UK-Cherub Forum
Cherub Chat => Calendar Events => Topic started by: ade white on April 02, 2014, 06:19:54 PM
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OK guys, lets sign in and update news.
SDzzz out of action at present - no mast! Back in Nottingham after fab winter at Draycote Water.
Rutland open was cold and windy but very well supported - for a few minutes!
I think there is an event at Carsington quite soon and we are always welcome at Draycote. I may have a repair and build job to do before any cherub sailing can be experienced.
whats your craic guys???
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Banshee ambulance will be blasting around grafham
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Pearson (tall/curly)
No cherub
Draycote
Willing crash test dummie.
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Just reposting in here about blast number 2 at draycote, I'd be up for it
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Unfortunately there is not much of a posse in the East, I will be looking at going over to Draycote sometime soon.. Hopefully, I have obtained a new jib and spinni soon on its way along with a planned main.
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Team Roly Poly may make an appearance in a beautiful red boat named Poppy
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Blast 2 at Draycote. Sat 10 May. Could be 4?
Fuzzy.
Team Roly.
Team Slatter?
HobbitSteve.
Any news from Stom or Koko??
Anyone else?
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I'm gonna have to bail out of this one due to a large swarm of exams I forgot I had. The other half and the boat may want to turn up. Not sure of his plans.
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Nice try, interesting how you may have "forgotten" about those exams... I am sure that 'Crash test Dummy' J P is wanting Roly to turn up.
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Negative sorry I have a match racing fixture. :-\
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Team hobbit +laser sailor who will be converted by Saturday afternoon will be there
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Team decision, long way to go to break yet another bit on the boat, looking breezy, crash test hobbits will be staying at grafham for a few reasons, sorry guys :(
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Ade decision- self not ready for the blow, and not wanting to spend all day upside down on boat with a new untested rig that doesnt even fit the boat yet.
Sorry guys hopefully see you all at Weir Wood (near Miami!).
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Looking at taking Spanish out tomorrow. Do send some photos of the completed job.
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As my official crew and boar owner is back over in the UK anyone fancy a blast at Draycote this coming Sunday the 25th?
Fuzzy Logic ?
Team Roly Poly ?
Hobbits of Grafham?
Alex
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A few people are thinking about queen Mary next weekend
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Ahh sounds slightly better
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OK Midlands Posse, let get active with some dates and local meets.
Below is the list of boats, that I know of, currently active around the Midlands area. Please sign in and add names etc. Can we arrange 'base meet' blasting location(s)?
Currently I can think of 4 great meeting spots.
Draycote, Rutland, Carsington, Grafham. (please add more if you can think of any)
I can think of 8 active Boats these include. Fuzzy Logic (Nottingham), Norfolk-in-chance (Matlock), Loco (Birmingham), Banshee Ambulance (Grafham), Kokopelli (Grafham). A welcome to Sweet Dreamzzz (Huddersfield). And welcome back to Slippery (Staffs).
Spanish...(Not quite local Midlands)
I also know of 2 boats currrently 'in-active'. Squid (Garage/Barn, Near Blithfield) and a woodie (near Birmingham somewhere)
I make that 9 boats, so far. Sorry if I have missed anyone, but please add to the list if I have.
Anyone up for a blast Sept or Oct.
I hope to see you all at the Nationals this month.
PS, you don't have be in the Midlands to join our 'Posse' and if you want to try out a Cherub please also get in touch to arrange a trial blast. :)
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Fuzzy is now based at Draycote, along with Shiny, both had a fantastic blast today. Joe is now helming (although, his words, he is now sailing in a brown wetsuit) Yes we had a great day! The boat is working fine and, as i was crewing for the first time, found the hoist problem. A SLIGHTLY OFF SET PULLEY was causing all the friction. Now sorted and hoists/drops working fine. the upside is - I suppose it has made Joe a little stronger!
A lot of interest and a very friendly place. Joe and Jamie are busy arranging Draycote interest. Shiney and Fuzzy out next Sat.
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Should be bringing Sgt Murphy to (be based at) Draycote some time in the next two weeks....
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Woo woo!
All aboard this bandwagon!
Quite a fleet shaping up around the midlands.
We did bring quite a lot of colour to the lake.
Some shades of blue (language) from the infamous team of christe/vian (sponsored by pukka pies)
As Ade said some brown from jo
And a lovely dehydrated shade of yellow from my wetsuit boots this evening.
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And then there were three!
we met at draycote today to be treated by light winds, by this, i mean light too no wind and of course, rain.
fuzzy and shiny were both rigged and chose to do those small jobs that you always put off.
Once the unfriendly thunderstorm left the veracity we launched.
light winds was the aim of the game with shiny gliding along upwind and fuzzy making inroads untill we turned the corner were Ade couldn't find a gear
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEqYT9YxywU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEqYT9YxywU)
Not that much wind today...
(http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics/m/a/x/_/mccarthy/2014-10/sb/image2-1303406.jpg?ts=1413146166)
But still, fun was to be had:
(http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics/m/a/x/_/mccarthy/2014-10/sb/image5-33863640.jpg?ts=1413146172)
(http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics/m/a/x/_/mccarthy/2014-10/sb/image8-75611447.jpg?ts=1413146176)
Had a great day today. A first sail in our new Cherub, and a lot of fun she was too!
Quite a fantastic boat, not all we need to do is sort out a few niggles (more grip on the deck, and possibly in front of the shrouds, as well as finding a suitable clew strap). But a lot of fun!!
Now added another cherub to the Draycote fleet...
Cheers,
Max
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Glad to hear it max!
Is the music choice a subtle hint from helm to crew? :P
What camera are you using. Quite like the speed/tracking readout on the vid.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEqYT9YxywU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEqYT9YxywU)
I'm not having the best morning in history, but now have a smile on my face and think that could actually be a tear. Thanks Max (and your dad): seeing Sgt. Murphy (last amber dragon) doing what she does best makes the time spent getting her back to 50kg all worthwhile. Well done all of those involved in chipping time and advice into this boat over the past few years.
Max the foundations are now there. She has an absolute wild side for you to explore when it gets windy :-)
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Jamie,
I would be surprised if that was the case, after all I (the crew) edited the film!
Cheers,
Max
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Roland,
Thanks very much for the kind comments, and I am glad it has lifted your spirits!
Cheers,
Max
PS - just waiting for more wind (and time) now!
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Glad to hear it max!
Is the music choice a subtle hint from helm to crew? :P
What camera are you using. Quite like the speed/tracking readout on the vid.
Oh, and Jamie, the camera is a Sony HDR-AS30V, the software it came with didn't work particularly well though, so I downloaded a programme called 'Race Render' to get the GPS overlay, and used Final Cut Pro to edit the actual video......
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We had a great day at Draycote yesterday, quite wild at times with 3 Cherubs galloping along with the white horses.
Cheese is now an official member of the posse having joined for the winter along with new rider 'Robin-of-Lincoln'.
Jamie and Polly(another Posse newbie) had many go-pro moments.
Joe and Ade tried their new 'jib donger' and report "amazin but have a few rig tension issues to sort".
Digby even made a showing and was re-united with Cheese and Shiny - guess which one he broke, but that good news as he didnt do both!
Max missed a good one, due to some celebration or other, Happy Birthday.
So that is 4 cherubs at Draycote. Anymore for next Sat? All welcome.
Jamie 'Spielberg' to post some epic footage...
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Spent the day looking through it all.
No editing done yet.
Fuzzy needs ades little pole to be stiffer.
Cheese was going well with batman and robin abord until Digby turned up and, suprise suprise, broke something (he's the new tom vian!)
We had shiny going well recording 16 knots on the speedpuck.
