FBG and I went sailing with lots of other Moths on Saturday, when 10 moths hit the water for some pre-open-meeting training at BCYC. The sun was out and there was a beautiful 12 knots of breeze, so a great day for some more boat-testing.
Mike and I had made a few changes to the foil system in the morning, as there was just too much play in the control rod with it going through the boat. This is due to the fact I have an early set of foils on which the flap is pushed by the rod rather than pulled. My carbon push rod had been flexing far too much when pushed, leading to a lot of lost lift, so we have now converted to a teleflex cable running on the outside of the boat (like on the Prowlers).
My blast around the lake was mostly good fun, however I am beginning to feel quite frustrated at how much tweaking is involved in trying to get a completely new boat to work properly. I am still having to work extremely hard to get the boat to take off; it's not just a smooth transition when I hit a certain speed. I also struggle as the boat is currently set up to foil pretty low, so I wasn't even aware that I was flying when I was! Thankfully I was filmed doing so, so I can actually believe it happened! (I'll post the film when I have it) Plus I hit 14.8 knots, which has got to mean something was going well.
The plan now is for me to have a go in Mike's boat, maybe on Wednesday, so that I can see how I get on in a moth that is actually fully set-up and working. I am hoping that this will boost my confidence in my abilities, as I am beginning to doubt myself sailing in my own boat. That said, I do not intend to give up on FBG just yet. Mike is going to take her out for a spin and will try to figure out exactly what needs changing to improve her performance and we will go from there.
I have to keep reminding myself that noone finds these things easy straight away and that what I am doing essentially is a development programme on an entirely new boat. And considering my helming experiences prior to this project were in Puffin Pacers and pottering about in Toppers, I am doing pretty bloomin' well!
You've not seen the last of me yet....
Em
Hi Emma,
ReplyDeleteI had to do a lot of experimentation too before I started to get rewarding results. It is not easy but you tend to get back what you put in.
Good Luck,
Doug
Hi Em,
ReplyDeleteI think it is great what you're doing. Once you get it sorted I feel there will be many people interested in a boat that is easy(er) to sail when non-foiling, but does foil!
Cheers,
koos