i550 Cobweb Regatta

[Chad]

10 day forecast now includes the Brookville weekend, well Saturday anyway...
Looking good so far! (Says the guy with the big main, noting the 5 knot wind...)

[Kevin]

pipeDream is going for a sail today. Just 7ish in the wind department, but prefect for a shake down of all the tweaks and little changes. Plus, it should help the captain get his sailing brain back in gear.

I put no faith in a 10 day forecast for the midwest. Things change too quickly for me to panic about sub 5knot winds in 2 weeks. Right? I would like to see a lot less blue in the intellicast 'windcast' though, as a general rule. May have to work up some ultralight spin sheets.

[Chad]

Yep, a little more wind and a chance of rain on Saturday now.

Finished reworking my rudder swinger yesterday, last minute rig tweaks today, can't wait to try it all out!

[Kevin]

I like the look of the forecast this week much more than last week. And chance of rain comes with warm weather in the mid-west.

BTW, I'd be happy to "fix" that rudder swinging issue for you permanently if you'd like. .

My new rudder is working very nicely. Had the boat way over powered in a big puff yesterday and the rudder never let go, leeward rail buried. Very happy with the easy of the cassette as well. Just drop in and go.

Now I just have to tend to a spreader that got caught on the lift and went crack and I'll be all set. Currently it looks something like this...

Yes, the bottom buckled. The top stayed intact. A patch will be applied probably Wednesday afternoon to get us back in business. That's the handy thing about being an i550 builder. After you stop using expletives, you figure out how to fix it and go for it. In my case I add, talk to Chad to figure out the "right fix" to that equation.

p.s. Before anyone freaks out, the spreader flexed down about 6 inches before it gave way. I saw it before it gave way but was too late to stop the damage from happening.

[ryderp]

It looks like I'm coming to the regatta alone, so if any extra crew shows up that would be great. Otherwise we can just sail on each other's boats.

I do have an issue with my keel binding in the sleeve. I'm hoping to get out and launch the boat tonight or tomorrow to check it out.

Phil

[Tim Ford]

dammalamma...I just got back from the Bermuda Race or I would shirley fly out and join y'all. dammit.

[Chad]

That's fine Phil- I don't see this as a grand prix event, just a "show up and we'll do whatever sailing we can together" kind of deal. A chance to burn some cow meat too, maybe, and wash it down with some wheat soda and smores. Or something like that....

Glad yer back Tim, you can hold down the fort while I'm gone (leaving for SoCal on the 3rd, HI on the 8th).

[Kevin]

Tim, You need to sort out your priorities there just a little bit. Because you've just gotten back from the Bermuda Race, you are in prime condition to come to our little gathering. In fact, you are doing yourself a disservice by not showing up. That the way I see it anyway .

About to head down to the boat to fix that spreader. It's finally stopped raining here in Chicago. I also need to figure out why my gnav and cunningham secondary purchases are binding up do badly.

[Tim Ford]

You are sooo right, I messed up big-time with this one! Complete agreement here.
Chad, that is really exciting. Can you refresh our memories here one more time with which boat you are on and do you know if there is a tracker (such as Yellowbrick) for the event?

[edit} oops, went to the TP site and I see where you are. I sure hope someone remembers to pack the Orgasmetron!

Interesting also that the names of some of the early i550's are on the List of Entries!

[ryderp]

I found crew for the weekend. One of my sons is coming home for the weekend.

Phil

[ryderp]

I guess that I missed this info: Where are we launching and docking the boats? Are we going to Kent's Marina or somewhere else on the lake? Phil

[Kevin]

We will be putting in at Hanna Creek Marina. It's on the east side of the lake between the 2 causeways. I didn't see exact contact info for a harbor master. But It sounded like it was all very low key and easy to deal with. We are camping in Mounds state recreation area which is south of the marina also on the east side of the lake, Chad reserved 3 adjacent camp sites.

Excellent news on crew.

My spreader was repaired last night. Just need to button up the boat for travel on the highways. Will wash off the Lake Michigan harbor scum probably too.

[Chad]

(pipe) Dream-y rainbow, rigging up between thunderstorms in Indiana.

One race only on Saturday in light winds, sadly Phil's boat was unable to lower the keel following a last minute mod, so he and his son split up and sailed with Kevin and me. Very light, crapshoot race, we lead and were last at different times, all good fun.

We each took a boat load of BLSA folks out later in the afternoon in maybe 10 knots of steady gradient breeze, which better showed what the boat could do. Smiles all around. Then we were chased off the lake by a fast approaching thunderstorm.

Maybe some tuning and scrimmaging with the J24's today, if the weather is nice to us.

[micah202]

(pipe) Dream-y rainbow, rigging up between thunderstorms in Indiana.

image.jpg

One race only on Saturday in light winds, sadly Phil's boat was unable to lower the keel following a last minute mod, so he and his son split up and sailed with Kevin and me. Very light, crapshoot race, we lead and were last at different times, all good fun.

