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coachg
Joined: 10 Sep 2000
Posts: 3550
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 Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 3:22 pm Post subject: |
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| ittiandro wrote: | | perhaps also with more technique than I have |
And there you go. The point of my humor. I think you would gain so much more by putting your time and effort into improving your technique than you will putting time and effort into modifying that sail.
Coachg |
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swchandler
Joined: 08 Nov 1993
Posts: 10588
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| Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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| ittiandro, there's nothing wrong with a curious mind and working out of the box with what you have on hand. Once Spring comes, I'll be interested in how your experimentation pans out. |
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ittiandro
Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Posts: 294
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| Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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| swchandler wrote: | | ittiandro, there's nothing wrong with a curious mind and working out of the box with what you have on hand. Once Spring comes, I'll be interested in how your experimentation pans out. |
And here I am with my report( partial) on the experimentation I did on my Sailworks 5.6 Race sail ( a photo thereof has been posted earlier on this thread.)
I did my first outing yesterday.
As planned, I have modified the sail by removing the cams and cutting the central battens to about ¾ of the original length, i.e. 1 ft from the mast, in order to facilitate the rotation and keep the leech tighter. Yesterday the winds were aboput 12-13 knts. Before these modifications I could never ever use this sail in such light winds. Too small.
I was in for a surprise: without a harness ( I never used one in such light winds, even with an 8.5) this time the sail came back to life and started pulling like hell ( and being hard on my arms and back end).
I have also modified my Gaastra Pilot 6.5 along the same lines. I didn't try it out yet, but I am pretty sure, based on how the 5.6 responded, that I would have been overpowered. Actually, with the modified 5.6 I had a few exhilarating stretches at near planing speed, but I couldn't plane only because the water was a bit choppy and I was slowed down by continuous nose-diving.
Pretty amazing, if I consider that previously not even an 8.5 could get me moving in such light winds…
The only virtual problem is that, even a maximum outhaul is insufficient to depower the sail for stronger winds, because the shortening of the battens leaves a deep pocket in the front, which is impossible to take away..
The only down-side is that the sail is rather unsightly, because the shortened battens leave a vertical crease of loose fabric from top to bottom. But as long as the sail works better, who cares?
It will be recalled how much opposition I got in this forum by those who said I cannot improve the performance of the sail by altering its supposedly carefully thought out design…Somebody even called me ..Frankensail.
I'll keep you posted of any further developments.
Ittiandro |
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GURGLETROUSERS
Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Posts: 2643
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| Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 2:55 am Post subject: |
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Good on you ittiandro! I do so like the 'Professor Brainstorm' approach to life's little problems. (Used to do similar - was always short of money.)
A problem is, by 'improving' one issue it's possible to lose out on others. Are you sure that with the bulge at the front of the modified sail it's still able to point upwind well enough? How does it behave? |
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jingebritsen
Joined: 21 Aug 2002
Posts: 3371
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ittiandro
Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Posts: 294
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| Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 7:58 am Post subject: |
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| jingebritsen wrote: |
if all you want is gut wrenching power, and zero speed, you are the right track. however, if you wish to become faster, then you may gravitate bsack toward stability. |
If I wanted ( and obtained!) 0 speed with my modification, I would have never posted the results of my idea! In fact, I got both power and speed, so I am quite happy!
Besides, there is a limit to paradoxical examples: I can't see how one could ever get " gut wrenching power" and " 0 speed". It seems to be a contradiction in terms!
Ittiandro |
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ittiandro
Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Posts: 294
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| Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:04 am Post subject: |
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| GURGLETROUSERS wrote: |
A problem is, by 'improving' one issue it's possible to lose out on others. Are you sure that with the bulge at the front of the modified sail it's still able to point upwind well enough? How does it behave? |
Yes, this may be a possibility.I was overwhelmed by the unexpected power gain and I didn't check the upwind performance, but it didn't seem to be worse than in the past, which means O.K.
I'll check thjs and other fine tuning aspects next time and I'll post the results.
Ittiandro |
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coachg
Joined: 10 Sep 2000
Posts: 3550
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| Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 9:21 am Post subject: |
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| ittiandro wrote: |
started pulling like hell ( and being hard on my arms and back end).
I had a few exhilarating stretches at near planing speed, but I couldn't plane only because the water was a bit choppy and I was slowed down by continuous nose-diving.
Ittiandro |
Glad you are having fun. However, we are back to technique or setup. If there is that much pull in the sail you should be planing, chop or not. Nose-diving sounds like you are way too far forward on the board.
Coachg |
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jingebritsen
Joined: 21 Aug 2002
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adywind
Joined: 08 Jan 2012
Posts: 665
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| Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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| jingebritsen wrote: |
nose diving means not enough down hall, or base too far forward, or hooking in before being in front strap.
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Or a sails draft that went too far forward, which accounts for the back foot pressure as well. There will be increased risk of catapulting on top of everything else, but hey if you like it that way and you are having fun then consider it success! |
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