Had a couple of really good sails at the weekend. Managed to get out for a little bit on Saturday for a light wind sail and then again on Sunday for some two boat tuning with Doug in his Ninja.
The temperatures are starting to drop at the moment in the UK, which definitely didnt help with ventilation. I didnt seem to have it as bad as Doug downwind, although upwind was a different story. On starboard tack upwind I would regularly spin out either resulting in a big loss of height or coming off the foils. I tried loosening the wand elastic and not riding so high which seemed to help a bit although it never completely went away. I ditched my paddle a while ago as the ride height seemed pretty good without it, although I'm wandering whether its worth reinstalling it now.....something to try for the Bloody Mary maybe.
Still, managed to finally get some decent headcam footage of some of the runs which was good.
James
Sunday 13 December 2009
Monday 7 December 2009
Blowing Wings off Seaguls
Thanks to Mike Cooke’s badgering at this weekend’s training event I said I’d post an update of the goings on at Queen Mary at the moment.
On Saturday Windy Weymouth struck again and so a group of 7 or so of us descended on Axbridge for an impromptu training session. Unfortunately however the 15 knot forecast failed to materialise and so after drifting and occasionally foiling for about an hour we all came in for tea, mince pies and geek talk regarding foil lengths. Although to be honest my contribution mainly consisted of commenting on how nice I thought Alex’s spreaders looked – white carbon – just like Toblerone.
Sunday was a different story altogether at Queen Mary with Torbay style ‘Champagne Sailing’ conditions – i.e. pleasant sunshine but gusts that could rip the wings off seagulls – literally. I arrived at the club just in time to grab a coffee and watch Chris slowly drift in sideways having done a Jiff and leapt through his mainsail (the life ring in the photo was purely coincidental Chris, honest). Mike similarly went out for a ‘play’ and hurt the feelings of his main foil so much that it broke off and tried to actually kill him by flying up through the tramp – scary.
On Saturday Windy Weymouth struck again and so a group of 7 or so of us descended on Axbridge for an impromptu training session. Unfortunately however the 15 knot forecast failed to materialise and so after drifting and occasionally foiling for about an hour we all came in for tea, mince pies and geek talk regarding foil lengths. Although to be honest my contribution mainly consisted of commenting on how nice I thought Alex’s spreaders looked – white carbon – just like Toblerone.
Sunday was a different story altogether at Queen Mary with Torbay style ‘Champagne Sailing’ conditions – i.e. pleasant sunshine but gusts that could rip the wings off seagulls – literally. I arrived at the club just in time to grab a coffee and watch Chris slowly drift in sideways having done a Jiff and leapt through his mainsail (the life ring in the photo was purely coincidental Chris, honest). Mike similarly went out for a ‘play’ and hurt the feelings of his main foil so much that it broke off and tried to actually kill him by flying up through the tramp – scary.
Typically at the moment for me I suffered from gear failure again after launching into a slightly more sensible 18 knots or so. Its always the way isn’t it that the most shoddy, cowboy repairs seem to last longer than the diligent repairs that you do. The musto sail bag that I cut up in order to repair my tramps worked an absolute treat, despite looking like it had been sewn by an eight year old yet the time consuming repair I did on my spreaders didn’t – although I don’t think it was actually my fault this time. Apart from the failures I’m really happy with the boat at the moment though, its riding consistently high and doesn’t seem to be ventilating as much as some of the other Bladeriders given the water temperatures.
In terms of Queen Mary in general the fleet is looking pretty good at the moment. Sam has ordered some Aardvark foils for his mistress – which if Alex’s sailing at the weekend is anything to go by should get him back up to speed. Ben is also getting to grips very quickly with Martin Fear’s old Axiom and should be some good competition soon enough. In the Bladerider camp we seem to keep missing each other like ships in the night despite there being a lot of talk about benchmarking…..something for the New Year I think.
Anyone that fancies coming down to QM for a play, let us know…..might be a good opportunity to get some sneaky practice in before the Bloody Mary on 9th January!
James
Wednesday 12 August 2009
It'll be just like Queen Mary on a good day....
Right, to kick off the inaugural post of the rejouvenated Queen Mary Moth blog myself and Andrew thought we would post excerpts from our 'mothcation' in the US of Aye. Sorry its rather large (although everything over here is...) but weve had limited net access from the campsite.
First few practice days we were waiting around for boats to clear customs. Luckily though the winds were fairly nuclear with a steady 25+ knots being the order of the day.....this gave us plenty of time to fit in with the locals and intimidate the competition by donning wifebeaters and learning the lingo.
The campsite is an interesting affair....mile long trains pass regularly through the night making a deafening screech and sending shockwaves through the British camp. This has made sleeping something of a challenge, not least for Andrew whose tent imploded last night due to conditions somewhat reminiscent of Saundersfoot two weeks previously.