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Ace day back in the front of a cherub! Had a bit of a look through Cheese's Pole Cam footage last night before it got corrupted or something, and now cant access it! Always next week... Draycote were great and accommodating, even with them hosting a solo open the same day, and me and Tom (Batman) are both winter members with Cheese based there til spring hopefully! Hoping to go again next Saturday if the forecast is alright, who else is up for this?
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Well that took some time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fuJPV1VEh4&list=UUlSayYKtO_gw2MZ0CvrRrNA&index=1
Look at Ades rig tension!!!
No video of cheese as her camera decided to kill itself.
Another tripple cherub saturday at draycote this weekend, all hail the wind-gods and it should be a good one.
(hint and tips on videos please!)
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You say to look at the tension? All I am noticing is a complete LACK of tension!
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well he is quite laid back.
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Ha HA Joe was so laid back he fell in! Ho Ho. Now everyone has seen it; he was hoping to keep that bit quiet. He He, well done Jamie. More Draycote today.
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Yeah, no chance of that ever happening.
Breeze on, game on!
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Is there a way of making the video play on mobile devices? (I think that's the reason it says it's not playable)
Ciao
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Probably something to do with music. Not sure what to do.
Anyway this weekend at Draycote was smashing or cracking but robin would describe it as painful.
Fuzzy sorted her rig settings out and was showing speed again.
Shiny had the usual culprits abord again. Going well but slow in all manoeuvres.
Cheese were improving on their helm crew relationship until robins b***s met the forestay at speed.
We now have to referee to them as oblate spheroids. Video to follow
After sailing we sat in the bar for an hour drinking and eating hot hot bar snacks while watching through the raw footage.
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Fantastic blast day yesterday. 3 boats out again, performance and speed improving. Tom and Robins learning curve is now almost vertical, well done guys. both Joe and Robin have many bruises to show for improved performance. Some great video this weeks sequel follow shortly. Jamie is heading for a Cannes nomination!
Ade and Joe at Datchet next weekend in an 800 so the Draycote fleet maybe down to 2...
Jamie is looking for some guest appearances or extras if anyone is up for a film début.
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so this week with ade and joe off doing canal boat racing it left jamie and abi along with batman and robin.
Saturday: turned up, Chuffing windy and rainy. watched 2 I14 sailiors (chubba chubba) rent a dart and go for a play.
Cheese decided to launch at 1500 as the wind started to drop leaving abi and jamie with their head under shinys fordeck.
until they stole a rib and took some very close up videos/photos of cheese
Sunday: Turned up - no wind, over bacon breakfast we came up with the phrase 'shiny water, shiny time'
As it was remembrance Sunday Draycote postponed the first club race but held an impromptu windward leeward race.
both cherubs sprinted to the start line coupled with a gathering of old farts in solos and lasers. Both teams were stumped at the coarse with the committee boat being on station only 20M from the south shore with a south wind. turns out we had a running start. as you can imagine 5 seconds before the gun there was frantic shouting at crews to pull up the kite.
the slow boats all crossed the line first and pootled along with the big fast assy boats (Shiny/Cheese before bedtime) stuck with no wind. After some time shiny awoke and ripped down to the Leeward(windward) buoy dropped and turned upwind with cheese still on the start line.
one lap later Shiny was just pipped for line honours by a solo
anyway, with the morning race we were then joined by a 29er, this caused for a close nit battle (dont think if gybed so many times in one leg)
29er beat us with cheese in 2nd and shiny retiring due to a potential ripped kite
lunch: soup for speed!
afternoon: wind dropped for some single wire action along with crew swapping
all in all, Pretty decent weekend
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Just compleated the move to vimeo.
all three cherub videos are up, hopefuly means they can be played on mobile phones as they are less strict that youtube.
Before you ask, yes, cheese did break their kicker.
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I don't know about anyone else, but I found that they've started working on phones now.
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Oh bum. Grr.
I didn't even copy a link
https://vimeo.com/m/user34338489
Enjoy.
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Ace videos guys...love the bits with the pole cam practically climbing aboard Cheese 😄
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Jamie, on Shiny, what's the big block in the middle of the floor for? The one on top of a small yellow/brown pedestal. It seems to be swinging around in most if the footage without a line going through it but hard to see for sure. (The central tunnel on Cellulite has been cut off and I'm not sure now where to put the self-tacker jib sheet block/cleat. And the kite halyard fairlead and cleat come to that. )
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That baby is the main sheet jammer.
Fitted so a previous owner could conclude that an RS800 style helm controls main did not really work with Shiny's ultra flat sailing requirements.
Made from forming some sheets of glass weave over the top of a Marks'n'sparks mini-rolls tub. Cut off top flange, glue to piece of wood - perfect top hat plug. This was designed/fabricated/fitted and back on the water in under a day. So yes looks a little rough.
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Currently nothing.
I'm going to garage shiny for a few weeks to clean some cracks up.
I'm tempted to remove the glass step and return the cleat/spiny thing to Roland as the item has no use.
Although I know as soon as I remove it, I will find a use for it.
If I remove carefully do you want the fiber glassy bit?
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If I remove carefully do you want the fiber glassy bit?
Thanks for the offer Jamie, but it's ok, I think I can sort out a mounting. Just still trying to work out where best to put it. Ease of use vs trip hazard etc.
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Ohh sorry. I'm inept.
I can however get some photos of Shiny's cockpit area and the jib system set up if you would like
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...some photos of Shiny's cockpit area and the jib system set up
That would be very useful. But no rush.
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Neil, hopefully these help, sorry if they dont but it was raining and i didnt want my hair to go curly.......
Anyway, Jib sheet is the blue one, goes though the cleat through a block then diverts 80 DEG to another then 90DEG. this then runs up the foredeck to the purches system.
Note: after the 2nd block the rope is ties to the smaller diamiter rope that comes out the foredeck, there is also an elastic takeup/poweroff line to induce the jib to sheet out.
happy to take more photos if these ones are sub standard.
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Thanks Jamie, that is very useful. The sheeting arrangement on Cellulite is very similar. The problem I have is that my daggerboard case is very far forward, so it's all a bit crowded at the foot of the mast. The previous owner cut off the tunnel on top of the dgbd case, so I'll either have to reinstate it to create a place for mounting the jib cleat and kite halyard hoist cleat, or fit a small tower so that the jib sheet clears the top of the board.
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With Shiny in for repair this weekend, only 2 cherubs hit the water at Draycote, though the usual crew of shiny were both there. Saturday saw a moderate breeze, just enough to get some twinning in at times, with plenty of crew swaps between Joe, Abi, Tom and Robin in Fuzzy and Cheese, everyone sailing with each other and in each boat at some point in the day.
Sunday saw completely different conditions with the one crew of Tom and Robin conquering public transport to be greeted by squally and shifty conditions, and spending one and a half hours or so on the water before calling it quits, and returning for a much needed bacon roll each.
Altogether great weekend with plenty of crew swapping and experience in different boats on Saturday, and some much wanted breeze on Sunday. Videos of the Sunday and the last few weeks hopefully to be uploaded shortly, and next meet will be around the 20/21st :)
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Just a few pictures from on board cheese on the sunday...
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I love the middle one 8)
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Nigel, come and show them how its done!
i have a spare snorkel!
