Run 47... very clean, skeg flap steering all the way.
Great to be back after a few days spent waiting for the tides to fill in again. Yesterday was a glamour day although we had to leave the course early due to the outgoing tide.
I had a few new things to try out including new spray rails fitted to the forward planing surface, a new fence added to the skeg flap to stop ventilation down the hinge line and a new setting for the whole skegs angle of attack relative to the main foil. We have begun dialling out the lee-helm of the boat. Small adjustments of a fraction of a degree have a large effect at high speed so it has to be done gradually.
The wind was relatively light with measured gusts peaking at 18 knots... this means that the average is likely to have been around 16-16.5 knots.
I wanted to do a tighter start up sequence so that I would bear away down the course in close to the beach. As I was doing this the large rudder was tripped up way prematurely. I wasn't even up over 'the hump' and planing. It was either an abort or... I tried something different... I went straight to the high speed steering. Even at these low speeds it had just enough authority to steer VESTAS SAILROCKET away from the beach. With every knot she accelerated the steering got better. I was now well positioned up on the beach and had around 4-500 meter sto build up speed. the only problem with going to hand steering so quickly was that I was one hand down for pulling in the main sheet. VESTAS SAILROCKET accelerated sharply with every handful of mainsheet I pulled in. The visibility was great. I got the wing into the low 'teens' angle-wise and noted that I was beginning to use alot of skeg flap angle to hold the nose up on the course. The steering remained positive. I think I peaked at a skeg flap angle of 8 degrees out of a possible 10. The fact that I didn't lose grip would suggest that the flap did not ventilate and that the fence was working well. In these moderate conditions we peaked at just over 37 knots. It was a nice clean run. I am getting very comfortable with the hand steering and want to use it all the time now. There is no future for the large rudder.
Today is forecast for quite a bit more wind so we are running around in anticipation. We will try the same setup in stronger conditions and see what happens. If i get overpowered by the lee-helm then we will dial it all back another notch on the skeg... and go again.
I think we are getting down to the nice details of going fast now. When we get this configuration right... it really should be game on for some big numbers. I think it will still take a little while... but the tides are with us and it looks like the wind will be also.
A local friend by the name of Fi-fi is busy helping us by turning out new and improved stainless fittings for the hand steering in order to remove all the play in the system. It's amazing how much it improves the feel. The final product will be swee-ee-eet.
Righto, time to start prepping for Run 48... and on.
Cheers, Paul.
posted by Paul at 1:09 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home