Kingston Race

[cbrown]

We just got back from a great weekend of sailing in Kingston, Canada. I hope that we get HT's to sail there next year. It is a great area to sail in and it would be a great place for a sailing camp! We were the only Jav 2 , but there were other good sailors on a variety of boats: Three Hobie Tigers - Rob Jerry, Bob O'Conner, and Cote, Twister - Alan Maguire, Mystere 6.0XL - Rick Smith, Hobie 20 - John Bauldry, Tornado - Duboc.

We sailed in winds from 5 - 15 knots. In my opinion we were the fastest boat on the water up to 10 knots. After that, the other boats began to catch up. In races 6 and 7 the average wind speed was 14 knots and the Hobie Tiger seemed nearly as fast both upwind and downwind. Upwind, we had maximum downhaul (the sail is too long) and were traveled out 3-4 inches. The boat was very easy to control in the puffs. I work the mainsheet and it only required my arm going in and out to keep the heeling angle constant. However, we no longer sailed higher than the other boats, so maybe my sailing technique was not what it should be. At higher windspeeds I would not be surprised if we are a little slower than the Tiger.
Downwind we were also about the same speed. Reflecting back, I think that we need to sail a higher angle to go faster. When I got on the wire and sailed hot we seemed to be faster than the Tigers. However, when we sailed the same angle we seemed to go the same speed. In the last race I tried to sail as low as the Tornado and Tiger for tatical reasons and it seemed slow. The Tornado sailed a lot lower and faster than anyone else. The final results of the regatta were Cote, Jerry, Brown, Duboc, O'Conner, Baudry, Smith, etc...However, we discovered that while the new handicap number was used for the Jav 2, the old handicap number was mistakenly used for the Tiger. When the scores are corrected I think that the results will be Brown, Duboc, Bauldry, Smith, Cote, Jerry, O'Conner, etc...
Chris Brown

[davidhertz]

Congratulations-Chiris and Jean Brown on you victory at CORK, Ontario, Canada.

About your speed downwind, WF tells me that the boat is much faster in 8 knts and high if you trap out one sailor. He says that the boat is "sticky" if not driven hard (ie trapped out). The boat benfits from apparent wind more than the heavier boats and therefore must be sailed "hotter".

Dave

[cbrown]

David,

Thank you for the response. What you say confirms my observations. When I was on the wire and the boat was really moving Jean had difficulty keeping the chute from collasping. I think it was because of the amount of apparent wind we were developing. However, when going that fast we experienced the problem of plowing into the next wave and stuffing the hull. I guess we will have to work on that one next. It seems as though we learn something new everytime we go sailing. We did have an interesting experience when I was sailing downwind on the wire and the front of the boat lifted up and we shot forward as if someone suddenly gave us a push. I was thrown back as the boat shot off on a plane for 4 or 5 seconds. If I could only learn to duplicate that ........
Chris

[Simon Fisher]

Hi cbrown,
I was reading your post where you mentioned the boat began to plane. Others have mentioned planing in the 18HT's and other boats with similar underwater profiles and rocker lines, like the Hobie Fox and Capricorn F18 are supposed to plane. I was wondering if the boat visibly lifts up in the water like a planing skiff? Have you or other F18 HT sailor managed to measure the speed increase that planing causes. Have you spoken to anyone who has worked out a method of keeping the boat planing reliably?
I ask these questions because theory says cats are really not supposed to plane, but if these boats now can do this well then their downwind speed and angles should rival those of 49ers or 18ft skiffs, and thats pretty quick.

regards

Simon Fisher

[Wouter Hijink]

Hello Simon,

I've sailed both skiffs (laser 4000, RS 800 and 49-er) and cats (among which the Fox and FX-one designs) and still do and planing on a skiff is different then what I experience on cats. It doesn't make the same sounds or have the same feel to it. At least that is what is my opinion; however the RS 800 planes rather different from teh laser 4000 too, the RS 800 (hard chines) is very quiet in plane while the laser 4000 (soft chines) is loud and vibrates.

Anyways this is not what I want to say. I wanted to say that :

>> but if these boats now can do this well then their downwind speed and angles should rival those of 49ers or 18ft skiffs, and thats pretty quick.

Actually most cats already outperform the 49-er. The (spi) 49-er PN rating in Australia is equal to that of a spi-less Prindle 18 (not a fast boat) this is slower than a H16. Ofcourse this is around the course but my personal experience is that this is also true on pure downwind legs albeit to a lesser extend.

The only skiff of real top speed is the 18 footers and even these have a Aus PN rating that is just shy of equal to a NON-spi Tornado around the course.

When I talked to a aus Tornado sport sailor (attended worlds and did rather well) who sails in Sidney harbour, he was quite vocal about how the Tornado sport out performed the 18's by a considerable margin. Although in the light winds the skiffs do give a good hurry up around the course.

So it is rather the other way around, the skiffs need to get up to speeds of cats (especially the modern ones with spis).

Regards,

Wouter

[cbrown]

Simon,
The boat did not stay on the plane long. the entire fromt of the boat to the beam was out of the water. Normally, in flat water, we only get the boat to skip; it goes up and down like a stone skipping across the water. I wish we could find a way to plane more consistently but I have found that it takes just the right combination of circumstances.
Chris

[Howard James]

I saw the Javelin 2 at CORK. It is a good looking sailboat and I am interested. Has the Javelin 2 raced any in the last two weeks elsewhere? How does it do in open class handicap racing?

Are there any in the USA midwest? When is the next race?

[cbrown]

Howard,
The next big race is this weekend, but we will not be racing open class. However, the following race in New Jersey we will be open racing. As far as the rating goes, based on the results from Kingston against some good competition the numbers look good with the exception of the highest windspeed.
Chris