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Just debating a bit of snow frolics tomorrow on Crib Goch (no ice around yet) but sorely tempted...you there tomorrow? Loco is grounded...don't ask (OK the little dog hasn't misbehaved, just needs some minor repairs)
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We all expect the little dog to be wagging the tip of her tail just after the next sticky weekend :-)
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Another weekend with the Midlands posse at Draycote, with Shiny back on the water and half of team cheese on a journey Essex to collect Dan's Boat, Saturday's turn out was 2 cherubs - Fuzzy sporting a pair of crews, Joe and Robin, and Shiny with the usual suspects. The morning's promising signs of wind brought crews from single to twin wiring and Shiny set a course with a rival 29er, beasting them in a flash of green on the downwind. But victory was short lived, with Jamie suffering some pole difficulties... After a quick fix, the 29er was soon behind again. On the other side of the reservoir, Fuzzy's temporary helm took to the water, only narrowly avoiding the tera, and showed some good speed upwind, but Robin couldn't quite keep with shiny downwind!
After a quick pitstop, there was a swap of crews, making for a terrified Abi helming Fuzzy with an equally terrified Robin crewing, and all the Js in Shiny. Thankfully no breakages/deaths occurred and with some eventful hoists and drops from both boats, the final crew change was made before the quick blast in the dying breeze.
Sunday saw fog and no wind, with Jamie on OD duty, and Tom back from essex with Dan's boat - unfortunately, the fog never lifted enough to go sailing, however the day was spend with Jamie, Tom and Robin checking and rigging Dan's boat, ready for the next meet of the cherub posse - hopefully next weekend.
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So has Dans boat been brought back to active duty, or is she just on loan???
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Back in active duty, Tom bought and collected her last weekend and she's now ready to go sailing :)
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Another active two weekends have passed for the Midlands posse at Draycote. Last weekend with strong winds and Jamie on OD, and Abi sailing her Laser, only Dans Boat was able to hit the water in the morning for a quick 10 minute sail before Robin and Tom managed to rip the mast track off which brought an end to their days sailing. The rest of the day was used for tinkering and repairing the mast track for the following weekend which was forecast to look promising.
Upon arrival at Draycote this weekend Tom, Robin, Joe and Abi were greeted by light winds and sub-zero temperatures along with a huge fleet of 29ers to try and avoid on the water. However this didn’t hinder any spirits and Dans boat was rigged and ready to go sailing whilst Abi took her laser out again as half of team Shiny were away at the sticky weekend. Throughout most of the day the wind stayed fairly light allowing single wiring at times and time for Tom and Robin to get a little more used to their new boat. After a quick break there was a crew swap and Joe came out for a blast with the wind picking up slightly allowing for good boat speed. After lunch the wind had increased some more and Tom and Robin went out for another blast in Dans as the wind had increased to a steady force 3 allowing for twin wiring and great speed downwind! It was soon time for the final crew change and Abi came for a Cherub sail just as the wind began to ease off again for the evening. Thankfully there had been no more breakage and all in all it’s been a great couple of weekends. Having some fantastic sails in Dans and are hoping to have a couple of cherubs out for next weekend!
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I'm going to be at Draycote this weekend on team racing duty with uni, but it'll be great to talk to some cherubists again!! :) :)
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Bring a harness!
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It's the first thing in my bag, although I can't guarantee I'll get chance to go for a blast. Fingers crossed though
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Maybe a snorkel too!
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Hopefully I've become a slightly better sailor than I was at the nationals
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Been a bit quiet on here for a bit.
Ran across these photos of ades 'power knob'
if i remember correctly this lead ade to run almost no rig tention. The way he set the rig up doesnt work in my head, but did seem to shift when poked with a cattle prod.
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This weekend saw the teams of Tom and Robin, in Banshee Ambulance, and Jamie and Rosie, in Shiny hit the water at Draycote. Though shiny weren't there, Saturday was a good force 3-4, easily twinning conditions, and Tom and robin rigged up only to break the gantry about 20 minutes into the sail! This provided the evenings entertainment for Jamie and robin trying to find a way to hold the bottom gudgeon on Banshee ambulance, and taking an angle grinder to Jamies new trolley before the usual visit to Weatherspoons.
Sunday arrived warm and very breezy, amazing sailing conditions, and after the finishing touches to banshees repair, shiny hit the water, closely followed by Banshee Ambulance. Jamie and Rosie spent ages on the water, getting a great sail in with few swims, and showing some amazing speed and pointing upwind. Banshee Ambulance once again broke, but only after Tom and Robin discovered just how incredibly fun an 05 rules boat is with a standard rudder in place of a winged one!
Monday dawned, with tom and Robin deciding not to repair banshee badly, but to fix it over the week and sail cheese, and Jamie and Rosie taking shiny out once more. The wind Started as a steady force 3 or so, however by the time shiny got out (and cheese had headed in) it was starting to shift and very gusty and changeable between almost drifting and fully powered up.
All in all, some great sailing over the weekend, especially by shiny with the new crew pairing of Jamie and Rosie looking fast! shame about the breakages but an impeccable display of how to rescue a rudderless cherub in a lot of wind by Draycote safety crew!
Hopefully shiny and banshee will both be hitting the water again next weekend, along with Norfolk in Chance, which has just been bought by Abi!
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Well done Abi
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How many boats are at draycote now?
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Sgt Murphey,
Banshee Ambulance
Cheese (UP FOR SALE!)
Fuzzy
Norfolk
and Shiny.
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How many boats would you need to get your own class start? :P
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Racing?
Nah, too much fun sailing the boat to worry about starts and that kinda stuff!
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That's a fair point, in strangelys first sail we had far too much fun embarrassing a 4k and making fireflies look like they were sailing backwards!! :P
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This weeks on the water entertainment saw only banshee ambulance hit the water as most of the fleet is focusing on exams (why, i dont know)..... Anyway....
BA has been suffering from leperacy recently (especialy in the bottom area) this time noting fell off.
Brave Sir robin appointed Mr Pearson control of the which way stick.
Robin is in denial about t foils currently, he is adamant that they are slow. to prove this we tapped on my speed puck and went for a play. upwind was quick, it felt quick, we were going about 8-12 knots, i know shiny paces upwind at around 8-10 knots but there is a more gradual speed rather than the 'pedal to the floor - breaks on' feeling with the standard blade.
Downwind quick jumpy, we only have little waves at draycote but still there was some board showing.
we both struggled to gybe BA, not 100% sure why. on one of the occasions we capsized with the main and jib on the water but the kite out, we proceeded to fly the kite from the dagger board, this amused the rescue staff and those on shore.
robin then took over the helm and more fun and games ensued along with him Langing it (he doesnt rate it highly)
Spoons that night was a quiet one with only 2 of the usually hungry sailors there but it didn't matter as the many hours sailing had pretty much destroyed us causing us to call it a night at 21:30
Sunday dawned and there were a lot of cherub sailors past and present milling about on the patio, Iain C, Tom V, Simon R, some bloke that owned strangely brown and one point.
Brave Sir Robin tried to turn one of his laser sailor friend (EWW) to the dark side (i think it worked) this left me crewles, so i took out the lowrider... Man that things good.
I will leave it to robin to tell tales on Sunday.
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I don't necessarily think the straight foil is faster than the T, I just find it far more fun! really makes the boat feel a lot more lively.
Sunday showed a nice force 3/4, more at times, with Isaac and I taking cheese out for a good blast. After a couple of little swimming sessions, he was getting the hang of flat upwind and I was getting used to helming a cherub, both coming off the water grinning after some good blasting and a brilliant kite race with a 49er.
Hopefully Isaac and I will be sailing again next week!
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Last Saturday was open day for Draycote, and although the wind was forecast for a steady and acceptable 14-ish kts the white caps on the water proved it was consistently more. That didn't put off the mass of beginners and visitors, or the three cherubs that ventured down: Banshee Ambulance (Robin found Isaac as a crew for the weekend), Abi and Tom took Norfolk In Chance for her first spin on Draycote with her new owner, and Jamie and Rosie in Shiny B. Jamie and Rosie helped Abi and Tom rig Norfolk until Robin and Isaac arrived.
