[MHml] Mainsheet

[Reidar Uthaug]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Siudzinski" <siudzinski at telis.org>
To: "MailList Multihulls" <multihulls at steamradio.com>
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 5:16 PM
Subject: Re: [MHml] Mainsheet

    Roy Mills reporting from Norway re the Faerder Race.  First Boat home 
was the SeaKart in just over 12 hours.It had a very expert Crew. Next boat 
was the King's Farr 50 about 2 hours later.It had a very expert crew too. 
Second Multi was Marius Rosvald's TRT 1200, about 4 hours behind the Sea 
kart. Marius has campaigned that boat for 8 or 9 years so knows how to get 
the best from it. He finished just before the wind died so was sailing in 
much the same conditions as the Seakart and the King. Some of the other 
larger and faster IMS boats finished about the same time as Marius. No 
question now about the ability of the Seakart.

    We finished 3rd multi about 4 hours after Marius, not having escaped the 
dying wind and we were in with a group of IMS boats of about 40 feet, such 
as the Farr 40 of which there were several. I  have left the topic as 
Mainsheet because we had 4 hull flying experiences even though we had a reef 
in. I now realise that every one occurred as we took the stern, about 3 feet 
away, of a starboard tack boat and received its sail exhaust at 90 degrees 
to our rig, rather than the much narrower angle it was normally receiving. 
Something to look out for in future.

    The weather forecast was not very accurate. SUNSHINE - Right. Light 
winds to start - Right, Maximum of 10 knots in the Fjord for later - WRONG. 
Once it began building from a very light start it kept going well past the 
whitecaps stage and was probably about 18 to 20 knots as we beat up the 
rather narrow channel past Drobak, by which time we had put a reef in,and 
were engaged in a lot of close tacking with the IMS boats, not exactly what 
Tiggers like best. Before we put a reef in my observation was that  we were 
pointing almost as high as them and footing enough faster that we were 
slowly catching those close to us. After we had reefed we were about as fast 
but pointing not quite as high and so slowly lost ground to them, After we 
left the Narrows they continued their tacking duel in the same general 
direction, we opted to sail one long tack across the Fjord and then a long 
tack down towards the Færder lighthouse. When the IMS group rejoined us they 
came in behind.

    I saw the Seakart at and just after our start, flying a screecher as 
well as a jib. She was sailing much faster than us but not pointing very 
well so only slowly gaining away in the light, approx 3 knot, wind. As the 
wind picked up however I saw her reel in the screecher, point up higher and 
I never saw her again. We had a good, ongoing tussle with a Dragonfly 960 
extreme, Cuben fibre main etc, she finished just a few minutes behind us. 
Reidars new boat was not quite finished and its off wind rig was very 
temporary, having been hung up for the first time the day before on various 
lengths of line. We lost about 20 minutes after the Færder turning point as 
the Chute had somehow got itself twisted inside the sock and had to be 
immediately taken down and then sorted out in the dark on the forward tramp. 
Second time similar problem, third time lucky and we caught and passed one 
or two of the IMS boats who had passed us whilst engaged in that patience 
straining endeavour.  After I wakened up after the nap to which the elderly 
are entiteled I noticed that the chute was down and we were flying a used UK 
tape drive head sail, set flying from the mast head as a reacher, first time 
yesterday, and it did very well for us until virtually the end of the race 
where the wind speed was imperceptible and the boats crept slowly across a 
glassy sea towards the finish line, so near and yet so far ahead. Oddly, in 
what should have been monohull or trimaran conditions we kept up with them 
very well, losing only a little ground to a couple of IMS boats who managed 
to get a chute up and filling, just before the finish line.

    I think that when Reidar has his boat worked up it will be very 
competitive, and as the designer and builder he is rightly proud of his 37 
foot cat.

    I also had a chance to look over one of the ORMA 60 trimarans.Very 
interesting, but not quite my sort of multihull.

    Roy Mills