i550class.org

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Neato! What event was that?

Hi Tim,
Just a club race at a club that was not our club, we were invited to race by the boat behind us. The Blue kite boat actually beat us in the 2 races but they had to work for it very hard. We were 2nd on line honours for both races and 3rd in both on Handicap.
The club was 'Bribie Island Sailing Club' and it is all trailer sailor boat, some fast and some not so fast but all really nice people----we will return! There were 8 boats and 5-12 knots over a few hours of racing. We raced 2-up and had no issues with handling the boat.

Man, I'm so envious I could salivate. Looks like the 12 kns was bearing down on you in about 15 secs after the pic was snapped
If we could build a fleet of small, lightweight Asymm boats around here I would be a happy man. Thanks for the inspiration!

tf

It's a simple 2-lap race around 2 harbor buoys 2 miles apart. White sails only (no spinnaker) for keelboats.

Thanks for the photos, Loh!

How do you like singlehanding the boat? I'm going to try pushing off by myself tonight. I have crew coming a bit later and we are going to go out an tune against a Flying Scott just for grins. I'll take some photos, as it finally FINALLY stopped raining here after a good solid 4-6 weeks of it.

Looking good Loh! It's good to see others out one up. I will be splashing for the season soon. A few weeks away from racing which is good as I've changed moorings and will have to figure some stuff out.

Went out and tuned against a Flying Scott last night. As expected, we were a lot faster DW, pretty evenly matched upwind, but our outhaul wasn't functional so the main was ugly. When the breeze shut off (typical Ches sundown effect) we struggled mightily DW...I definitely see the advantage of an articulating sprit, as the FS could just square off and soak downwind, while we were jibing though 150-160 degrees in 4 kn of breeze.

A lot of things to fix still! But the kite up was a blast, especially shy reaching in 8 kn. until the breeze shut down.

No problem single-handling the i550.
Tacking is a little slower and messier alone but still manageable.
Due to a short tiller extension, I can't really seat forward enough to keep the bow in the water.
And apparently not enough weight alone to keep the sails up.

Nevertheless an enjoyable evening...

i550 #437 race photos from 20 AUG 2016.
It's a series of 9 races, an 8.2 mile course (or 2 rounds around 2 buoys about 2 miles apart).

And finished 6 minutes behind a 3-crew J24...

lohwaikin wrote:i550 #437 race photos from 20 AUG 2016.
It's a series of 9 races, an 8.2 mile course (or 2 rounds around 2 buoys about 2 miles apart).

CSC_Twilight_Series2_Race4_3.jpg

CSC_Twilight_Series2_Race4_5.jpg

CSC_Twilight_Series2_Race4_6.jpg

CSC_Twilight_Series2_Race4_7.jpg

CSC_Twilight_Series2_Race4_8.jpg

Looks great indeed Loh.

Could not open pictures

Hi Noemar, what browser are you using? I can see all the images using Chrome and Safari. MacOSX. I'd love to know what your browser/opsys is so that we can get this bug worked out.

Cheers,
--TF

I do encounter difficulty handling the tiller extension while going upwind, with the main-sheet traveler sheeted to upwind side.
I am seated between F124 and F169, and the tiller extension is contacting the main-sheet already.
Ideally I would like to be somewhere near the keel (F110 and F124) to get the stem in the water...
I'm figuring out what are the possible remedies:
a) Get a forward crew;
b) Fabricate some sort of curved tiller extension (like a C-spanner) to get around the main-sheet;
c) Install water ballast tanks (canting keel is a little too late to implement....);

This coming Saturday will be the 5th race. Same course, and probably the same wind conditions.

Cheers!

msn

Sailing 3-ups (or shall I say 2.5).
Every tack is near-perfect when you have a crew full-time on the jib sheets.

In very light wind (about 3 knots) and calm seas we can actually outrun J24s....
Well, to be honest, we also need to add in a confused start!

Loh, I am always happy to accept a bit of luck in a good race result! Warren

Great stuff, thanks for posting these Loh!

The faster boats didn't keep up with their attendance, so I got to rank 3rd.....

Hah! Excellent. Don't forget the Woody Allen line, "90% of life is just showing up!"

Congrats on the 4th and 5th!

We are still racing...

Loh, it is not really about photographs, but what is your 'rating' (and what system: Portsmouth Number or ...?) compared to the J24s? Are you all racing white sails only or are some using spinnakers?

Yes, we are racing with only white sails (Saturday race which we called Twilight Race), and every boat assigned with a PY handicap number.
My club calls it Changi Handicap Number (CHN).
"Balqis" is a J24 with PY 112, a very active 3-men crew, who also sails on Sunday races (which allow spinnaker).
"Olmeto" is a Jeanneau Oceanis 320 with PY 119, not very regular attendance.
"Minx" is a Dehler 34.
"Sapphire Star" and "SDF" are 40-footer (maybe more) mast-head sloops of probably Jeanneau designs.
I think our club's handicap numbers are more an indicator of race participation than boat / crew performance.
Because winner gets 1 point off handicap, while last boat gets 1 point added to handicap.
Second boat and second-last boat get 1/2 point deducted/added.