In the morning Banshee hit the water first, soon followed by Shiny and Norfolk. While it was gusty, (which caught all the cherubs by surprise a few times) the good wind allowed twin wiring, and the wind direction meant for good long legs (while occasionally having to avoid spearing the windsurfers and wayfarers). All the cherubs got a decent morning sail although Norfolk had to head in early as sailing with battens falling out the back of the sail didn't seem to be working too well. After a lunch break in the sun Banshee and Shiny headed back out for a similar afternoon session, although the wind had eased a little by that time. Jamie and Rosie decided to swap Shiny's t-foil for the standard rudder blade in the afternoon, and managed to break top speed and maxed out at 17.5 kts! Banshee managed sail all day with with no breakages so congratulations to Robin and Isaac! It was a great sailing day.
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Good work team. Keep it up!
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Hello, does anyone down at draycotte need a crew for this weekend?
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Fuzzy's new mods completed in time for Weston. taking some carbon - just in case.
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So, for the first time since the nationals this weekend, more than 1 cherub turned up at Draycote - after months out of action due to further gantry problems, a broken board, and the addition of a stump, banshee ambulance finally turned up for some testing on Thursday, Robin controlling the which way stick, and Josh doing just about everything else, and on Saturday, she was joined by shiny.
Upon arriving at Draycote however, it was hard to ignore the 4 inches of deflection in each of banshees wings as soon as rig tension was pulled on - at this point Josh wisely refused to sail in the gusty force 5 winds, and the duo left to think through what was going wrong, and how to sort it. With the help of Isaac, a bond film, and a load of cider, a plan was drawn up to take some bending load off the wings, and direct it into the compression struts.
The long and short of it is that by Saturday, the duo were confident that the Ambulance was once again sailable, and though the wind was light and shifty, they went for it, experiencing no loss of tension or deflection. Yet to be seen how she handles more wind. Though Jamie, Joe and Shiny turned up, they decided that the shore was more appealing than the extremely light/non existant winds, so remained dry - the day wasn't wasted though, with Jamie finally finishing his new jib, which is looking fantastic, and seems powerful already!
Though Jamie, Josh and Robin turned up at Draycote on Sunday morning, the wind never really did, and as such, Jamie ensured the jib fitted, along with testing sheeting angles, and Josh and Robin packed Banshee up so she could be taken home for a few final mods. With a bit of luck, a couple of boats will be out on the water next weekend.
With Ade and Joe implementing some exciting new developments on Fuzzy, Robin and assorted different crews trying to solve banshee ambulance's tendencies of falling apart, Jamie and Rosie set for a winter of hard training, and Josh who's a very able crew and looking to buy a boat and join us, its set to be a fantastic winter of sailing at Draycote water!
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Four inches, hardly worth talking about.
Was good to get the gang back together! Shines new jib is powerful, thanks Dave and Nick!
It's a copy of the one Nick made many moons ago for the 2010 nationals. Even in less than 5 knots it was trying to pull out my hand. Sometime it did.
Anyway, next weekend should be good. All we need is a little more wind!
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Four inches is still too much for me to handle
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With the weather being Armageddon these past couple weeks we were desperate to get sailing no matter what the weather. Saturday saw me and Robin Jones take banshee ambulance out for a quick fly, however with the direction being a southerly at Draycote, that meant things were shifty and gusty and with me and Robin having a boring break from sailing we felt a little intimidated by the 30 knot forecast however we were relived when we arrived and looked on the water to find that the forecast was unsurprising wrong, however it was still very breezy! So we made some fine tuning to banshees kite system, added some plexus onto the mast foot , put on the small sails, straight blade(God help us) and got the most suitable clothing on for the Antarctic wet patch that lay at Warwickshire. We went for what turned out to be a swimming session as we got to the top of the lake it was near impossible for us to bear away in the 25knots of gusts due to our poorly called rig set up, however we got 1 amazingly sketchy and thrilling kite run that ended badly as soon as Robin shouted "GET THE KITE DOWN". In the end we tried to stay out of the water as the air was 10x warmer and got rescued. We were amazed when we broke before banshee did. Safe to say Robin has done good work with the new king post and space frame.
We puffed out for the day and headed to Jamie's house where we were welcomed to him having a very chronic case of "man-flu", however he brushed it away by dinner time and was ready for a good trip to spoons (as is tradition). That night Jamie and Robin pulled me a blond for the night however it's name was Leffe and I was told stories about their Leffe experiences and how everyone has had at least one "good" night of the Belgian beverage.
Sunday dawned on us and we remembered not a lot of action happening the night before as I did not approve of the Leffe and lefft it half full (yes that was a appalling pun). Jamie, Robin and I set off to Draycote for a good day ahead of us as all the questions would be answered about squid, yes that's right squid, as its new owner Jimmy Ruddiman and Jamie would be taking it for a spin for the first time in over 10 years. We arrived and it was Champagne sailing (almost) as Jamie and James fitted the new jib track on squid, me and Robin set up banshee properly this time with a big jib, tiny main and plus foil and swept away the fears and trouble we had the day before. Me and Robin launched banshee as the wind was picking up and had a amazing sail out on the water and dusted away the cobwebs that lay on our muscles. Safe to say we both fell in love with the new banshee dispite it tea-bagging us a lot in the shifty and gusty conditions but as usual we came in with a huge smile on our face. After we came in it was time to get squids sails on and set the purple beast afloat in the hands of Jamie and Jimmy. From where me and Robin were standing it was pretty enevitable to see that squid looked hard to sail flat upwind but downwind it seemed to go well and hats off to Jimmy for keeping her upright, however it was short lived as they went for a swim and the newly fitted, jib track snapped in half.... OOPS!
Overall it was a good to see a new cherub on the water and I couldn't ask for a better sail to finish off 2015.
Merry Christmas to all and we shall see you all soon in the new year! :)
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A real weekend of 2 halves for the only boat to head out this weekend at Draycote, Banshee ambulance, under the Destruction Duo of Josh and Robin.
Very early Saturday morning Josh and Robin Rolled up to Draycote, pretty much immediately rigging the ambulance with no messing about, hoping to make the most of a good force 4, gusting more and warmth - a welcome contrast to the force 6 and rain forecast for most of the weekend. A great morning session about 2 and a half hours long saw huge improvements in both crew members sailing, miraculously with no swims, predominantly due to Josh's cat like ninja reflexes. In the afternoon, the Duo donned a straight blade rather than the + foil for a bit of fun, and hopefully to sharpen both crew further. This and a slight increase in the wind with a couple of great little squalls saw some fantastic downwind legs for most of the length of Draycote and 2 swims. After a few really messy hoists and drops the pair headed in to look for the issues. Turns out the outer had worn through on the tack line of the kite, causing it to bind terribly.
Jamie graciously allowed us to crash at his. Naturally after an exhausting days sailing, the correct course of action is a few drinks, a couple of films (Pulp Fiction isn't half odd) and staying up til half 1. As such the Sunday morning dawned a little more slowly for the Duo, not arriving at Draycote til 10.30 or so. With both keen to demonstrate that they can sail in a fair bit of wind, the squally, shifty offshore breeze looked very appealing, so once again banshee was rigged up swiftly, and the Duo changed, however on getting the last few bits of the boat ready to go sailing, a very little bit of cracking on one of the compression struts was noticed. Maybe the wall thickness wasn't enough after all. It was decided that although it looks minor, it could have been worse than it looked, and we didn't want to risk damaging the rest of the boat if one strut went pop. The pair derigged swiftly and called it quits for the weekend, towing banshee back for a little reworking.
Altogether, Saturday was fantastic, and made up for the loss of Sunday. The squalls coming through as we were hitching the boat to the car also told us maybe it was a good thing we weren't on the water. And better to damage on the shore when just training than at an event or on the water.
