MIDLANDS POSSE

[JP233]

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!

[JayW]

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...

[JP233]

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.

[JP233]

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.

[JP233]

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?

[scorpion_1925]

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.

[Phil Alderson]

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.

[scorpion_1925]

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

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.

[JP233]

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