Update from across the pond...

[Will_Lee]

Those are Halo's sails - Has anything happened to Halo?

[dave_ching]

Doesn't Halo have a cameo role in the garden pic?
The one in which one garden has more fun boats than most dinghy parks.
Not sure if I was more impressed with the garden or the boat both looked very good.

[ghislain_devouthon]

This design has been drawn by Thomas, owner of Halo Jones and Laurent owner of Halo Wind.
It's a prototype in plywood/ epoxy / carbon using Halo's mast, rudder, board and sails at the moment. The boat is really beautifully built.

It's a 2 steps narrow hull. The design is really done for heavy weather and hight speeds. I tried it in light winds and I found it quite tricky compared to my Slug.

Ghislain

[Neil C.]

So, does anybody know if that stepped-chine idea actually worked on the French boat?

Was the ply hull down to weight and strong enough to take the rig loads?

[Neil C.]

The reason I ask is it's an idea I've thought about many times since seeing the F1 Powerboats racing on the Tay in about 1994. They had 2 or 3 steps in the bottom of their hulls. As I understand it the exhaust gases from the engines were forced out under the hull in the vertical surface of the steps. This led to a big reduction in the surface tension of the water under the hull and higher planing speeds. Obviously we don't have any exhaust gases to play with (actually that's debatable, on the Team Scotland boat anyway), but I've often wondered if a very small step (say no more than 10mm) about 1m forward of the transom, with fine tubes led down from the deck area entraining air by the venturi effect would be enough to reduce drag under the planing area of the hull. Or would trying to plane on a suface of froth actually suck the hull down and make it slower?

[Will_Lee]

I do know that the stepped boat no longer has a step. It seemed to go ok at Bordeaux. Don't know whether it is down to weight or not.

I'll post something on the French forum now.

W

[Will_Lee]

http://www.breizhskiff.com/forums/10-la-vie-des-associations/86610-nouveau-cherub-en-france.html

[Will_Lee]

No messing!

[Will_Lee]

One of the reasons I never understand what is going on breizhskiff (I now realise) is that their forum posts are the other way up to ours!

http://www.breizhskiff.com/forums/10-la-vie-des-associations/86610-nouveau-cherub-en-france.html