Plan is hopefully to have Banshee back sailing in 2 weeks time, though with a bit of luck other cherubs might hit Draycote next weekend.
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Today was good. EJ and Shiny on the water. We tried the mk1 new jib with repairs. Seemed to go nicely. New rudder (riot vans original) was causing some issues, it kept over rotating. Also, doest seem as fast/fun, but the speed puck died so I can't be sure, probably just haven't found the sweet spot/skill levels are low.
Anyway, very glad to get floating again!
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Sat at my desk after a slow morning that included a Cone Beam scan. The guy pulling the trigger asked why I have such big grin on my face, he looked confused as I managed to mumble two letters from between the cotton bud he'd just rammed into my mouth.
"E" and "J".
Thanks to Jay for putting up with my lack of fitness and the biting cold. Rosie and Jamie for helping to pack up Loco and BS for their trip back south. Sending the pretty blue boat the length of Draycote will keep my serotonin levels high for the next few weeks. If anyone wants to borrow a weapon - it's parked at Draycote till April, it's an E5 and in the wrong hands it really is a weapon of mass distraction.
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A late write up, but hopefully worth it.
Sunday was the day to float, team shiny arrived and opted to use the biggest foil they could find to dampen rolling.
With the added tell tails and repairs to the Ching mk.2 all was looking peachy for a lovely sail.
Team banshee of robin and josh got on the water first, keeping clear of the 29er fleet and club racer.
Shiny launched in her usual fashion, foils down, crew on the daggerboard and yelps from the helm as he reaches 'critical depth', once out of the mines they popped the kite and sailed around the back of the 29er fleet to see what was going on.
After some abysmal trials to cross paths, both teams decided on a top corner and a bottom corner, yeeeee haaaa! Single stringing upwind, and still single stringing downwind.
A few laps and it was time to head in.
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What a weekend! 2 cherubs on the water Saturday, which was a lovely 18 or so gusting a little over 20. Robin and Josh were the first to hit the water, in banshee. Close behind was Jamie and Rosie in Shiny, who were testing their fancy new worm drive foil adjustment system, and running their recently homemade jib, which seems on the pace. Both made a good number of runs up and down Draycote, with few swims - only one per boat. After a while, both headed in for lunch, the afternoon seeing Rosie going out for a quick blast in banshee with Robin.
Sunday was a tad lighter, but still a little fruity. With Rosie not sailing (happy birthday!) Jamie re-elasticated shiny, whilst the destruction duo spent most of the morning burning up and down Draycote. Sadly Joshes harness randomly quick-releasing cut the morning a little short, and the pair had to head in, though soon Banshee was back out for one final blast this weekend, this time with Eleanor Craig rapidly learning how to crew in the building wind.
Banshee now home to tidy up all the recent work, but both boats seemed to go well! Cant wait to get back on the water after the dinghy show!
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Yes, it's taken a year from thought to trial, but yes, the worm screw system works.
Pearson engineering strikes again!
Brilliant sail, shame a totalled my speedpuck on my driveway. The new turbo foil certainly seemed to get ove the 16k it speed limit the red foil (RIP) stuck to.
Shiny has a new turbo.
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Well, after a pretty ace dinghy show it was back to Draycote for the midland posse this weekend - with the usual suspects Jamie, Rosie, and Robin, along with our new acquire Henry sailing.
Saturday was the day we've been looking for for ages: sunny, and very little wind, the perfect opportunity for both to sort those tiny little issues that you don't want to miss a days sailing to sort - changing elastic, sealing holes in masts, and sorting out any other tiny problems.
This meant that by Sunday both Shiny and Banshee were fully operational, and by 12 or so, both were on the water. After an initial blast around, with Henry learning rapidly what flat meant, and how to gybe a Cherub, Shiny and Banshee came together for some proper dog fighting in the near-perfect force 3, and sun. Sailing two of these boats within 10m or so of each other both up and downwind is some of the most fun possible. All Jamie's mods seem to have improved his upwind speed greatly, with both his Turbo foil and new jib seeming to perform very well after some tiny teething issues. Once again Banshee came off the water in as many pieces as she went out in, and with the same rig tension. Early days, but with a bit of luck her Leprosy is cured.
Having sailed 29er's and National 12's before, Henry is very keen and already a very handy crew - hopefully be along to introduce himself at some point on here! Already can't wait for Easter weekend, when Banshee will next see the water, though with Norfolk, Shiny, EJ, Subtle, and Cheese also at Draycote there is hope of boats sailing next weekend.
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Our new upwind speed is...... Scary.
Might put the dynamic jib back on next week just to ground myself.
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Our new upwind speed is...... Scary.
Might put the dynamic jib back on next week just to ground myself.
That or Robin can't sail.... :S
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This weeks Posse was EJ and Shiny; Nick Pratt and Jay Williamson in EJ with Jamie Pearson and Rosie Williamson in Shiny.
Descend on draycote for 1000hrs, check.
Rig up before lunch, check
Go sailing, urrr.... eventually check, but we did have to wait for the wind.
once it filled in we had a lovely 10-17ish knots, EJ got out first with shiny close behind but our moth style launch slowed up down.
After a couple of laps we got together to do some pace analysis, not too much different, so all good. EJ were getting some time sailing together and working out routines for manoeuvres where as shiny was testing the rudder tiller mods.
Strange things were happening, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh3su-0OLcs&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh3su-0OLcs&feature=youtu.be)
looks like ill be taking some sand paper to Rutland, I haven't missed the unmistakable sounds and feel of a rudder ventilating from the moth.
Both boats are now packed up for the trip to Rutland. Please let it be sunny, and warm!
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Mixed weekend from banshee's point of view - but some ace sailing nonetheless!
Thursday, Eleanor and Robin turned up early as possible to get some training in before Sheppy, and were on the water about 10.15. A good long morning session ensued, with 2 swims, but Eleanor quickly getting the hang of crewing in the extremely shifty 14-16 knots of wind. Unfortunately on coming ashore the pair ran aground pretty hard, damaging the daggerboard badly - but can be relieved that this seemed to take the impact, with the board case itself absolutely unmarked! Sadly an afternoon session was cut short at about an hour due to a broken trap elastic, but the pair still had some good sailing in the increasing wind.
Shame we didn't wake earlier on Friday to get sailing, but when Isaac and Robin popped down on, Shiny and EJ looked to be having a great sail, and in more wind than forecast. Just goes to show never rely on XC weather.
Saturday and Sunday were meant to be a couple of days for Josh and Robin to get some last minute sailing in before Rutland. Unfortunately when they arrived Saturday to most of the 29er youth squad saying it was bordering on unsailable the duo decided that laser tag was a better idea than going sailing.
Though Sunday was similarly windy, the pair risked a quick sail in banshee with the smallest sails on, mainly thanks to Jamie goading us, who was there further pimping his foil adjustment system. Absolutely crazy windy, and shifty too, but the pair got upwind fine. The pair bottled it after a number of unsuccessful bearaways due to just being blown over getting through the death reach zone, and came ashore on the visitors/windsurfers beach, but at least boat and crew were still completely in one piece.
Somehow when trying to jump start Jamie's rover, despite being put on the flat and side on to the hill, Banshee ended up sliding down the hill at draycote and into the water, drifting a while and hitting a pontoon, where the new bosun kindly pulled her out the water. We suspect someone must have moved her. Could have been far far worse, but there is some pretty bad hull skin damage at the transom, which with a bit of luck will be sorted by next weekend. Just relieved that it wasn't worse.
Both the regular boats from Draycote are looking forward to the inevitable force 5+ arctic conditions that seem to be the norm at Rutland...
