i550class.org

Well it's that time of the year again to get the TTB out of the covers and into the water for the annual St Helena Cup. Two big passage races, one saturday 22nd Oct, one sunday 23rd Oct. Same course both days, but one is reversed. results should show up on www.wmyc.org.au

Hopefully we will get the go-pro mounted on the transom and get some good footage from both days and give you guys in the northern hemisphere something to dribble over as the days grow shorter and the temps drop......

"dribble"...good word choice!

have fun, man...very envious here in the east coast 'fridge.

i see shazza on the entry list....... does this mean the crate cup needs to come out?

Josh, does this mean you'll be racing two up? Wish i was there!!!!

Nah, we have a third (secret weapon). I would love to have you on with us Rocky, that would be great fun.

St Helena Cup - Results

Day 1--Win goes to Tokyo Trash Baby
Video is not long after the start and is about as close as we got to TTB before they cleared out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jDI8mJZC_8

Day 2 -- Win goes to Shazza
Video from Day 1 but it's more interesting than from day 2 as we were too busy to take much video on day 2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raBGbaAZ3zg

That's obviously one race win each so Tokyo Trash Baby retains the Crate Cup.

Well done josh and Andrew! Looks like it turned out to be a great weekend. Maybe next year you can get some of the other 550's to join in.

fun video
...I like the audio speedometer!

Congratulations to our racers ! What about final results, did you guys do good against other boats in your respective categories ?

Shazza ended up with 8th overall (mate figured it out for us), we got a 15th Saturday and 14th Sunday on HCP. Which means we were basically mid/ back of mid fleet both days. 76 monohulls with no divisions.
There were only 2 boats out there that were 18ft, next smallest was a Blazer 23 I think.

Well done Josh, good show! I learned this fall what being an 18 ft boat in a big boat fleet is. Congratulations on the finish and doing the 50/50 with Andrew. Good stuff!

Thanks Jon,
Apologies, we were all in the race but there was also results for other classes within the overall. We were; personal handicap, sportsboat sms, irc, and teams. We got 8th overall.
18ft can feel very small with F40's going past on one side and Sydney 38's going past on the other, some very sexy big boats racing (if you like that kind of thing).

Oh Jon, just a little reminder. Saturday we had our big white (50m2) kite up in 12-16.knots without any major problems and got beaten by TTB. Sunday the breeze backed off to 8-10 knots. Pre-race we raised the white kite, when we brought it down we put two four odd foot tears into the head and could obviously not use it again for the race. So, what did we do? we put up our red (30m2) kite. Less breeze than Saturday we should be much slower right ?

You don't always need the big kite, just the most efficient kite for the angles you're sailing and your crew weight can handle. Nothing wrong with pink and green especially over 20 knots or 10 when you're going for a cruise Jon.

30m2 on order next month. Might get a bigger one later we will see how next season goes. We are sailing two up most of the time so bigger likely won't be better. I do plan on racing the Saturday kiss races single half the time but can't see flying the kite by myself so will just do the jib and main thing. I appreciate the advice. enjoy your nice days in the sun as things turn darker and colder here in the north.

It seems the cut of the spin would be critical also. The Olson 30 I race on has a very full kite that doesn't like to be used close to the wind, but a j-80 we race against has a kite they can nearly sail upwind with; on days with variable winds they leave us all behind!

The vipers moved away from the "uber shoulders" kite in the last iteration and are faster in most conditions. I can see the big shoulders in a DDW with the pole pulled around. But for hot angles, it seems that that is not the winning setup.

Lots to learn. And there is a lot to be said for not being overpowered, you just waste time and energy usually.

cheers. Kevin.