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I would be grateful for any advice the foilerati are able to provide!

My new boat (a Big Issue 2) has a foiling rudder which is not a t foil. The wings are at the bottom of the rudder blade. As I understand it the t-foil rudder is particularly effective because it utilises the water flow coming up off the bottom of the hull.
Is there a major differential in terms of foil performance? If so might it be worth getting the rudder modified and repositioning the wings?
I haven't used the foiling rudder yet. Still getting used to sailing the boat with the dagger rudder.

My involvement with the class started with a Tigress (N3143 Catatonic). Having decided that I don't like spending my time looking after wooden boats I then picked up a Paper Dart (N2903 Maxim). Even with baggy old sails the Paper Dart has proved to be very competitive on the river.

However, deep down I have always wanted a more modern boat. So I am acquiring N3517 (Carbon Paw Print). Looking forward to having a much lighter boat to haul up the slipway.
I will need to be careful using a foiling rudder on the Thames, but after many years sailing on our reach I hopefully know where most of the shallow spots are!

The Twickenham YC National 12 fleet is very healthy at present. We have a fleet of 7 boats comprising a couple of double bottoms, a couple of Design 8s, two Paper Darts and a Cheshire Cat.
At last years Open Meeting all 7 boats took part, but sadly we had no visitors. It would be great to have some visitors this year!
For those who are not aware the main trophy, the Thames Challenge is a very impressive lump of Silver first sailed for here in 1936.

A few years after selling 3143 Catatonic, my Tigress I have acquired another 12, a Paper Dart called Maxim. She appears to be basically sound, but is in need of better sails, new ropes, footstraps etc.

I have been borrowing another Paper Dart 2901 and found her very quick on the Thames, so I am hoping that after a bit of renovation Maxim will be just as quick.

The first job is sorting out an under the foredeck mast ram which appears to have got a bit stuck. Without realising what I was doing I pulled on a control line (with the rig down) and found it was connected to a mast ram. The ram pushed out so I now need to either remove it or free it up so that I can step the mast properly.

This is just a quick reminder to potential visitors that the Twickenham Yacht Club N12 Open Meeting takes place on Sunday October 7th.

The home fleet will hopefully be well represented. At TYC we currently have 7 N12s ( 2 Design 8s, 3 Tigress, 1 China Doll and 1 Paper Dart.) with 6 boats out racing on a regular basis.

Sadly we only had 5 boats participating last year so this year I am hoping for something closer to the splendid 12 boat attendance that we had in 2010!

3 races with first start at 11am. 2 afternoon races back to back.

Prizes for first overall and first Admiral's Cup boat.

In the event of a westerly or easterly breeze we will use the usual reach between Eel Pie Island and Richmond, but if we get a northerly or southerly we have the option of racing on the reach between Eel Pie and Teddington.

High water is 19:46 so there will be no risk of any cars getting flooded on the riverside road.

The hard by the White SWan pub provides our visitors with a good rigging & launching area.

Good changing facilities including showers with plenty of hot water.

Lunches and afternoon teas will be available, and of course the bar will be open.

More details about TYC on our new website www.Twickenhamyc.org

How many 12s will be competing at the 2012 Bloody Mary?
Forecast looks promising. 15mph gusting to 30+ and probably dry.
Two 12s from Twickenham YC will be there.

The Twickenham YC N12 Open Meeting takes place on Sunday October 2nd.

There will be three races. One in the morning and two back to back in the afternoon.

First start 11am. Briefing at approx 10.30am.

Trophy for first overall and another for the first AC boat.

Last year we had a fleet of 11 boats and excellent conditions, so we are hoping for an equally good event this year.
We had a number of young sailors last year. Indeed the overall winner was Arthur Henderson (then 17) crewed by Abigail Croft (then 15).

It would be good to see 'local' sailors from Ranelagh and Desborough

Visitors will launch from the hard by the White Swan pub.

The bar will be open at lunchtime and after the racing. Lunches will be available.

I would be grateful if people who intend to come to Twickenham could let me know on this thread so that we can plan our catering arrangements.

Just published by the RYA. 12's PY number has been cut by 2.

A N12 trophy originally presented by Twickenham YC in 1942 (Thames Challenge Cup) has appeared on e-bay. At TYC we are very keen to recover this special piece of the club's heritage.
I thought I would flag this up in case someone else in the class was considering bidding  for this old N12 trophy. I am hoping not to have to pay a fortune outbidding other interested parties!
Thanks
Alistair

I am planning to have a double floor fitted to my Tigress, and would appreciate some guidance.

My intention is to have a standard height double floor from the thwart back to the transom and a separate low floor forward of the thwart. Hopefully the existing self bailers will work more effectively as any water will collect in the gap between the sections of floor where the self bailers are.

The wooden boat building guide on this website specifies 6mm ply for the floor but I am hoping that in order to minimise weight we can use 4mm ply. If I use additional floor supports (3mm ply) will 4mm ply be adequate?

The Tigress has a lot of rocker so I am hoping that despite only having a low floor in the forward section I will have enough buoyancy under the floors to be able to dispense with the buoyancy bags.