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i don't get the arctic reference as isn't Draycote further North than Rutland?
so if Rutland is cold and windy Draycote would be worse?
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Rutland is further north, not T'North, but certainly further that way ;)
I arrived on Monday afternoon, Squid on the back, I was somewhat disappointed to not seeing any cherubs buzzing around in the near perfect 20knots and sunshine, oh well, hopefully many more days like that to come.
Squid is now back at Draycote with a firmly fixed jib track and free running carriage ready for some sailing and probable abuse of my body and whichever victim decides to get in with me.
Pictures to follow soon.
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I was somewhat disappointed to not seeing any cherubs buzzing around in the near perfect 20knots and sunshine, oh well, hopefully many more days like that to come.
That's your job :-)
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So Sunday the 10th came with a gusty and shifty 15knt breeze, and it was D-Day for Squid Pro Quo. Having done tinkering throughout the winter it was time to get her on the water. My willing victim was Eleanor and rigging went well.
On to the water with me helming, 1st mistake the kicker was doing naff all. Back to shore for a quick fix. 2nd launch and it was quickly clear Squid was going to be hard work, but we soon settled in to a rough rhythm. Turned the corner carefully and went for the kite, to realise we'd tangled the halyard round the jib. A quick capsize and we thought we'd sorted, unfortunately we hadn't, so headed in for lunch.
After lunch we swapped around with my lardy arse on the wire, and with the much more competent Eleanor helming, and we were flying. Squid really responded well to a fat guy on the wire. Having sorted the kite we did a nice bear away, pulled a couple of times and "ping" something snapped and the pole didn't want to go out, so we pulled the kite back in and went for some 2 sail reaches, safe to say, she was very quick, slightly nosey, but brilliant fun. We then headed back up the entire length of the lake, sadly no one to compare speed with, but she felt quick and seemed to be pointing reasonably well, helm was light and responsive. A couple of silly capsizes later we headed back thoroughly exhausted but having had a brilliant time.
We both commented that we had a lot of fun and haven't laughed quite so much whilst sailing in a long time.
Couple of bits to sort but looking forward to our next sail.
See you on the water soon
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Forget how pretty that rig is (excluding the mast)
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Jimmy, your story is very similar to most peoples first sail in a Cherub in boats of that kind of era! Once you have ironed out the rigging niggles and got the boat working with you rather than against you, things will start to fall into place! If you can get to look at a well set up boat and check out their bungee take ups then you can copy some of them to help with your kite system. The number of times that hoisting the kite on my first boat ended up with a ball of kite and rope followed by a swim got pretty depressing so definitely better to take the time to sort it all out before too long!
Enjoy!
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Keeping it short and sweet this week.
Ace weekend. Banshee, Jamie's lowrider, Henry, Eleanor, Jamie and Robin sailing.
Saturday, Henry and Robin sailed banshee, 2 minor breakages (kicker anchor, and mainsheet anchor) kinda spoiled the day, but still - some good upwind sailing whilst it lasted. (PS Henry is an ace crew and I believe is looking to sail with people at opens - very keen on the class!)
Sunday, primarily Eleanor sailing with Robin in Banshee, testing the wing (the tacking system works, though needs minor changes - more incentive to rotate further, e.g. some really boingy elastic or something, and calibration of the wing control, and of course the sail sets like a total heap at the moment) with no proper breakages at all. Jamie was also out in his lowrider and we all switched round a bit, with everyone having a go with every different crew/in each boat.
Even though she was undoubtedly slow as of yet, I'm still positive about the wing, think with a recut sail and some plentiful tuning it'll gradually improve - never thought it would be any good at all straight out the box!
Hopefully at least 2 boat out at Draycote next weekend: Banshee will hopefully have a main recut with as little as 20mm of luff curve to suit the mast, and Shiny should be on the water at least 2 days with her usual sailors!
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wing?
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Wing mast, sorry for lack of clarity.
Been playing with a shortened, 145mm chord ex A-Class rotating wing mast on Banshee.
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Well then... That was a eventful bank holiday weekend..
Saturday saw Robin and Vincent (my new name) in banshee ambulance with the wing mast set up. With the newly main flattened it was time to take it for a test run (or in our case a obliteration)! We launched in some pretty light crap wind along side a 14 wishing for the wind to pick up, after a few runs we found the batten tension too tight as we couldn't pop them on a starboard tack however that was the least of our worries after Robin put me on the helm; not only that but ahead of us lay a 25+ squal firing down the lake like swarm of angry hornets fired up on LSD. Once we hit the abundance of high pressure and heavy snow the rig started to work even with me on the stick however we needed to get downwind so there was only one way of doing that... Letting Robin have the scary steery job at the back of the boat, all that was left was for us to send it and not end up hitting the Draycote dam wall! after getting the kite up I looked around and noticed everything was flattened so we decided to 3 sail it into shore and have a cracking downwind run, just after getting the kite in and heading upwind we went over to leeward and Robin put his foot through the main... IDIOT!
Sunday: Jamie and Rosie in shiny, Robin in Jamie's moth, and me and Jay in Squid. Twas quite windy and gusty so everyone got tested, especially me and jay who did a lot of swimming and in the end I had to be taken to A&E to have my ear glued back on due to the fact I cut half my ear off on a shackle which held the kicker to the boom. Thanks jay for taking me to A&E and the nurse for un-Vincent Van Gogh(ing) me.
Monday: Jamie and Robin went out in the 29er for the pursuit race (I have nothing else interesting to say about that)
WHO WANTS TO SEE PICTURES OF MY EAR?! ;)
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Show the pictures. You are infringing on Alex's territory.
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**sick bucket sold separately**
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Quote from the "Slam Down Under" 18 footer video:
Pain is temporary, glory lasts for ever. And chicks dig scars....
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A warm Saturday morning dawned for me, Ellie and the Squid and on arrival to draycote more breeze than forecast greeted us. A quick rig and we set off, sadly the wind decided that once we were half way up the lake IT would also set off, and was never seen again. A very slow kite run back to the shore proved the kite mods had worked, going up and down nice and easy. Saturday afternoon was spent in the sun adjusting strops, running take ups, fiddling with control lines, and some general bimbling. Highlight of the day was Ellie falling backwards out the boat in next to no wind, during a tack..... Apparently the water is "very refreshing".
Arrival on Sunday and there was a nice 8 knot breeze, forecast to build. Today I was sailing with Jay in EJ, with Jamie and Rosie in Shiny as battle partners. EJ needed some tinkering before hitting the water, but by lunch time we were all ready to go, and the breeze was a nice 12knots, though reportedly shifty. After a few silly swims, mainly due to slipping and sliding in EJ, and a small communication breakdown in a tack/hardening up confusion, we lined up with the Shiny, and set a fairly lengthy course using most of the lake to play with. With the breeze steadily building Rosie and Jamie were twinning a lot of the time, whilst we were twinning some of the time. Turns out my 80kg's make a difference. Tacks were crossed, gybes were matched and some great dog fighting was had, though clearly EJ was not a slick team with a few more interesting moments.
As we approached the bottom after a number of good flying laps, the 3rd draycote race (windward/leeward) was ligning up, so we decided to join in. Shiny was hoping for a cheeky port flyer but we tacked on to them at the last moment and forced them to tack. We got away well, but with FF's and Solos, getting clear breeze and room was tricky. Shiny tacked off early and came in to the windward mark in a good spot, and shot off down the lake only to go round the committee boat rather than the gate.... We went to drop having got clear of most things and the kite jammed. The downhaul line had caught around the bow, and that was it, time for a other swim.
After a slow recovery, both getting tired, we decided to swap over for me to helm, which was fine, until an 800 bore away at us for reasons no one is sure of, and out of concern for killing them a safety capsize was implemented. After another slow recovery we decided we were knackered, so headed ashore and Rosie kindly made some brews.
