Carrying on from my 'Class 5 Set up issues' thread....

thought you all would be interested in the feed back from setting up my old class 5.
I still have a light front wheel even with 2.5kg of lead over it. And sitting up and shifting my weight forward going into the luff turn with a sheeted in sail. I'm thinking that I need to sheet in even harder. Which means I either need to remove my head when I go sailing so the boom can make its way to the other side or... I have to stand the mast up some more. Which is going to change the CofE! I think that to avoid this if I put a rollock on the end of my boom it will force more bend into the mast and flatten out the sail more and earlier. Currently the boom pushed beyond the mast to one side when max sheet is applied. What do you guys think?

See video for help. 20 > 26knts wind.


-upl

aus230 said...

My 5 suffers from the same problem, I had to move my weight forward to be able to get around corners in anything like 20kns wind (I can move the steering back for light wind days). It was downright dangerous at Lake Wallyungup as there was a real danger of entering outcrops. I have a R&J sail to that I sheet in real hard maybe the foot is cut higher at the back of my sail that your sail. Just clears my helmet.
I would love to remove the rowlock from my boom but the distance is to short between markers at our site and it is difficult to hold the boom across and set up for the next turn.

I now have a 4.5 meter sail for strong winds

Thanks Aus230. Sorry I don't quite understand that last sentence about... 'love to REMOVE your rowlock... hold the boom across and set up' etc... this sounds like (1) a new technique I need to learn (2) that my idea of ADDING a rowlock isn't a good one?

I also agree that a trip to the sail doctors to re profile the sail foot to raise the tack out-haul would be a good idea.

And I also think a smaller sail might be good to. Is your small sail shorter in luff length or narrower in cord width.

If you look at a lot of the french yacht video, they hold there boom across so that the front of the boom is on the right side of the sail. Pic below shows one with rubber attached to the end of the boom to make this easier.





My 4.5m sail is the same height as my R&J but is cut narrower at the back

You can see the shape of the airtrack sail better in this pic
I have moved the block back 200mm since this pic was taken.

french airtrack with 4.5 sail

daryl
This video shows what I meant about holding the boom across
Cheers
Vic

I've changed the front main beam angle and added a Rowlock, and booked in my sail with the sail doctor to reprofile the foot a little. Now I need to wait untill October to get a sail in to test it!

to get that amount of sheet on with the old sail shape this is where the boom would be....

great I'm glad you said that!!!!

As a guess, his boom is shorter and he lifts it over his head when he tacks.

The wind is blowing... the beach is open!... I shall report back!

Thanks US772... I am a short (5'4") 75kg ( sorry for mixing imperial and metric! )

I can confirm a huge improvement! I have control in 20>25knts! One interesting thing was that with the 90Ëš on shore breeze one direction the yacht was 100% balanced with feet off the pedals the other way it would bear off quite hard. I think it might be the gradient of the beach... but it was bearing off up the gradient? I suppose also one of my wheel angles may have slipped earlier in the day. I noticed it later on.

I also found really giving it the beans going into the tack helped kick the back out more which in turn stuck the yacht though the wind much quicker. I still at time lost a little traction on the nose wheel meaning the exit was wider than I would have liked but 200% better than before. The front turning axle bolt was found to be lose at the end of the day too, so this may have contributed to lower front end traction? It needs a split pin to stop the nut working lose.

I'll post a video in a bit.

video:

The video was taken early on in the day... the wind blew up later on to around 20>25. And I had the same level of control.

Daryl2642 said...
does suspension make much of a difference to control? Those who have it... what was your yacht like before and after?

I watched until you passed that standart, the set up is simply looking much happier.
i fitted suspension on the front with a long movement ,not so much for driving over rough ground, which we dont have much of, but more for sailing through the gust upwind.when the gust hits the yacht heels and points instead of lifting a wheel, and just seems to creep further upwind.
I suspect if you are sailing over big ripples, then suspension more like the european yachts will be better.
BUT if you are really light on the front, you may not need more than the flex of the tube

I am very happy with the setup on aus230. Mainly fitted it to stop sail shake. The system is adjustable but I could not comment if one idea is better or worse than another. I think Clems system would be much easier to fit as it does not require a major rebuild to the frame.

Daryl2642 said...
Ooooo.... I see. I like that idea of creeping up in the gusts!

I was thinking either the suspension system pictured or the type AUS230 has put on his yacht. Do they end up doing the same job or is one better at one thing or another?

If you scroll beyond the Standart I turn the camera around to face me and you can see the boom height and relative boom position through the tacks gybe's etc...

I suspect suspension at the front wheel would be better for ripples,corregations on sand , the way vic and I are running might be more suitable over unevenly rough ground, But its yet to be properly tested at walyungup ,our only rough spot