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Ok! Sunday bouy races and events. Pressure built and we had solid 15's for the first race. Almost to much to hold down up wind. Decided not to fly the spinnaker and didn't finish last for the class they had me in. Second race went off wind building some and gusting twenty plus. It was then after rounding the windward mark that I decided to launch the kite. Unlike yesterday when all worked great, today was another matter. Pole out, tack out, starting hoist and everything hits the water and becomes a huge scoop. I don't remember exactly how everything evolved from there but I had to drop the tiller and try to get the sail out of the water. I believe we did two 360,s before all was back on board and after the race someone mentioned that they saw the spreaders in the water during the event. We finished but not as well as I would have liked. Tore the spinnaker pulling it back in the boat so didn't have to worrie about flying it for the next race. Third race, wind still building, to much for one up, late for the start by 40 seconds and the traveler fowls and I can't drop it to de-power when needed, I needed more weight on the rail to keep her down. In the end we (the Twist) and I got our butts kicked both in placements and physically.

Distance race tomorrow, Nate will be on board to help but forcast for wind looks bleak. We still have the big kite and will give it a go.

Sounds like you really got worked! Hope tomorrow goes better for you!

A picture from last weeks bouy races.

Looks like you're using the deck as a leeway reducing surface! Nice to see that when the keel goes horizontal, the boat has an alternate surface in reserve.

Thanks Chad, the picture I posted is just short of losing rudder control. It has been a great summer getting to know the boat and what she likes and what I can get away with before having control taken from me.

Distance race today is over. The forecast was for South West winds building as the afternoon progressed. Winds at the start were clocking out of the North East so they changed the course direction just before the start. I believe I was the only one who wanted a down wind start. The course was about fifteen miles. As it turned out half way through we had a total wind shift and we never had a down wind leg. We have to have some down hill to make up time. Ended up getting a dnf due to running out of time. Probably twenty minutes short of making it and scoring a finish.

One more race this year, the All Island Race next Sunday. Normally a 20+ mile race, with luck others will be posting there races here next year and I will be reading other builders racing adventures.

jray wrote:A picture from last weeks bouy races.

289215_466635600037576_731958033_o.jpg

....I realize a picture only shows a single moment,,so I imagine you're not -always- sailing like this
...but I've been pretty impressed with how well the boat sails 2-up in ~15-18 knots...
...found it really helps to crack-off the jib a bit as the wind builds and play the main ,,keep the boat on it's -bottom- panel.


....'capitan obvious'.... -OUT-!!

Picture was taken right after rounding the leward mark by the boat following me. Just happened to catch a gust and hadn't dropped the traveler yet. Winds were in that 10-12 range. Definitely not the fastest way to sail but it happens sometimes when your one up. A crew of two is perfect. Was out this past weekend in some 15-20's and three would be better for that pressure.

All Islands Race today. Forecast was true and had 18+ winds with thunder storms. With no crew I jumped onboard with some friends on a laser 28 as crew. Finished third over the line but not good enough on time to take it. That is it for races here this year. Plan on having some fun in the weeks to follow. Overnight camping comming up soon. I'm looking forward to just having some fun sailing. That's it, race fans until next year! Hopefully others will post here then.

Some Pictures taken prior to the start of the last distance race we sailed this fall. The snow is falling now and its time to think about next summer.

Is that a Colgate 26 you guys are ahead of in the bottom shot?
Man, that it some great scenery....

I believe Mo'Joe is a J24. We didn't see much of her after the start. I found it hard to keep up with the j boats up hill and making up time is alwase a tough thing to do.

Def not a J24.

If it isn't a Colgate, then someone stole the molds. We race against one a lot on the Merit 25 and they always hose us pretty bad. So if you guys were ahead, at least on that cross, you must've been doing something right!

Ok, I give. I do know there are two Colgate 26's here. One, where I dock and one at the North end of the lake. I tend to know boat names more then who made them. My bad! I have raced and finised ahead of Mo'Joe three times in the same day, the race steward set the course skewed and it was mostly a broad reach. I nailed every start, best races I had all summer, one up and I couldn't do anything wrong.

Get that paint finished and rigging done! With the right day and wind your little i550 will make you.

wow, that is impressive. I know it's horses for courses and all that, but still. The Colgate we race against has a mid-girth line on their kite (symm) for take-downs. Their sets and douses are Viper fast...pisses us off!

Coat of Perfection going on ASAP!