Another great weekend at Draycote, come along and play sometime, we have a lot of fun
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Had another go at draycotes third race yesterday.
The comments about cherubs breaking and falling over a lot seem to be disappearing. Which is good.
We did a really hairy port end flyer. Everyone went left/middle and we went off right in the 18 knot breeze, we were a few meters back on a flying fifteen (not sure if that's good)
We extended downwind, after that us and the 15 were equal vmg upwind if a little in their favour.
Pointing is an issue for us. Anyone got any hints?
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Vang.
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Did that.
Done all the holes in the jib clew too.
Tempted for a rake adjustment. But that seems a bit extreme to my tiny mind.
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18knts against a 15?
You should be going fast and low the 15 slow and high. don't even bother thinking about pointing against it.
Things that help how far of the centre line is the main ie can you de power more. play the jib with the main to open the slot so it doesn't stall as you ease the main. as you get apparent with the t on it is easy to sail further and further of the wind so think about the false readings you can get of the sails.
As with any advise be aware it may only work in my head.
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we were doing massive angles, they did tiny ones, no pinching battle hear, a literal heir and tortoise race, although a little bit more height would be nicer.
have since found shinys jib car runs 1000mm from end to end of the track, and everyone elses runs anywhere from 750 to 850mm.
i plan to add stoppers to trial if this changes anything tomorrow.
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Ade was supposed to be writing this. Oh well.
Three boats out last weekend;
EJ - Jay and Joe
squid - Jimmy and Ade
shiny - Jamie and Rohanna
Wind was up so no jib jesting for me.
Draycote was having an rya open day so a little more traffic then expected on a Saturday for us.
The big news is that Ade remembers how to sail!squid seemed to be going well with them in too.
EJ eventually got out.
Meanwhile shinys board kept trying to drop out the bottom of the hull (yes there are knots)
Rohana seemed to remember how to sail which was a bonus, although I can't remember the last time I did THAT much swimming. My board 97original was making some crunching notices so we called it a day.
EJ then got caught in a thunder/hail/Armageddon storm thing, the rain really hurt, then their gooseneck snapped so end of day for them, fixed it.
The whites had to get home early so i stole a go in squid, upwind good, downwind, strange. The rudder is really heavy to steer (two hand needed) both to head up and bear off. Thoughts anyone?
Sunday we picked up a woman who had seen us sailing on saturday from a wayfarer and wanted a go, Jimmy took her out in squid. She had never capsized, never trapezed and not flown a kite. (Had done lots of yacht sailing though) surprisingly, she wants another go!
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Could be too much rake on the rudder if it's heavy either to bear off or luff up. I'd have thought moving the too gudgeon (is it just a hole in the tiller?) forwards a bit, maybe half an inch/an inch could help?
Can't remember where I heard it from, but somewhere I've heard that the axis of the pin should intersect the leading edge of the blade 1/3 of the way from the tip. Not sure how true it is.
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Squid's steering wasn't a problem when I sailed it with Joe. And I know that you know to keep it seriously flat. Wonder what would have changed...
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Has the stock been taken off for a while? If not, it could be possible that either the pin has deformed, or that one of the holes has elongated. Could be worth checking perhaps?
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3 Cherubs, 4 sailors and a massively hungover Josh arrived at Draycote on Sunday to not much wind but pleasant tempertures. Luckily the forecast was to build so tinkering and re-rigging Banshee was the morning's job. Squid needed some under deck modifications so Rosie wriggled up inside and did a cracking job, though it turns out her feet are ticklish, never a good thing when you're stuck up the fore deck.
The wind filled in to a steady F3, with the occasional fruity gust. Squid showed good speed upwind with Rosie crewing, and downwind we were actually getting away from EJ, a very satisfying feeling. We chased each other upwind with Robin shouting about more Kicker, unfortunately we were block to block so a return to shore fixed that. At half time I grabbed my harness, Robin jumped in to helm Squid, and Rosie jumped in with Jay. The wind had strengthened a little so with my weight on the wire and Robin helming and Squid was really flying. EJ seemed to be going well, so a little more dog fighting commenced with EJ pulling away upwind but not by much. Downwind similar speeds again. Me and Robin got a big gust, I nearly fell off the back, but all of a sudden the helm was much lighter and we bounced down wind, bow and half the board out the water. Looks like Squid needs weight right at the back to steer. On the drop, both boats capsized, though both crews could be heard laughing. We headed in as Robin's hangover was starting to have its 2nd wind. Rosie and Jay had a few more laps in great breeze.
Robin left with what remained of Josh, whilst we all packed up. Robins parting gift, a brief summary of his 1st sail of Squid..... "She's a bit like that crazy ex girlfriend we all have..."
A cracking day by all accounts, well, maybe not for Josh
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Thought I'd fire up ye olde thread.
Had an epic little sail today!
I raided the Y&J fleet to find a guy called Rowan.
I sailed moths with his dad in years gone by.
He was surprisingly good, hadn't trapezes before, hadn't sailed an asymmetric kite, but within 10mins he was flat wiring, little bit of windward heal (I lied about what flat was). kite up, ripping along downwind.
Silly boom (now reinforced) worked well, plenty of room, he didnt know how lucky he was!
Now I'm achey in all the right ways. :D
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Does he have a mate who would also like to play?
Time to reactivate the Draycote Cherub fleet!
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EJ and Shiny heading to Draycote on Sunday.
Would anyone like to swell the numbers?
Can do some swapping around if we have spare people.
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Bit of an epic day at draycote.
Forecast was of some big winds in the afternoon which caused some hesitation.
Shiny has Jamie and Rowan
Squid has Jimmy and Guy
We waited in the morning until lunch to see how correct the forecast would be and to get Rolands crazy sail put on squid.
we launched as the wind built, squid getting away first, with shiny following, only for squid to return to retie the kicker strap.
Shiny tried 3 kite runs throughout the day, only one being acceptable, during the first the kite cam out the bag in a double wine glass and was not moving , capsize, sort manually, sail upwind try again.
the second reviled the retrieval line was in front of the luff then through the patched, capsize, sort out, try again.
on the next upwind, the breeze really filled in, there were times when the main was flogging, the jib was flogging and both of us flat on the wire were just about keeping up hull side down.
The last kite run made it all worth it with many expletives from rowan. i believe he has had his shiny moment
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WOW!
sounds execiting,
the wind really picked up yesterday,well done for persevering.
building up to my first kite run but gotta learn to walk before i run..... like the wind!!! ;)
rick
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As Jamie reports, a bit epic yesterday.
I now have a boom, so 1st job was to rig that up, a couple of other tweaks and put the crazy main on and we were ready to go. I picked a 'youf' from the wet bar who had shown interest before and without any hesitation he jumped in the Squid.
A quick out and back to sort the kicker and then we got going. A quick blast with both of us on the wire to give him a grin and then I sat in for a while so he could get to grips with tacking and keeping the boat flat (hard work on a day like yesterday). A quick splash when Guy missed the wire and the odd moment of nearly going round the front but all in all pretty successful.
Now for the bear away, which happened to be around an on looking fisherman, managed well and without much hesitation in to the middle hoisting the kite. I'd opted for the "smaller" kite and after a reminder to hook on before sheeting in we took off down wind, a bit of bouncing big grins and a few choice words later we'd covered most of the lake, we were about to drop when the halyard popped out the cleat and down came the kite, oooops! As we hit the water the grin was still big, and I think "that's the biggest rush Ive ever had, Cherubs are insane" is probably a good statement from the young'un.
Heading back up wind sadly the job track exploded, hmmm running theme with Squid, so it was time to limp back home.