The british team have decided to fit in with local custom as much as possible by donning Indian names.....these have been derived from our experiences so far at the championship;
Adam 'run faster than train / ballerina' May
Andrew 'leaky teepee / go through foils like underpants' Friend
James 'Hawk Eye / Dead Eye Dick' Phare
Simon Payne (his Indian name is currently classified)
Adam and myself were fortunate enough to gain first hand experience of dealing with some locals (pictured below). After a pleasant exchange the previous day they hit the free beer hard. This not only resulted in an inability to walk and talk, but also had a deafening effect.....the result of which was wifey asking hubby if he thought the one drinking the beer was cute. The one drinking the beer being myself about two feet away from her.....I swiftly made my excuses, leaving Adam to fend off the advances with his camera.
MACH 2 BOOM OF DOOM
Having forgotten to bring Rod Harris' tiller of doom with us we were struggling for the first few days for a suitable substitute. Luckily a last minute partnership with le Suisse averted disaster (actually created it). Never before has a World Championship started with the Chief Race Officer banning the inappropriate use of a spar. The Mach 2 boom design really was a stroke of genius by Amac, the funnel like shape not only facilitated the smooth pouring of beverages but the ergonomically designed end allowed for swift consumption....genius. Bar two notible Australian, front running absentees most of the fleet got involved. Even the Mayor of the town rose to the challenge....or rather got down on his knees.
BIG AMERICA
We've also managed to crack the 'American condition' in one fail swoop whilst ordering breakfast. Much to our surprise when ordering a cascade locks cooked breakfast we saw that it featured ham, eggs, sausage and a biscuit....what kind of a breakfast turns up with a biscuit? The answer, an American breakfast, and it wasnt a biscuit - it was a freaking scone complete with clotted cream! It does indeed feel like we are in some strange film / video game environment, a combination of supersize me and Grand Theft Auto perhaps. Especially with Arnaud behind the wheel 'communicating' with the locals using sign language, hand break turns, and some interesting traffic avoidance techniques (seaside slaloming).
LAY DAY TRIP
This featured a quick hop to the other side of Portland to the coast (thanks Ian!), that only took over 4 hours. The plan was to check out the Cape of Disappointment (surely it had to be better than the name?!), it wasnt and left us disappointed - especially knowing how far the drive home would be.
OH YES SAILING
Well you've all seen the photos, video clips and reports......It really is just like Queen Mary on a good day.
More to come soon.....
First few practice days we were waiting around for boats to clear customs. Luckily though the winds were fairly nuclear with a steady 25+ knots being the order of the day.....this gave us plenty of time to fit in with the locals and intimidate the competition by donning wifebeaters and learning the lingo.
The campsite is an interesting affair....mile long trains pass regularly through the night making a deafening screech and sending shockwaves through the British camp. This has made sleeping something of a challenge, not least for Andrew whose tent imploded last night due to conditions somewhat reminiscent of Saundersfoot two weeks previously.
The british team have decided to fit in with local custom as much as possible by donning Indian names.....these have been derived from our experiences so far at the championship;
Adam 'run faster than train / ballerina' May
Andrew 'leaky teepee / go through foils like underpants' Friend
James 'Hawk Eye / Dead Eye Dick' Phare
Simon Payne (his Indian name is currently classified)
Adam and myself were fortunate enough to gain first hand experience of dealing with some locals (pictured below). After a pleasant exchange the previous day they hit the free beer hard. This not only resulted in an inability to walk and talk, but also had a deafening effect.....the result of which was wifey asking hubby if he thought the one drinking the beer was cute. The one drinking the beer being myself about two feet away from her.....I swiftly made my excuses, leaving Adam to fend off the advances with his camera.
MACH 2 BOOM OF DOOM
Having forgotten to bring Rod Harris' tiller of doom with us we were struggling for the first few days for a suitable substitute. Luckily a last minute partnership with le Suisse averted disaster (actually created it). Never before has a World Championship started with the Chief Race Officer banning the inappropriate use of a spar. The Mach 2 boom design really was a stroke of genius by Amac, the funnel like shape not only facilitated the smooth pouring of beverages but the ergonomically designed end allowed for swift consumption....genius. Bar two notible Australian, front running absentees most of the fleet got involved. Even the Mayor of the town rose to the challenge....or rather got down on his knees.
BIG AMERICA
We've also managed to crack the 'American condition' in one fail swoop whilst ordering breakfast. Much to our surprise when ordering a cascade locks cooked breakfast we saw that it featured ham, eggs, sausage and a biscuit....what kind of a breakfast turns up with a biscuit? The answer, an American breakfast, and it wasnt a biscuit - it was a freaking scone complete with clotted cream! It does indeed feel like we are in some strange film / video game environment, a combination of supersize me and Grand Theft Auto perhaps. Especially with Arnaud behind the wheel 'communicating' with the locals using sign language, hand break turns, and some interesting traffic avoidance techniques (seaside slaloming).
LAY DAY TRIP
This featured a quick hop to the other side of Portland to the coast (thanks Ian!), that only took over 4 hours. The plan was to check out the Cape of Disappointment (surely it had to be better than the name?!), it wasnt and left us disappointed - especially knowing how far the drive home would be.
OH YES SAILING
Well you've all seen the photos, video clips and reports......It really is just like Queen Mary on a good day.
More to come soon.....
NOTE: Err, we can't actually upload photos right now but will do soon, we promise. We have over 1000 downloading in the background...
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