UK-Cherub Forum
Cherub Chat => Sailing Stories => Topic started by: phil_kirk on January 24, 2010, 09:06:46 PM
-
A brilliant weekend for the maiden voyage. Here are a few photos that I couldn't work out how to attach to the latest news item. Many thanks to Roland for taking these and other photos. It was great to have E.J. and Atum around for some moral support and encouragement.
-
Fantastic. I know you've put in a huge effort to build this fine ship. This is the start of payback time. Cool paintjob too. :)
-
awesome, need to start my build now.........
-
Wow - well done!
An early and superb start to the season - fanastic!
(I was working the whole weekend - boo!)
-
Great news. You are an inspiration for the rest of us.
-
Looking excellent, congrats on a first sail.
-
Well done guys she looks incredible.
-
What a beauty! hope you guys have good times sailing her.
Out of interest, how much in total/roughly did you spend on the build?
-
Very nice sails! ;)
I'm currently working on a budget version as a cheaper option for those who can't currently afford a set of radialy cut sails.
(sorry about the shameless plug)
Now back on topic, boat looks amazing Phil, all those hours in the shed have definatley paid off ;D
-
rat face- I think it adds upto about £8000 but I haven't added everything up yet. All the small trips to B & Q for extra sand paper, wet and dry, paint brushes, rollers or the local chandlery for an extra shackle etc all add up.
Stu shameless plug but the sails do look good. We haven't spent any time tuning them up or even setting them properly while on the water. We might rake the rig back a bit more because the helm is quite neutral. lots of time required in learning how to sail the boat comfortably and improve routines for manoeuvers. We are not sure that the main sail skirt was exactly what we intended perhaps a bit more discussion on the issue would have helped. We will think about it for the future.
Things that appear right with the boat:
The racks are a nice height relative to the gunnel so we an comfortably trapeeze off both.
The helm is quite neutral.
the foils stall less than slipery in a tack.
Sarah and i can get between the racks and the hull. Good for capsize recovery and launching.
The jib fine tune control works a treat.
The T foil definitiely works
the boom is a nice height (0.9m off the floor on the centreline at the mast) to duck under through the tacks.
the kite does not snag on the shute and we have no halyard rubs so far.
Sock is just the right length for the kite (good guess by me) with all the corners close to the mouth. (well done Stu)
Sarah can get under the lowers and easily step through to fordecksvile.
minor issues:
Some of the allen blocks swivel on their lashings when not under load. a few solutions identified! they are still good blocks in our mind.
the sock is a bit narrow for the first half making the hoist and drop a bit hard work. Solution make bigger sock and coat sock and sail and send Sarah to the gym.
Our home made foil bags use the wrong kind of fleece lining. They stick to wet things.
main sheet is quite long.
Trapeeze lines shortened after Saturday as they were a bit too long.
How are we going to sail when it is windy?
-
The fine-tune jib is such a great idea - I am glad it works.
Kite: Holmenkol or similar makes a huge difference.
Block rotating on their lashings: We only now have this problem on the mainsheet one on the end of the boom, and we have not found a solution. It twists the mainsheet and can cause the whole purchase to twist. Patient untwisting it seems to give you a day or sailing before it twists up. Which ones of yours are twisting? We found relashing them a bit differently helped.
-
This seems to happen on the Badger occasionally as well. You can go for ages sailing and it will be fine, then it will get twisted up for no apparent reason. Ours uses fixed blocks on the bridle and the boom as well so it's not even as if the ti-lite lashing is twisting, it is the mainsheet itself which causes the problem.
-
got the holmenkol last Sunday but waiting for the dry day when it's above freezing to apply it.
I may take 1 of the 4mm thick packers from under the spinlock spinny halyard cleat because this cleats much earlier than intended and adds friction.
the block twisting thing is different from your problem the Allen ezitie blocks were swiviling on the splice/lashing through the block such that the block turns side ways to the direction of pull and the rope is then running on the check and not the pulley. The jib car ended up on the centreline and jammed because a block on the car had done this. the splice/lashing needs more friction around the block to avoid the problem. I may even use a spot of glue or rubber to increase the friction between the block and the lashing.
-
Phil, I wouldn't coat the kite in anything for its first season it already has a silicone like finnish on it from the factory and it may affect its longetivity. Coating the sock would be a good idea though.
-
Went for another sneaky sail at chew on sat to practice our tacking and gybing. Wind was initially about 12 knots and we handled it ok with a swim. Also started using marks as pretend racing marks which forced a few more errors. The afternoon sail was in lighter conditions. we were joined by a couple of musto skiffs and tacked and gybed up and down the lake together. We were not too much slower and could point just as well. Things feeling much more comfortable. I had a short spin in one of the musto skiffs which felt so much more stable than the E5.
For the benifit of the classes PR the lake was being used by the south west zone topper squad and we made sure they got a chance to see the cherub in action. The parents were very interested in the boat ashore so plenty of tipping over help.
EJ appeared ok on her trailor in the dinghy park.