Great sail, potential for a new crew, and a few showing interest so we hope to get them all out next Sunday. A good day had by all.
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If you get a few who want to sail, I don't mind bringing King Tubby over, once I've sorted the spinnaker with the insurance
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I belive we have 3-4 yooffs kicking about that want a go.
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If you get a few who want to sail, I don't mind bringing King Tubby over, once I've sorted the spinnaker with the insurance
If you can measure your mast tip to pole end we will be able to see if one of my/Rolands spares will fit.
Just make sure the rig tension is on and the pole is fully out!
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since I'm still working on my insurance claim, but don't want to take the risk of the sail and therefore its measurements vanishing completely, I'm going to measure the distances corner to corner so i'll be able to send you those
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Last Saturday I arrived at Draycote to find Jamie working on Squid's jib track, Jimmy heading for something more robust (a Bahia?), and Guy (survivor of last week's sail in Squid) ready for his maiden voyage in EJ. Once Rowan arrived, EJ and Shiny were rigged and we headed out for a settle-down sail. Probably 7-10kts with the odd gust of 12. Shiny's recut flatter main looked good, and Guy rapidly found his way around a very different Cherub.
In for lunch and then back out for a bit of boat on boat action until the wind started to fade away.
Another good day on the water.
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Last Sunday saw Squid (Jimmy and Jamie) and EJ (Jay and Guy) take to the water. Having only dropped the boats off after Poole boats had to be re-rigged and fettled with plenty of tea and coffee. Finally as Draycotes masses of club racers returned to shore for lunch we launched to an empty lake and a building F4.
Jamie crewed the Squid 1st and complained about it being hard work and needing to do some mods to the main sheet and the spinny halyard, but a few really good runs up and down wind twin stringing. A bit of windward heel and Squid really takes off, something to practice for the future I feel. We swapped over and I soon realised it wasn't just Jamie being a wimp, the main was really heavy..... maybe lengthening the bridle will help, and possibly another purchase. No capsizes until I got a bit over excited on the run in for the drop leaving no weight on the wing and Jamie trying to hold Squid and me up, never going to happen so a quick splosh was needed.
EJ seemed to be going well with only one or 2 capsizes, and Guy really starting to find his groove in EJ.
Tea time was called and a quick brew was had. Jamie got distracted talking so I grabbed Harry (a fellow 300 sailor and Musto newbie) for a quick blast in what was now a good F5. Harry though a little hesitant to get on the wire at 1st soon held on and we tore up the lake locked in at the back, and being a 300 sailor asking for a little windward heel was nothing new and Squid was flying. A couple of shifty gusts caught us out, but neither minded the swim. A quick bear away and the kite went up, a very big grin appeared on his face and all too soon we had to drop again. By this time Jay had come out to play again and both boats were looking good.
Another capsize after a bad tack and somehow the block on the boom at the back untied itself......hmmmm. Couldn't get it tied back on and with the wind now really gusty we got a rib over, took the main off and had a tow, well sat the wing on the tube and journeyed back.
A great days sailing, lots learnt, and if its windy watch out for Squid, she's quick and as Joe will tell you she bites!
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Loco's Moving to Draycote
After a busy year of not sailing very much, I have decided to move Loco to a bigger bit of water and have joined Draycote. Not sure how much sailing we will manage this spring as my crew has GCSEs this year. But hope to see you all soon.
Paul
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That's great news, and we will look forward to seeing you on the water.
Several of us have crews with exams this year, but my daughter found that one day's Cherub sailing a weekend was actually a really good mental break but not as time-consuming as whole weekends with 29er or 420 squads.
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Should probably add that daughter (Rosie) aced both GCSE and A-Levles exams and is currently at university in Oxford. However, J is a bit modest on this front :-)
Several of us have crews with exams this year, but my daughter found that one day's Cherub sailing a weekend was actually a really good mental break but not as time-consuming as whole weekends with 29er or 420 squads.
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Paul, when are you bringing loco over?
I plan to be back on the water on the 4th of March,m at Draycote, crew is busy in the Sunday so will be putting the moth back together (unless something desasterous happens)
Will be good to see you again and of course loco herself!
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I must remember to ask Draycote to make sure that the webcam is clear of snow so that I can stay in front of the log burner while watching Jamie and Rowan go afloat...
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At this rate, Severn Trent site owners, will be closing all access to the pond.
Shame the wind forecast seems to be almost perfect.
Grrrrr.
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Saturday:
had planned this a s a rigging day, pretty much got rained on all day, but got all the blocks back on, mast up, sails on.
tied off the adj caps system then sorted my 1:2 tack line system, by the end of the day i had a working boat!
Sunday:
Drink had caused delay, so got to the club for 1100hrs, rigged up, had breakfast and went for a sail. The RS Feva class had some training going on which we tried to join in (we have the same water line length!)
The wind was 12-18 when we launched, perfect for finding our feet again.
A few laps of the lake later the wind had build to 18-25 ish. upwind was getting a bit too brutal so i got Rowan to pull the new pink string (caps) i stayed on the wire and looked up to see the top 1/3rd of my main go from round-ish, to FLAT! then things got a lot easier!
Downwind: Well,The pole is stiff and now points upwards! This is what id been missing for so many months of my life! We were just dancing over the water.
B-E-A-UTIFUL.
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As it’s not winter I went sailing!
Bank holiday weekend, I decided to dedicate two days to floating on some water in the midlands. Saturday and Monday.
Saturday was with an old friend, we were constrained by time (something about a rugby match he had to be at) glassy water until 11 so we had ice creams.
Wind was about 5-10knots. Single wiring with play pen action.
The weird thing was as the wind was all thermal, it never reached water level. Only the top half of the rig was working aonthe kite was not a happy bunny.
But single wiring on shiny water was pretty cool. 1300hrs came and I deposited crew on the pontoon and single handed for a bit the got sent a 12 year old to crew for me. Much of the same. But twinning. (Not sure it counts as they did weigh about 35kilo.)
Monday I was joined by Martyn.
Order of the day was to look at my rig and teach M how to trapeze.
After the persuite race had finished we launched and spent two hours on the water, wind was 15-20knots but fairly stable. We did a few laps of the lake, found the groove upwind and poppy just went!
Downwind we had one run which I wish we had the how on for. The endless acceleration was pretty sweet!
Anyone else get out over the long weekend?
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I can honestly say it was nice to finally experience the front end of a cherub, its not as easy as my crews have made it look. the hardest part I found was coordinating control of whichever sail I had in my hand and actually hooking on.
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Anyone else get out over the long weekend?
We got out on the Sunday for a couple of club races. It started off rather light for the first one, then built to a solid twin up and down for the second. Great fun in some sunshine. We rounded it off with a quick Mirror sail with the little one.
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Poppy - Jamie & Georgie
King Tubby - Martyn & Jay
Saturday
the water at Draycote was pretty congested with a youth event and the buzz iso and K1 open, but we found space to have a nice sail in 10 knots of breeze. A bit of time to work on some rigging issues and technique. Jamie even found the time to put a little video together
https://youtu.be/Kw_HT3_-jqQ (https://youtu.be/Kw_HT3_-jqQ)
Sunday
after a late breakfast arrival at the club showed less than 5 knots of breeze and forecast to drop as the day went on. All decided it was a good idea not to go out.
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New video, I bought a 360 camera, here’s a quick run we had over the weekend. Light winds but we managed to hook in to a gust, with the flat water the efficiency of the cherub just kept us accelerating!
Watch said 12.9knots (listen for audio) strava says 12.4knots.
Wind was about 10 knots.
If the view is crap, move your phone around (spiny chairs really come in to their own with this type of video)
https://youtu.be/tjP_bkw5qr8