Messages

Notice of Race for round 1 at Ely Sailing Club http://www.national12.org/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.cgi?m-1402155882/ 

Well folks it’s a little under month to go to the first round of the 4 plank series. So who’s planning on bring their yot a long to Ely Sailing Club for a day’s pleasant racing?

Great set of photo's John, looks like those that didn't make it missed out 
If anyone needs a crew for next year 

Awsome pic of Graham and Zoe going  for in Carnac
 
Looks like an really good event with decent wine and quality sea food!

reduced in some areas but doing well in others. Both the moths and cherubs are doing really well for them selves at the mo but then there's no one really in their niche.

There is a system in which the adjustment is pretty much all in the rudder stock which requires the minimal amount of work on the boat itself. It is currently fitted to two boats that l know about, dare bary's ginger pudding and John Thornton's chapter. The only additions needed to the hull are a bit of transom strengthening (triangulation at the pintles if not already there and a few blocks and cleats in the boat. The great thing about this method is you can easily switch foils from boat to boat without the need of the complexities of the ram seen on the pink foolish 'Alpha Male' I'll try and get photos of it when l next see John.

Cool, I had found a few posts about Dare's system when hunting through google it looks good. I know this is more work for probably a already busy committee, I'm thinking it might be good to have a section on the website (maybe?? only open to members) about DIY winged rudders, how to use them and the different systems of control. Could be a really good way to demystify these foiling rudders to those who haven’t used them and are new to the class.

Problem is, what is seen to be stalling sales of 12 s can only be addressed by those people who might be interested but don't for whatever reason. Those who are active in the fleet will very rarely find fault with the product they sail week in week out for obvious reason, ie we all love the 12

I have got a few ideas on this subject which I will write about more when I have got a mo (being dyslexic pretty much every post is drafted in word first)
I always think this is why the Dinghy Show is a the best shop window and great acid test about what other sailors think of your class. The guys on the stand this year will know how got a show they had, plus who ever it is who picks up the emails from the website from people interested in getting a 12. So I'm slightly wondering if there is more behind the setting up of this thread than a response to the thread you started.

 What is more it can be a relatively cheap conversion if done at home, and has been shown to work on older designs as well. 

Have recently had a chat with My Exocet Kevin Ellway while looking at photo's of Subversion. Kevin thinks Subversion with her very pinched in transom and fine entry would go very quickly with a winged rudder.
Thinking about and looking at now the Pink Ovi foolish was converted over to a fooling rudder it would be a massive hassle to convert Subversion if was tempted.

very true. it might have happened earlier if Subversion had slightly more powerful aft sections 

[rules]

Having said now is not the time to change anything I’m going to contradict myself but then there’s nothing like kicking about ideas about rule changes.

If there was going to be changing of rules then I would like to see;
 I really think it is about time to lose the centre of gravity correctors in masts.  With the majority of the fleet using black sticks and pretty much all of them bought off the rack. I think the old reason of limiting a masts weight and CG has passed. It just seams daft to keep screwing lead into masts. Especially if when you consider a properly engineered carbon mast isn’t just about making a very light mast with a low centre of gravity it's part of it but not all. You would probably still get a race winning mast by breaking the bank to get an aerodynamically efficient mast with the right bend characteristics all achieved with top end high modulus carbon and adding lead to it isn't going to blunt it's effect much. Also adding lead to carbon masts also seems completely at odds with the word ‘development’ in the class title. I don’t think Merlin’s add lead to their masts and they haven’t seen a explosion of oooba expensive masts. For that matter at the other end of the scale nether have 18’s (comparatively speaking) which pretty much with what they can do with their rigs.  

This may not be the time to change the sail plan but it might be a good time to have a proper look to see if the rig is heading in the right direction. And I’m not just talking revisiting the debate if sails should be fully battened with more area. More along the lines to see if the sail plan as to be as good as it can be the, sails are easy to make, last a sensible amount of time and haven’t picked any strange design details which could be done better if the rules were slightly different. 
 I personally would like to be able to have more are at the top of my main sail (move some of it up from the bottom)and maybe another batten to help keep the ‘corner ‘out. Just because pretty much all of my sailing is going to be inland in light to middling breezes. I would all so like to move to rule package which sees the total area measured. Mostly because I think it gives people more scope to experiment, produce  a better looking sail plan and clear up the odd statement which you see on the website where the area is probably around ‘X’  but only ‘X’ is measured.

It’s also worth bearing in mind the Grad’s have changed sail plan, added more area and it hasn’t effect numbers sailing boats. And going back to 18 foot skiffs again they have a varying amount sail area, mast high and sail plan across the fleet and yet the racing is still very close. It’s worth noting the boat which won this years JJ didn’t have the biggest or the rigs but it was the most sorted with guys who had spent the most amount of time sailing together. Having a Ian Murry as team manager might have helped a bit as well ;o)

I also wonder with most new sails now hitting the max head measurement the class as now ended up with the biggest square top you are going to want on a 12 anyway.
 
In answer to Gnavs I’m thinking about putting one on Subversion but really I won’t be seriously thinking about doing it before next year. I’m also thinking of having a go with a new Grad main on Subversion at some stage just to see what it’s like.

After lots pondering and gazing out the window and coming to the conclusion the answer might be 43. I thought it was about time to stick a post in this thread.

First up like most other responses to this thread I don’t think changing some rules will get more people sailing 12’s. To me it’s a bit like chewing gum to answer an algebra problem.  Also like me old mucka and fellow former cherubist I find myself in strange place my saying now is probably not the time to do anything radical. I also think the members shouldn’t go banning or limiting things just because one boat designer has got the more numbers more right than others.

It also seems everyone was pretty happy for the thinkers and the tinkers to play winged rudders right up until they got them working and constantly started beating people.  I also wonder if winged rudder were banned while the ban would probably not so much effect the  P2’s but DCB’s and Hi-jack. Will probably have real problems with lift when planning from what I have heard on the grapevine about Grazz using his DCB without the winged rudder. The result could be the that a whole generation of boats de-value over night. 
Those are my first thoughts, more to follow over the weekend 

Again not quite the post you were hoping for :-/ I can't make from the end of June I'm up for a bit of crewing 

Yeah good call much better to get on the water and get sailing than waste good sailing days boat polishing 
 
After weekend painting Subversion with International Toplac  I can highly recommend mixing your undercoat 50:50 with the top coat and if you are thinking of going red then use a white undercoat. Better still look at other paints either 2 pack car paints or I think you are ok to brush paint with cellulose car paint as well. Both options would probably work out cheaper as well.

I always favour sanding as keeps the weight off (means to don’t keep adding layers of paint) plus it gives the boat a bit of a fair. It also makes it really easy to spot knock which might need a bit filling and any area which might need a bit of a repair.

It’s also worth remembering shiny paint jobs are all in the preparation and wet and drying between coats and getting nice thin coats of paint on ;o)
 
Here’s Subversion  half way through under coat number 1

John she looks amazing, I hope you are planning to bring her to 4 plank events to show her off