Well we sailed today in wind. It has taken what seems like forever but the wind gods were finally kind to us.
I have mentioned many times that we sail in moderate winds. Below are some photos to show this.
Sorry about the photo quality, I’m still learning how to use the camera properly.
This photo was taken before the ones above. This boat is built light (about 2kg), but it proves that Australian boats can sail on one hull. This run lasted about 15 seconds and was controlled the entire time.
As I said previously the photo quality is poor, that’s my fault. I’m learning how to set up the camera to take really good photos.
After these photos were taken we started racing again. The wind built to about 15 knots. The boats were going really well, shame we had no-one there to take photos. Next time I’ll stay off the water for awhile and get some more photos.
Dick
John’s boat was designed by himself and his son,Richard. It is along the lines of the Marblehead idea I have posted about before.It is the progression from the “blue boat” that I have posted pictures of before.
For those that are new. Marbleheads, cut down with floats added make really good multihull’s.
He doesn’t use a t-foil rudder and it had a number two rig on, he hasn’t made a number one rig for it yet.
great pictures
makes me think that multihulls can be fun. and that multihull can work
keep up the good work. and maybe we can get a yearly run done
cougar
long live the cup. and cris dickson
Hi All,
This is the latest design from our “factory” and has shown promise in weekends since the sailing of these titles. It has been shown to be faster than my current title holding boat, which means my dad will now be able to beat me if he learns how to sail it. it has further reinforced the need for me to build a new boat for the next titles so i once again have the speed advantage. When he puts an A rig on this boat, i will be hard pressed to beat him. My new boat may be along the lines of this boat as we have a full set of female moulds for it, but may also make an attempt at a solid sail or hydrofoil concept. The rig he has for this is significantly better than mine as we have added a track to the carbon fibre mast that gives us the ability to control the sail better. I’m not sure of its exact weight, but it would be about 2kg. My intention is to make my next one lighter again through being a bit less conservative with the glue application where it is not absolutely necessary.
The Australian multihull racing action is hotting–at least in Richard’s household. I wonder if your dad will give you as much help building your next boat as you gave him??(grin)
The new boat from the Birch household is on it’s way, should be on the water for the State Titles, complete with new sails and raring to go—hopefully.
It’s about time we took the title away from Richard.
btw Richard where is my new mast? I need it for the new sails.
i feel a title defence might be more difficult this time. what with my dad’s boat and your new boat on the cards. maybe it’s definitely time to go for something a little bit different, like solid sails or foils. it would be good to get some more boats on the water by selling ours locally.
I’m sure Peter will encourage you to build a boat with foils - especially if the air is light and the water full of weeds ! [:D]
I guess you haven’t heard that the hot new trick for multihulls is to drag a piece of plastic wrap behind the boat. Your multihull competitors will be envious of “<u>that</u>” speed trick !
Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance in helping you to go <s>slower</s> - err - faster! [:-devil] [:-mischievous]
The wind was certainly there,20-25 knots with all to regular gusts of 30. This caused us all to reduce sail, but it didn’t help the carnage that was to follow.
We sailed again on the week-end. I didn’t sail, as I am still sorting things out after moving house and didn’t have time to fix the boat. I went out to try to get some half decent photos. Although there was only three boats on the water, the racing was close. Winds varied between five and twelve knots all day. Good tactical sailing was the order of the day, and I think that the race wins were split pretty evenly.
The Queensland titles were sailed last weekend. We had winds that varied from 5-15 knots. As per usual I had a shocker, culminating in capsizing the rescue boat and losing my handset.
The result was close all day. Ten races were sailed, worst two results dropped which gave us the positions of
Bill Wheatley 1st 13 points
Greg Moran 2nd 13 points
RIchard Billett 3rd 14 points