20 knot club

Draycote was the venue for testing Daemon 2693 Subtle Knife yesterday and it was a chance for some experienced Cherubbists to have a shot and give their views:

Iain Christie: “First impressions are the boat looks fantastic. Away from the bright lights of Alexandra Palace and against the backdrop of a decent F4 at a sunny Draycote, the boat looks very purposeful, very clean and very simple. The kite system runs through a floor mounted Spinlock cleat and back up to a surprisingly short and unobtrusive sock. Kicker and cunno are led forward to the crew, and a single string main and jib sheet keep things tidy at the back. As with any new boat, it’s only by sailing it that you optimise the layout, and I think it’s fair to say that a few tweaks here and cleating angle changes there will make a big positive difference.

Putting the boat in the water it’s obvious she is light: Ddown to the 50kg hull weight making her very easy to manoeuvre on shore. Going off the beach and going upwind it also quickly became apparent that she goes like a bloody rocket, we had effortless speed upwind, and bear in mind that the entire rig was a complete best guess setup!

Compared to my Italian Bistro she felt very responsive. I would not say any lighter on the tiller, but the same amount of effort made her change direction very quickly upwind. As you respond to the shifts in the breeze, it makes for a less smooth ride upwind, but clearly quicker. At the top of the lake the boat tacked very easily, much more easily than a large-roached rig. The bear away brought on a serious amount of instant speed, the acceleration really has to be felt to be believed. The bow did go down a bit thanks to badly placed helm/crew weight, but in common with other narrow bowed designs, the speed stays on and the bow pops out rather than that horrible deceleration and rig loading.

The kite seemed to go up very easily, and it seems quite flat and set from a fairly long pole. Simon (Roberts)powered up as I headed up and she took off like a scalded cat. The acceleration and speed really took me by surprise to start with, and not being used to the boat I found myself trapezing off the gunwale rather than the rack for a few hundred yards. However the racks and footloops were fairly easy to find, and very comfy to use, despite being straight rather than cranked in at the ends. So it was “drop to the knots and send it” time and we certainly did…20.7 knots on the GPS, in a windspeed of probably about 15 knots or so. Make no mistake, this boat is REALLY fast. It was gusty and a couple of times we got clobbered and heeled a bit, but she responds well to a quick yank on the stick and keeps driving hard. However a bit of “under or over?” hesitancy with a racing mark soon had us in to windward! Perhaps the lighter target weight crews might have got away with that one or at least been able to pick themselves up from the teabagging!

All in all for a first day on the water the boat felt fantastic, and with a bit more sorting, rig tuning, and of course the addition of the all important T-foil (which we were not using) this thing is going to FLY.

Full credit to Richard and eveyone involved in the project and roll on Hyeres!

Stand by for pictures and videos.