The Twickenham YC N12 Open Meeting takes place on Sunday October 10th.
As this event is part of the Youth Series we are expecting a large fleet. We have a very keen young helm at TYC who is very quickly getting the hang of sailing his 12. The TYC fleet has grown again this year so I am hoping that there will be at least 5 home boats on the water (possibly more).

There will be 3 races. One in the morning and two back to back in the afternoon.
First start 11am. Briefing at approx 10.30am.
Trophy for first overall and another for the first AC boat. We will also award prizes for the youth section.

Visitors will launch from the hard by the White Swan pub. There will be a fairly high tide (HW 17:15) and although I would anticipate that most people will have departed before high tide it would be advisable not to park cars right by the river. We will have people on hand in the morning to meet visitors and show you the best places to park.

The bar in our historic clubhouse will be open at lunchtime (London Pride + Twickenham Fine Ale) and after the racing. Lunches will be available.
I would be grateful if people who intend to come to Twickenham could let me know on this thread so that we can plan our catering arrangements!

I have recently replaced my conventional mainsheet with a split tail version. I am pleased with the results when I start sailing but unfortunately over time the two tails progressively twist round each other. I do not understand why the twisting is happening and wonder whether anybody else has encountered this problem.

The only potential solution I have come up with so far is to install a small swivel just before the tails join the thicker portion of the mainsheet.
Does anybody have any thoughts on this?

The mainsail that I inherited with my Tigress is getting very tatty. I have already used about 4 rolls of high performance sail repair tape and I am still getting more splits.
So I am on the hunt for a suitable set of good second hand sails. I have a Proctor Alpha mast (fairly bendy by aluminium mast standards) mast ram and a carbon fibre boom. Primarily for river sailing.
Has anybody got some suitable sails they would like to sell? I tried to use the For Sale/Wanted section of the website but it did not want to cooperate!
My phone number is in the 2010 booklet.
Fingers crossed.

The Twickenham N12 Open Meeting takes place on Sunday September 27.

Three races. Best two to count.

Trophies for overall winner and first Admiral's Cup boat. First race will start at 11am.

The bar will be open and there will be lunches available.

For location information etc see the Twickenham Yacht Club club website (www.twickenhamyc.co.uk)

Visitors can launch from the hard in front of the White Swan pub. There is
usually plenty of parking available adjacent to the launch area.

The revival of the National 12s at Twickenham is continuing with the fleet
now up to 6 boats  (having been down to just two a few years ago).

At the 2008 Open Meeting in spite of some  horrible weather we had a fleet of 8
boats. I am hoping we might get an even larger turn out this year.
 
If you would like additional information my e-mail address is alistair_edwards at hotmail.co.uk

Alistair

I am having problems with fine cracks appearing in the paintwork on the hull of my Tigress. The cracks occur only towards the bow. They run vertically in straight lines at regular intervals so they are occuring where the ply sheets join. I have tried filling the fine cracks with paint but they keep re-appearing.
Any ideas what could be causing the problem? I am concerned that water could penetrate into the ply. What could I use to fill the paint cracks in order to protect the hull? Presumably it will need to be a flexible filler?

Discussion on the new Rondar 12 including the usual 12 vs RS200 debate.

www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5254&PN=1

The cleats for Catatonic's kicker, outhaul and downhaul are currently located on wooden blocks underneath the forward edge of the thwart.
I am considering changing this arrangement as:
a when the crew is sitting on the thwart on the windward side I am unable to reach the control lines
b Occasionally the crew inadvertantly knocks a line out of a cleat whilst sliding across the thwart
c when I am hiking hard , leaning back in to adjust the kicker control line is not ideal
I am tempted to re-position the control line cleats on the inner face of the sidedecks behind the thwart.
Is this a good idea?

As part of the gradual upgrade of my Tigress I have removed the 3 muscle boxes and replaced them with string + blocks. In addition to eliminating lots of frustrating friction this has also reduced the weight of the boat by a kilogram.
If anybody wants some muscle boxes you are welcome to have them. They will need some TLC to get them sliding nicely again.

The Twickenham N12 Open meeting takes place on Sunday October 5.
 
3 races with the best 2 to count. 1st race starts at 11am.
After reaching a low point of just 2 boats the Twickenham N12 fleet is now back up to 5. We are hoping for a substantial number of visitors so that we can tempt a few more sailors into the class, Watching this event from the support boat last year convinced me that it was time to sell my Enterprise and start sailing a 12.
 
We will have a photographer on the water throughout the event. He uses a very high tech digital camera and produces fantastic sailing photos.
You can find further information about TYC at www.twickenhamyc.co.uk

The sunshine & breeze this afternoon seemed to good to waste so on my way home from work I decided to have a sail on the river. Realising that with F4/F5 winds single handing was going to be tricky I decided to try sailing without the jib.
I had a lot of fun reaching to and fro across the river. I got Catatonic up on the plane but somehow without the jib it all seemed a bit too gentle. With the jib I would have been screaming along but I doubt whether I could have kept her upright.
As it was, 3 nasty shifty gusts resulted in 3 capsizes. Without the  jib I got stuck in irons when the boat was swamped and I just could not bear off on to a reach to drain her so my bucket has had to shift a lot of water today!

Has anybody else tried this particular one sail experiment?