Can anyone confirm what weight Jo and Sophie were carrying individually/between them at the nationals?
They probably didn't qualify for the tubs trophy!!
Is DCB now end main - thought it was set up with a centre main hoop, with some sort of auto adjust traveller?
http://www.championmarinephotography.co.uk/galleries/Burton%20Cup%202009/pages/Burton%20Cup%2009%20021.htm (http://www.championmarinephotography.co.uk/galleries/Burton%20Cup%202009/pages/Burton%20Cup%2009%20021.htm)
http://www.championmarinephotography.co.uk/galleries/Burton%20Cup%202009/pages/Burton%20Cup%2009%20004.htm (http://www.championmarinephotography.co.uk/galleries/Burton%20Cup%202009/pages/Burton%20Cup%2009%20004.htm)
According to my spies the mainsheet has indeed migrated to the stern.
i spoke to jo one morning and he mentioned 20.5 stone between them, so around that mark i guess.
It's hard to imagine how Sophie would be able to walk around the boat in her normal style on a run with a hoop in the middle!
http://www.national12.org/blahdocs/uploads/34312_7745.jpg
(file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Wilkins/LOCALS~1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg)
We were indeed just over 20 and nine of those were mine.
As for the centre main there were definitely times when I could have done with a zimmer frame to hold onto, but overall I was really pleased it wasn't there - especially on the broader reaches.
Sophie
We are currently sailing with a centre mainsheet on strops as an experiment. I think thta if you are going to use one them a hoop is the only way to go. any advice on a crewing front as to how to make it work!!! Down wind in a blow seems the tricky bit!
Greg N3473
i think the best way to centre main the 12 is to sheet if off the boom, keeps the rope out the way, and still allows you to get leech tension on easily
i sail the baggy with a 29er style off the boom system and it works ok, but the cheshire before that was a pain for it so i went back to aft sheeting. the down side of off the boom is if u have a beefy rachet block the crew can get a right battering from it if they lean there head back too much!
tony
The best way to make it work is to get rid of it. Many of us would like to use a centre main but in reality it really doesn’t work in a 12. The hoop gets in the crews way too much, see Sophie’s comment above. Off the boom garrottes the crew on the run, and doesn’t give you the gibing advantage you’re after anyway. Very few of the experienced crews will stand for it.
In Joe’s words, ‘well it just didn’t really work.’
Weight in DCB seems mid-range. Winged rudder, trim-tab centreboard and sheeting have all been worthy of comment, but I thnk it is also noteworthy that, as Jo said, "everything is further back". The jib tack is at least 100mm further aft than the usual stem head fitting, the mast step is about 200mm aft of the normal position. I gather the jib area is between 1.6 and 1.8 m sq. All this must shift the centre of effort of the sail plan well aft, and no doubt means the centreboard / centre of lateral resistance is also further back. I am unaware of much variation from the concensus on these points during the last two decades. Will anyone else try something similar, or is it all down to Jo's (and Sophie's) brilliant sailing?
PS I wish I had taken measurements of DCB at Thorpe Bay.
John Hugo (N3475 aka N8455)