.
Bob
Found a new place to sail on my lake. It is at some condos where I did some work recently and the water is quite deep right up next to the sidewalks going around the shore. Real nice wind, except there are times some large gusts of 25mph come up and really make life interesting. My boats are nice and sail OK, but I need to build lighter hulls so that they sit higher in the water!
Bob
Hey Bill…
Though you may not have tested it in all conditions, I gotta say I love the first prototype for that new mylar hatch cover! I’ll definitely be making one for my boats’ test runs. It’s way cool. :shades:
Bill H
Nice pictures!!
Know what you mean about sitting higher in the water. Mine likes to make like a submarine at the least provocation.
Been using good old duct tape for a hatch. Never found anything better. havn’t gotten a drop in it yet. (knock on wood)
need to stop procrastinating and get some video clips of my “Tangerine” that I made posted somewhere.
Hi guys,
I thought you might like to see Fazer! 
She was built by Peter Hubbard of the UK based on my Razor plans. This boat is a great example of how you can take an idea and make it your own.
Here’s what he says about Fazer:
Hi Bill,
She sails really good, all the guys in our club had a go with the tranny and all agreed she sailed excellent.
She puts her nose down a little when running down wind with the sail full out but she does hold her course well.
I have Close hauled sailed her in about 8mph and she flys for her size.
Overall the balance is just right and and the sail area gives her control in 0 mph -12mph.winds
I am thinking of making a top or No 1 sail for those drifty days with aprox 20% more area as I do not feel this would be detrimental to her handling characteristics based on the sailing so far.
Best regards
Peter
Great job Peter, she’s a beautiful boat.
Here’s an update from Peter for those (like me) who’d like to rig their Razors this way:
Boom length = 10 1/8th inches
Mast height from deck level = 22 1/2 inches
Boom height from deck level = 1 3/4 inches
Both mast and boom are made from 3/16th carbon tube . flex’s a little but not a lot!.
C/L for mast from bow = 3 5/8th inches.
Ted sent me some pics a week or so ago, and then followed up with more today, so here are some great Footy pics from New Zealand. I thought Ted’s comments were interesting, too.
Here’s his first note:
Hi Bill,
Attached are some shots of Terry’s “Razor” launched early this month.
Some of the club members are building about 10 Footys, Brent McCormack’s Micron is the most popular followed by your Razor then Brent’s Bob-About.
I will send you some more photos as the boats emerge.
And the one he sent yesterday:
Hi Bill,
Everyone is happy for you to show their boats on the forum. Bit of an ego boost I guess.
The attached photos are of Gordon Blackwood’s “Half Pint” the blue boat and Wayne Mowbray’s “Bubbles”, the red one.
Both are Brent McCormack’s Micron hulls and both perform well.
Terry and Wayne went down to the lake after work the other night and tuned Terry’s Razor.
Now you can throw your hat in the air.
Straight line sailing the Razor left the Micron for dead.
One of our members had donated a trophy to the club so there will be some interesting racing going on soon.
I will keep you posted with developements as the come through.
Regards
Ted
Great stuff, guys, thanks for sharing them with us. Oh, and by the way, GO TERRY :zbeer:
Fazer is a very pretty boat, nicely done. I don’t think that keel will help it fit into the box. A lot of the boat pics here seem to be of boats that disregard the “box rule”. Just an obsrvation.
In my designs defence it looks like the rig could be tuned up a bit better:)
I’m sure you’re right, Brett, proper tune is critical…and straight-line speed isn’t the whole story…I’ve mentioned that my Razor seems to turn upwind too quickly in a gust, requiring quick thumbs…nevertheless, GO TERRY!!
Obeservation not quite right, the Fazer does fit in the box rule with ease.
Going by the photo I think it would be more likely the rudder shape that would be of concern as to whether it will fit in the box rule. :magnify:
Here’s some pix I took from my dinghy with my “big boat” in the background:
Great pics, Bill! Looks like the wind was blowing pretty good. Gets kind of scary when the bow get totally submerged!
Bob
Thanks, Bob. Yeah there was a bit of a chop, maybe 1 foot max. The wind was only around 10-11 mph but it had a 6 mile fetch to stir up the waves. The boat sailed pretty well except for a couple times when I didn’t have enough momentum to come about easily in the chop & did a quick jibe instead.
Bill
ps to Niel, I decided to extend the forward sheeting tube a bit higher with a smaller diameter plastic tube & the water intrusion seems minimal. That being said, the boat has not yet “been tested in all conditions”.
Might give this footy thing a go … also been considering Lasers, there seems to be a growing fleet … at first I thought it was a fad but hey it looks like fun … i’d like to think that we could drum up some interest at Southwater!