We each took a boat load of BLSA folks out later in the afternoon in maybe 10 knots of steady gradient breeze, which better showed what the boat could do. Smiles all around. Then we were chased off the lake by a fast approaching thunderstorm.

Maybe some tuning and scrimmaging with the J24's today, if the weather is nice to us.

yayyyy,,you guys -did- it!!....that first one's the hardest,,,lot's of C-fark's,,and the inevitable boat that has a glitch!,,,,much like portland's start last year.,,,and my 'forgotten drill-hole' in the keel trunk

..........here's to MANY more fun gatherings!!!

[Chad]

Here's a couple pics from the weekend.

If it's not too obvious, I'm working with the sailmaker on getting the head batten on the main right. I need to stiffen it with some unis, and he needs to give me a better way to hold it in the pocket- the velcro has completely let go at this point. This is Sunday, Kevin and I just going out for a quick sail around in the morning breeze, before packing up. The local folk didn't come out to play due to the light wind.

And here's Kevin before the race on Saturday, looking like he has no such sail problems to deal with:

We were really bummed that we couldn't get Phil's boat out, but after that we had no problems or breakages. Until I started to drag my boat out of the water on Sunday with the rudder still on. I have some tip repairs on the last 3" or so, but I know a guy with a decent set of tools, he can fix it.

Stuff added to my to-do list after this weekend are: going 2:1 on the trav instead of 1:1, same with the jib cunno, messing with my pole struts to get some more travel and articulation, and replacing the ferrules for blocks at the jib sheet deflector/keel gybe tiller for less low-load friction when releasing the lazy sheet.

[ryderp]

Here is another photo from the weekend from Chad's boat before the start of the race. Kevin is in the distance

[micah202]

[quote="Chad"]
If it's not too obvious, I'm working with the sailmaker on getting the head batten on the main right. I need to stiffen it with some unis, and he needs to give me a better way to hold it in the pocket- the velcro has completely let go at this point. This is Sunday, Kevin and I just going out for a quick sail around in the morning breeze, before packing up. The local folk didn't come out to play due to the light wind.


.......... we had no problems or breakages. Until I started to drag my boat out of the water on Sunday with the rudder still on.
quote]

....wow,,,the battens at 2/3 height are longer than the boom??....maybe yer need a 'gaff-batten' going from the mast at the 3rd batten

...ahh yes,,,I remember dragging the rudder up one of my first ramps--the good news is yer only do it once!!!

[Kevin]

It was great fun to be out sailing with another i550, even in the light and very shifty conditions. We killed the start, were behind at the top mark, rounded the leeward mark first, pouched the windward takedown, had Chad boxed out on the finish but got stalled by a passing j24 and then ... Let's just say, it was crazy.

Post race sail in some afternoon breeze was nice, It didn't feel like 10 to me, but it was better than the 5 max we had during racing.

Sunday, Chad and I took his boat out in a morning breeze and then we packed up.

It's a nice lake with typical inland lake sailing conditions. Lots of local knowledge about how the wind moves over the hills and through the inlets is key to winning. Super nice folks at BLSA too. No complaints about their hospitality and interest in sailing.

Looking forward to the next event.

[Chad]

Post race sail in some afternoon breeze was nice, It didn't feel like 10 to me, but it was better than the 5 max we had during racing.

It always feels like more when your sails are too big! (and we made it farther out into the "pool" past the headland, where things picked up for a while, before it died)

Looking forward to the next event.

Yep! We need to twist Jeff's arm, too. He might have sold his boat if it was there and had a little for sale sign last weekend. The guys from BLSA on my boat that afternoon were stoked with the boat, but not really interested in a new build. Probably tire-kickers, but yaneverknow.

[Chad]

....wow,,,the battens at 2/3 height are longer than the boom??....maybe yer need a 'gaff-batten' going from the mast at the 3rd batten

...ahh yes,,,I remember dragging the rudder up one of my first ramps--the good news is yer only do it once!!!

Not sure about those girths, but it's close to the E dimension. The head or gaff batten is going to continue to take some fiddling to set up right, for sure. I'm on it, just not able to do much until early August unfortunately.

Been a long time since I sailed from a trailer, I'm sure there are other bumps in the road as I figure it out again!

[Kevin]

Bummer! I didn't realize your rudder took such a hard hit. I just saw it from a distance and was hoping the damage was of the "a little less rudder there" variety. Good luck putting the rudder tip back together and fixing up that top batten. Maybe a secondary strap around the out side would do the trick.

As for another gathering, I'd be game for late August or early September. I have a non-motorized lake permit for Indiana that's good through the end of the year. Or, I have a pretty nice lake here with lots of space to play in another roll our own event.