keltik

What's the purpose of the copper plating on the followers?

Then we have similar tuning challenges with the head sails. Listening to a smart mans podcast, he said a common mistake is to have everything pinging tight to get the best airflow heading into the wind... But you just end up with flat sails and no power. Need that sweet curve to generate some aerodynamic lift. So now we have started leaving things a bit looser and only flattening the sails to reduce power when there's too much wind. Also FINALLY getting sick of using the gennaker because it's safe and easy. It sucks except in a very narrow wind angle. My goal for the rest of the winter is to grow some balls and get the symmetric spinnakers out more often.

On the subject of learning, I think it's paying off. The last few months have really been all about learning to keep the boat sailing "in the groove". Part of that is steering the right way to keep all of the sails in their performance window. Part of it is learning how to trim those sails to get the performance window wider or at least where you need it to be. The groove feels like being in the right gear. It's a delicious brain challenge trying to understand whats going wrong and which rope is going to fix it. We're not playing with bags to catch wind here, these are finely tuned airfoils which need the right angle of attack and camber for the right wind speed. This new learning has been made possible by a great crew turnout this winter. For example, I've been able to have someone dedicated to trimming the backstays - helping flatten the shape of the mainsail as gusts come through. Another person changes the angle of attack using the traveler and then there's twist adjusted with the sheet, the cunningham, halyard tension... There's a lot going on. Get it right and you get to go fast.

Thank you for reading. Crazy to think I started this 4 years ago and have learned a huuuuge amount but still have a long way to go.

Done a few races, had a lot of fun and managed 2nd place in one fully crewed race. Did snap the backstay tho. My 'temporary' arrangement using old leftover rope found in the bottom of a locker failed under tension just past the finish line. Rebuilt the whole setup from Dyneema which is a magical rope I love working with. Weave the rope through itself twice in a 'brummel lock' Bury the tail in the center of the rope core and taper it to a smooth end Smooth it all out and you've got an eye spliced into the rope which doesn't reduce its strength like a knot would. Once all the bits are done, we have a beautiful new backstay cascade with an expected max working load of 400kg ish. Breaking strain of that 5mm Dyneema is 3000kg. De-rate it by 20% to account for the tight radius in the eyes, de-rate another 40% to account for 5+ years of UV exposure and we're still well above what it needs to hold.

Step 6: Find a talented machinist who can repair or reproduce the drain plug. It seems some gorilla had been reefing on it for the last 12 months - vastly exceeding the recommend torque spec for an aluminum plug into an aluminum housing and cracked the sealing surface off the plug. Luckily found the right guy for the job who lathed me up a new plug to identical dimensions including the 20mm hex socket.... While I waited!! So we were back in the water same day and made it to the first race of the winter series on Sunday.

The instrument panel ideas with custom gauges is giving me major project binky PTSD.

Time for some maintenance before the winter racing kicks off. Step 1: Haul out and wash the hull. Step 2: Decide the current paint is not performing great. Wet sand a couple layers off. Step 3: Patch all of the nicks and dings with some vinylester filler. Sand smooth and prime the patches. Step 4: Apply new paint. 3 coats with a little extra on the leading edges and waterline. Step 5: Decide to change the gearbox/drive leg oil one more time just to make sure all of the water and emulsion is gone. Snap the drain plug when putting it back in. Phone the supplier and find the part is 6 weeks back order from Italy. Have a little cry.

The current fix it list; 1) Adding some antifouling paint to the sail drive cover and keel. This is a temporary fix really, but should get me through to next season when I can paint the hull again.... Perhaps with a different paint this time. 2) There seems to be 3 water leaks to solve, a little gets into the sail locker when it rains, a little ends up in the front bilge after rain and the water leak into the heads compartment when heeled over seems to be the toilet flushing water inlet. 3) The plumbing for the fridge is a little unhappy. There's been plenty of salt water on this thing and I worry it's going to start leaking soon. I don't know anything about R406a refrigerant - beyond what Google has told me. So opening this system could be a can of worms? 4) Still need to do some gel coat repairs on the hull and deck.

The highlight of the year so far was a trip to Mayor Island for Waitangi weekend. Got out there and a few more boats from the yacht club had the same idea... An afternoon of delicious drinks, good swims, excellent sharns. An evening watching satellites, a reasonably good sleep and a beautiful sunrise. A+, would trade again. Need to do that more before summer disappears.

Then on a short handed series race, the swivel block for the mainsail sheet decided to snap off under minimal load. Jury rigged it with some dyneema rope and a spare pulley to one of the cockpit winches. Then the wind absolutely died. Started the race at 10am and finished at 5pm with an estimated average speed of 1.5kts or 2.7kph. A tedious day at best. Combined with the whitetail spider in my jacket and the 36 bites on my torso, I'd call it a miserable day.

Heres some updates, the mayor Island race had zero wind - went for a swim then gave up waiting. Improved the mainsail lazyjacks quite a bit. Now they are a bit more functional. New setup is on the right, original on the left. Used low friction rings instead of pulleys/blocks and was pleasantly surprised by how well they work. Used the boat for a Wednesday night race and it sailed like someone had left the handbrake on - so time for another haul out. The bottom of the keel and the rubber cover around the sail drive leg have lots of growth, so this has been added to the repair list the next time we're out of the water for a bit. Need to get some new paint on the keel and prop speed coating on the drive leg. Just scraped off the growth this time but it will be back within 2 months.

TPS is good, fuel trims are within 5% and rail pressure matches commanded values. Just for whatever reason the poost is lower than expected. Only seeing 150Kpa MAP. Unfortunately there's no knock retard value to monitor and no info in the service manual - so I'm just making guesses at what the timing curve should look like. Only seeing 4-6degrees at peak torque.

I don't know enough about how trombones work but I'm imagining this thing playing the final countdown at highway speed using your spare ethrottle actuators on the exhaust trombone slidy bit T-VES

Let's not go reinventing the wheel here. The rocket scientists at Laycock have got you covered. Would solve your driveshaft overspeed situation too.