Well it’s Thursday morning here in Australia. Today is final tuning day for my boat before Sundays South-East Queensland R/C Multihull Titles.
In sail testing my boat(see prototype in another topic) against other members I think that it/I will fair quite well. I’m hoping for top three.
The nerves have started already, knowing what this boat is capable of if I sail it properly. The conditions look like they are going to be A-rig, which is going to suit me just fine.
Full details and photos will be posted Sunday night Australian time.
The worst part is the waiting, the week has been very long…
Peter,
Get a grip of yourself!, pull yourself together, what do you think you are? - -a pair of Curtains!!??.
I am SURE I am echoing the wishes of all of us, in wishing you the VERY BEST of LUCK in the coming Event.
Go for it!!, there will be a lot of thumbs other than yours on that Tranny stick!!.
Very Best Regards,
John Dowd.
As promised here is the report from the 2004 SEQ R/C multihull Titles.
We all sat around waiting for thewind to show up, which is something that none of us is used to.
Many penalties were handed out for rules infringements. This lead to some skippers not enjoying the day at all.
In the end (after 8 races) the results were very close.
1st Richard Billett 10 points (tri)
2nd Dean Perro 13 points (tri)
3rd Bill Wheatley 14 points (tri)
On a personal note. I had a shocker. I experienced some radio and boat problems I haven’t had in years. Radio interference and sailing incidents put me out the back door.[:-banghead][:-banghead][:-banghead][:-banghead]
Waiting now very unpatiently for September when we will contest the State Titles.
Peter,
What a shame you had such a bad day, to report it to us must have been hard to do!.
I admire you for doing it, never mind, there will be other chances for you to shine through.
The word "If " is in the middle of “Life”.
Well worth remembering.
Chin up!!.
John.
Just abit more about relating to the problems I had. Since getting home and going through the wiring on my boat, I have found a “black” wire. The only connection that wasn’t checked.
The boat at one stage wasgoing really well. The following picture was taken when we were racing to the finish line(mine is second)
Of course, as is usually the case, this topic may soon be locked - however, based on a lot of posts in the near recent past, I beg to ask the question of our leading “GURU” and high speed technical consultant who frequents the forum on a regular basis…
<font color=“green”>Exactly how would a Microsail boat WITH FOILS have any advantage in this type of sailing conditions?</font id=“green”>
It was previously posted that a foiler has it mast further forward a “specific dimension” - but there never was an answer why it would not be moved back if the boat was not foiling. This leaves one with the impression that the mast location - similar to every other mast location on every other sail boat in the world has a defined and designed location. When one isn’t using the moving ballast, and when the hulls are NOT up and flying, it is still that same old thing … a “Dog” (not a cat) with a lot of underwater appendages to increase surface area drag.
Ohhh Yesss ! I can see now, that first place was lost due lack of foils and flying hulls!
DOUG - PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE ARE SAILING CONDITIONS THAT MAY BE SIMILAR TO MANY OF US DURING THE SUMMER!
Be glad to Dick: because of the design of a retractable foiler it has much smaller ama’s than a “normal” trimaran. This lighter weight coupled with the fact that the hulls have no trunks added to them(further reducing weight) and the carbon/kevlar construction allows the boat to be equal to or lighter than a normal tri.
Couple that with the probable superiority of the Wing Tip Rig planform you have a potentially faster boat.
The down side is that with the foils retracted lateral resistance is being developed with two foils instead of one.
If it is known that the conditions will remain light the rudder t-foil can be removed.
I would think that the retractable foiler might have a slight net advantage in lite air but not much.
I believe that any serious multihull competition like a nationals or regional championship should have a minimum windspeed of 5-7 mph since anybody can sail anything in lite air( NOT NECESSARILY WELL) but it takes a skilled skipper to handle a multi when the wind is up.A number of full size classes have such a rule and it should be considered for regatta’s that are supposed to test mastery of a multihull…
And besides, then I could foil(LOL)…
I believe there are also classes that have a maximum wind speed limit as well…
So the question is if it is more of a test of skill if one can sail in the light, shifty breezes, or if one can manage to “survive” in really heavy air?
Does keeping a boat on it’s feet require more skill than finding and following wind shifts, puff, lifts and headers?
Interesting question…
I select the light shifty stuff as a true test of sailing skill - as it not only encompasses boat handling, but also requires ability to seek shifts, sail in phase, and identify the favored side of the course - whereas - being simply able to survive around a course seems to be based only on boat handling skills, since it matters little “where” the wind is coming from - as long as it doesn’t change directions significantly.
A good sailor should be up there if its blowing dogs off chains or when you can barely see the leaves move. A good sailor will tack on shifts if its blowing Force 6+ or Force 1. Winning in one set of conditions is no good, If you want to be good you got to win all the time. That is the challenge.
Matt
Your comments relating to tacking on shifts proves that you have never raced r/c multihull’s competitively against other r/c multihull’s. Being someone that races these boats every other weekend, I can say, without reservation, that if you tack on every wind shift (especially in light air) you will be out the back door so fast it’s unbelieveable.
