Messages

Yeah, I think just having a halyard is the usual way, and it's certainly what I do.  I guess either the previous owner was a very trad sailor or (just possibly) he sometimes sailed the boat without a jib (I've never tried that, but I guess it would be possible).  Dave

 Googling 'Bois sycomore prix' gets a bunch of hits from French websites, so it's evidently available there in some form.  The French have a lot of hardwood forest which they manage quite carefully (and commercially),  so hardwoods are much more available there than they are in the UK. 

Captain Flint is now with me at Ouse Amateur SC in King's Lynn.  Dave Cooper

Hi Ashley, It looks like Garth's going to buy it.  Dave

Yes, I've got a carbon boom:  I've messaged you.  Dave Cooper

Ah, right!  Thank you, Graham!  So upwind, the lowers can be pretty slack and the mast ram limits the mast bend, but on the reach the lowers go on to restrict the sideways mast bend and keep the power maxed!   We'll try it.  Thanks for your help.  Dave

Hi, Captain Flint (Design 8, Angell keel-stepped carbon mast)  has a mast ram and lowers.  Do I actually need both of these?  If I don't, which should I keep?  I'm only guessing, but I should think the mast ram is what she was built with, and the lowers came with the carbon rig (probably when Tim Tomlinson  owned her, about 2000.)   Any suggestions would be enormously appreciated  - it would be nice to simplicate the rig a bit, but I don't want to have the mast  go over the side!  Dave   

Congratulations!  I hope we'll see you in the N12 fleet at Norfolk Week (1st - 8th August)?  Sure to be excellent fun, and just up the road for you!   Dave Cooper  (N3405 Denouement)

Maybe...........  you should ask Gerry Ledger?   His details are in the new boats section of 'boats for sale' and I bet he can tell you exactly what you need and supply it too!   Dave

Well, another light wind day at OASC (plus continuous drizzle, lovely!) and i have to state that easing off the top batten seems a pretty good idea!  Getting the batten to pop through was loads easier and I thought we were quicker too.  It makes me think I've had the batten too tight for the year I've owned this sail!    .Thanks for the help and advice!  - now for a carbon boom.      Dave

Many thanks for the responses.  The kicker is slack (but the boom is heavy!), and both the shrouds are off.     I'll play around with batten tension and see what I discover!       The Europe is pretty quick:  helmed by a junior called Joseph who weighs in at about 50kg.  I'll point him at the boat survey if he hasn't heard about it.  The club is Ouse Amateur at King's Lynn.  There's a useful gaggle of Europes quite close at Overy Staithe, so maybe Joseph will do some sailing with them this summer.  Dave Cooper

Hi,  does anyone think it would be a good idea to de-tension the top batten a bit when the wind is very light?  It occurs to me that it might be good to get the top of the sail a bit flatter, and maybe make the batten a little easier to pop through when tacking and gybing.   The pic shows what conditions were like on Sunday. 

I guess you can easily tell from what boats we've got around us how much we were struggling in this one!  Dave Cooper

I'm sailing a chapter, too, and really enjoying it!   At a guess me and Mouse are probably getting on for your total crew weight (Mouse's actual weight is a state secret, apparently!).  As well as Dare's advice about getting the fore & aft trim right (we can easily tell if we're trimmed too far aft - the boat sinks because the flaps don't seal all that well!), I'd suggest that keeping your rig powered up is pretty important:  I was quite bewildered initially that in breezes where we were just about hiked, the boat seemed slow to windward, but eventually I realised that I had the kicker on to de-twist the mainsail and get the boat to point, but because I didn't have enough mast ram pulled, the mast was bending too much and de-powering the main.   Similarly, it took me a while to realise that letting off lots of outhaul made the boat reach much faster,  and dumping both shrouds down the run so that the mast goes right to the front of the gate is pretty speedy too! 
On the plus side, chapters are supposed to be the boat if you're a crew at the top end of the weight range, so at least we're sailing the right thing!
Dave Cooper
N3405

I'll be there with 3405.   Bring it on!      Dave Cooper

Well, here's 1509 going for her first sail since god-knows-when.  There was a dinghy park sticker on the mast from 1993, so it could be 25 years!   This is the 1957 rig - pretty darn good for age.


Now it's back to the shed for some small scale woodwork and some large scale varnishing.  Buy shares in Epiphanes now!
Dave Cooper