Boat Plans Catamaran | Nelson Race 2016 Line Honours 1st on IRC yes really! and close 2nd on PHRF all upwind

Boat Plans Catamaran

We prepared for the start to this race with 40-50 knot gusts in the marina, knowing it was going to be upwind effectively all the way, and that it was going to be even more windy on the south coast and for the first part of Cook Strait.  The Class 950 got blown sideways coming out of her berth and was damaged, never left the marina.

We saw sustained 50+ knots for about 30 mins, peak gust that we noticed of 60, and a boat near us saw a 65 knot gust.  Wedgetail lost their mast having already crossed the worst of it, near the Brothers.  The sea state was pretty friendly, given the wind speed (except at the corners in tide rips), since the gradient wind was curving around the top of the South Island ... so not a huge amount of fetch.  We didnt take video in the really windy bits (ran out of camera battery) but just before we entered Cook Strait we got this:

In 50+ knots upwind, Blink was still pointing well, fast and easy to handle with storm jib and 3 reefs. We did hoist a Fractional Zero briefly to leave the harbour, perhaps 10 minutes of downwind sailing but with 40+ knots too much breeze for the A6.  Probably ;-).  We also used a masthead zero for a couple of hours near the south end of DUrville Island.  But not a single downwind sail for a 120nm (rhumb line) offshore race...

So the downwind weaponry had to wait until the return trip, the delivery back to Wellington ... this was a great sail, crossing the Strait faster than the ferry when the breeze picked up on the eastern side.

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Wooden Boat Plans And Kits | Port Nich Regatta 1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Wooden Boat Plans And Kits

Blink hasnt done so well recently around the cans.  Firstly theres quite a lot of boat to get right for a relatively inexperienced crew, and things typically happen pretty quickly.    Secondly, she is fabulously responsive to the right sails and trim, but with wrong sails up or not properly set up the performance hit is significant.

Wed also lost all of our regular trimmers in recent weeks and found replacements at short notice.  Plus there was some serious competition for line honours as well as handicap results: Wedgetail (Welbourne 42), St Laurence (trimaran), Crusader (Elliot 35ss), Revs (Ross 40), Satellite Spy (Ross 40) ... and some properly good sailors distributed through the rest of the Div A fleet.  So I went into this regatta not expecting too much...  a chance for some intensive boat handling practice, in mostly short windward-leeward races, and lets see how much we improve as the regatta progresses.

I was surprised on both counts.  We had Pete Geary (from Hall Spars) join us from Auckland and he taught us in the first race that the slightly higher upwind mode that wed been trying still wasnt high enough.  So we reset out targets to his suggestions and suddenly were pretty good upwind, able to hold and sometimes even climb off the benchmark Wedgetail.

The other great thing that happened was our crew have started getting most of our short-course boat handling right.  The team has started to click and we are able now to start thinking outside the boat a bit.  Of course we had plenty stuff-ups, a couple of the larger ones probably cost us the regatta (no doubt other contenders could say the same) but the improvement was noticeable.

There were some epic moments, especially during the windiest day (Saturday)

Eventually, we far surpassed expectations.  1st overall on line, second overall on PHRF, 3rd overall on IRC, 4th overall on club handicap.  Not bad at all against good competition.

Thanks to the Blink crew, for a most enjoyable regatta, ditto for the regatta organisers, race officer Paulie and the on-water regatta support.  Big thank you to Pete G for contributing to our big step up in performance.

Results here:
http://www.rpnyc.org.nz/club/regattas/port-nicholson-regatta/results

Heres a mashup of some video clips from someone kind and enthused enough to spend hours standing with a camera and tripod in roaring wind on Satuday, and much less action on Sunday.  

Photos from Chis Coad (link here)

And some from LiveSailDie 

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Boat Plans And Kits | Pics From Craig 2nd August

Boat Plans And Kits

Almost there ... Keel attached to bulb and faired

 And hull fairing for keel in place under the hull

Rudders are in and faired

Windows are in, saildrive visible.  The yellow tape along the hull is the antifoul line, 80mm above the waterline.  No, you arent seeing things, thats it.