Light air sailing with multi’s requires you to keep the boat moving, if this means that you take the knocks so be it. Quite often you find yourself making one long tack, then another to make the windward mark.
This is a different story when the wind is in, but remember multihull’s will not tack as fast as a monohull, but if sailed properly excellerate out of the tack faster. So yes it is true to say that when the wind is in you can sail the shifts, but if someone else is sailing the one tack course, they will 9/10 times beat you to the top mark. Less tacks means more constant speed. The best way to slow a fast r/c multihull is to keep it tacking.
I suggest that you take the time to get on to Mike Howell and find out when the next r/c multihull event is taking place and go and sail against them. Try out your thoughts for yourself and see what happens.
I will admit that in real boat sailing and also with r/c monohulls tacking on shifts works, but with r/c multihull’s it doesn’t cut the mustard.
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>Originally posted by Peter _Birch
…in real boat sailing and also with r/c monohulls tacking on shifts works, but with r/c multihull’s it doesn’t cut the mustard.
<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
Peter - based on my sailing multihulls experience since 1974, I would eliminate the “R/c” part of your quote… tacking on shifts with full size multihulls is also slow!
Sorry to make the multihulls seem like drag racers, but they are ! “Banging corners” is a normal and accepted method of racing a multihull by most folks. They are not "sports cars in the sense they can be roll tacked (pumped or oouched either). The most dreaded realization is to find you didn’t overstand your mark, and now it is going to require a minimum of two additional tacks to clear the windward mark. While sitting there trying to get going, it is very disheartneing to watch a large portion of the boats behind you simply sail past about 25 yards ahead – in the area of the course you didn’t lay with your second tack. Arrrgh !
As Peter suggests, there is no such thing as two or four quick tacks with a multihull.
I guess the other thing that “could be worse” is trying to lay the windward mark against a running current - 3 or 4 times… kind of like hitting 4 successive golf balls into the pond from the Tee box! [:(!]
Gybing is better than tacking, but again, is usually used to get to the favored side of the course to all a deep, very fast reach. Wing and wing downwind sailing only is good for very very light breezes. Anything over a couple of knots and dowind reaching is the elected method for sailing dowind, and again, no gybing duels needed. While you are playing tactics, the guy who keeps his platform “heated up” downwind will round the leeward mark first !
Good suggestion about cat racing… I think Matt was getting a Tornado ride - so he may have first hand experiecne in difference between skiff and multihull “theory” ! [:D]
Every Boat looses time when tacking, but multi-hulls are certainly worse than most other boats.
In sailing school, we were taught that it you lost 10 to 15 seconds with each tack (3-5 boatlengths). So before making the decision to tack, you needed to assess whether the gain to be made by tacking would make up for that loss. This is just plain smart sailing.
In college, with the dominance of roll tacking, it was possible to tack with minimal distance loss. In fact in some conditions, if you were good, you could actually gain speed and distance by tacking. The rules prohibit this, but as we all know rules are meant to be bent… But as Dick says, multihulls (R/C or full size) do not roll tack!
Keeping things hot downwind is a very difficult skill to master, but it applies to many types of boats these days so it is becoming a better understood concept. Scows need to be sailed hot. Sport boats (even tame ones like the J-105 and the J-120) need to be sailed hot. But perhaps the best example of needing to sail hot is iceboats. Learning to sail fast downwind in iceboats is a skill that takes years to master, but once you have it it can mean the difference between 40 mph and 90 mph (that is not an exaggeration). Some of the best downwind scow sailors learned their skills in DNs or Skeeters. This form of cross training is invaluable…
Matt - Have fun on the Tornado! Had a ride or two myself on that particular boat and it is a good one. I would like to give it a try again now that they have gennakers…
Last night (Australian time) the location of the 2005 South East Queensland titles and the Queensland titles was decided.
We will be holding these two events at the Sunshine Coast University.
Having a year to advertise and organsize these events will hopefully prove to be highly successful. The intension is to try to get some interstate and overseas(maybe) boats involved.
The times for these two events will be late March and September.
If there are people on here that have an IOM and are coming to the Worlds in September 2005, why don’t see about getting a multi and bringing it as well.
I am personally going to build a couple of boats to have available for people to sail.
Numbers will decide the format of racing. Hopefully the class would have grown enough by then to force our hand and make these two-three day events.
So to the guys that sail multi’s, you have 16 months notice of the Queensland Titles. Why not make Australia a holiday destination and get involved in some good close competitive r/c multihull racing.
Ok, forget the tacking on shifts in cats! I thought the Rs600 was slow to tack but a Tornado is a pain in the arse if you get the traveler wrong. Hobies (15’s/16’s) always seemed quick to tack, but they are small enough to kick the back round using bodyweight. You still need to tack on big shifts though (like 10 deg+) to get the best upwind vmg. Funnily enough after sailing the Tornado Sport sat, and the 600 sunday, I happened to jump in a Blaze (cross between a moth and a laser for fat boys, damn ugly!) and fell out the boat on the first tack it span so quick! Tacking on shifts was probaly a bad example, but you get what I mean, the top guys will be able to put the boat where it needs to be going in any conditions.