I did get some sailing in today but chickened out just before the start. Big winds and thunderstorms rolling through and it was more then I wanted to deal with one up. It went from fives to in the twenties in minutes. The mods to the main feeder worked great as did some of the other tweeks I made this spring. No racing this weekend but it was nice to be back on the water.

Nice to here that you are back out there. Kevin.

Observations on flying a spinnaker one up. After giving it a week's thought I decided that if I had a return line on the tack I could use it to pull the tack back behind the main and drop from there. I rigged a line to hold the rudder when I was forward and off we went. It all worked great, hoist and first tack then jibe and problems started. (Note to self for next weekend) make sure the tack back line is under the sheets. Second jibe was a wreck and after getting knocked down i blew the halyard and pulled the wet spin out of the water. Will give it another go next weekend. Nothing but good fun!

jray wrote:Observations on flying a spinnaker one up. After giving it a week's thought I decided that if I had a return line on the tack I could use it to pull the tack back behind the main and drop from there. I rigged a line to hold the rudder when I was forward and off we went. It all worked great, hoist and first tack then jibe and problems started. (Note to self for next weekend) make sure the tack back line is under the sheets. Second jibe was a wreck and after getting knocked down i blew the halyard and pulled the wet spin out of the water. Will give it another go next weekend. Nothing but good fun!

...take a look at 49er sailboats....they have a couple of grommets up the chute at ~1/3 girth for the retreiver,,,a curved 'mouth' on the foredeck that the retriever line pulls the chute,,,,,the tail of the halyard becomes the retriever line so that when you release the halyard,you are already retrieving,,,and half's the spaghetti-rope as well!

Great stuff! There are some F-18's here using something similar with a launch retrieval system, it has a sock that everything fits in and seems a easy way to handle both the launch and retrieval. I'm quite sure I will do something similar when I replace
the old 27m pink spinnaker hand-me-down from Josh. Because of its size I won't fly the 35m by myself, way to much sail area for me and one up. Still working it and will find a way to make it work. It felt great to have the power back for the down wind run I had her just short of getting on plane for a bit of time. I'm also working out a easy fix to hold the rudder in place while I'm busy forward. Left unattended she will round up before I know what is happening. I ordered and tried a tiller tamer last season but wasn't happy with the setup. On to a simpler path now to achieve the results I'm after.

So what have you been trying for your "auto pilot"? I have setup velco on the tiller extension and then on the deck which has worked ok. In the light stuff when I'm forward it's a touch to far aft. In heavier stuff I'm get more weather helm so it's not quite strong enough. I just used regular stuff, I didn't go for duo-lock type velcro which is much stronger. And my extension at just a bit too high for a perfect fit to the deck. I'm still experimenting with it. It's nice to be able to lock the tiller for a minute to be able to make an adjustment somewhere else. Just letting go isn't an option usually.

If it all works out I will put up some pictures, if not I will just say still working on it. First distance race this weekend, I'm loading the small spin and going for it. Staggered start, running on a local club rating of 170, hard to do that without crew but still learning how she works and what I can get away with.

Here is my easy answer to keeping the tiller set while screwing around forward with the kite or fetching a cool beer. It worked great and was easy to build and install.




First distance race of the season and a different start format. About a eight mile course around two islands and back to the docks. They ran a pursuit format which all handycaps were calculated out before hand and your start time was scheduled off of that. The first boat over is the winner and the rest follow in placements. I'm getting very comfortable sailing one up but I'm not as fast as sailing with a crew. 60% of the race was on my nose, I did get to fly the kite once and for the first time didn't have any problems. I was able to find two holes and lost any advantage my earlier start time gave me. It was the first time I got to match up aginst a Lightning boat, They kicked butt and I followed them and others around the course. Came in 6th out of 9 boats, not last but not near where I wanted to be. Fun all the same and found some new tricks to help out next time.

Looking for crew for the upcoming Labor Day races. It is a great time to visit Montana! Sunday is windward leward bouy races Monday is a distance race around the islands and bays.

Unfortunately still no crew, going full blast anyway! I will post results as the races go by.

Race season is over here. 33 club races, 18 boats raced some or all. I ended up in 11th when all was over. The three distance races I did this year were, one sixth place and two DNF's, one on time and the other because of a severe thunderstorm.

Great summer of racing and sailing. Most of the tweaks made for single handing worked well, and I've become comfortable flying the 27sm spin without assistance. Few more weekends left before hauling out. Might get in another over night camping sail in this year.