Companionway steps.  Not a lot of room between galley bench and bottom step, but could only be better if steps were more steep, and having lots of things to hold on to near the lower steps not a bad thing.  Will be a nice easy step from lower step to top of keel box, and theres plenty of headroom.  Flange just below (very shiny and pretty) heads door shows eventual floor level here.  Shower drain pump just to starboard of steps.

Starboard steering wheel pod, steering wheel mount at lower left edge (yellow tape).

Larger Nexus cover on NXR (details here, and manuals here).  The smaller Nexus cover to the left/inboard is the autopilot control (link).  The nexus Racebox (details here, and manual here) button and speaker are mounted on the underside of this (stbd) pod.

The small stainless steel buttons on the outboard end control the keel.  Top two are starboard(up) and port(down), bottom one is centre. All of these will function as single press to initiate movement in that direction, another press to stop, or it will stop at the end of travel automatically.  A clever bit of electronics controls automatic selection of electric or engine-powered hydraulic pump, increases engine revs if needed, and oversees keel control.  There is also a built-in automatic return-to-center in case the keel ends up on the wrong side after a nasty broach with the boat pinned on its side.  

The port side pod, not shown, is a mirror image (although it just has a space where the autopilot is on the stbd side, while we decide on the best option for here)

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Wooden Boat Plans And Kits | Waiting for Brimble in Spain September 2nd

Wooden Boat Plans And Kits

Since last writing much as happened and I shall only briefly enlighten you as I am sure the Captn himself will be more eloquent in writing the recent trials and tribulations of our travels to date. Needless to say we have had A & E visits and some more work done to the GS Brimble. Jacobus and I spent the last two days before departure with Brimble and John, we had a good time doing all those last minute checks and additions as well as victualing the boat for departure. I collected Big Jack from Southampton station whilst John stowed away all the shopping so that he would know where everything was once at sea, the last thing you want is to hunt for something in a pitching and rolling sea. Once Big Jack was with us, we met up with the two other crew members for this leg, Paul and Keiko, we had a last dinner and early to bed before the Friday morning sail off.

Jacobus and I waved off the boat and her crew and looked forward to seeing them in Spain, when finally all the Halsalls might be together at last. Two days later, Jacobus, Big Pappa Bestefar and I flew into Santiago de Compostela and met up with Ella, looking tanned and healthy after 12 days in the sun, if somewhat tired from all the late Spanish nights. We had a great day with Sol, Lydia and Ines, swimming in the river and enjoying our time together.



Alasdair (Captn Flint of Sumara) and I have been trying out the communication system with the new satellite phone and have been able to text John in the middle of the Bay of Biscay and to give him weather information. Alasdair has taken on the offical role of Herby after the famous weather forecaster for sailing vessels all over the world on the SSB radio, known as Herb. The weather so far has been interesting, from no wind when the GSB left on Friday to quite strong winds today, Tuesday. As yet we do not know if the boat may need to head into land earlier than hoped and wait for the forecasted strong winds to subside before the boat continues her journey, only time will tell, we wish them safe and speedy sailing onwards.

In the meantime, school will begin today for Ella and Jacobus and I must admit as the teacher I wonder how it will all go, I think we will begin gently today...

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Boat Plans Uk | Madeira to Tenerife 2nd November to 4th November 2008

Boat Plans Uk

The 2 day trip from Madeira to Tenerife was fast and furious. We left with 25 knots of wind and were cruising at 5 to 6 knots for the first 24 hours. The wind then died and we donked for 18 hours and then enjoyed a lovely beam reach into Santa Cruz, Tenerife. Arrival was a day earlier than expected so GSB, captain and crew were extra happy, not least to have logged a few more miles under the keel. Anyway, rather than me ramble on, Ella signed up to do a video diary of the trip which is now on the video bar.

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