Well, not quite yet, but closer with each boat on the line! We had four yesterday: Nat, Richard and Paul from San Francisco. It was fun. Wind increased gradually from not foilable during the first two races to quite foilable for the last two.
The tilt-a-foil was fairly painful in ultra-marginal foiling, and only slightly painful the remainder of the time. It went pretty well uphill and offwind was decent when the too-short original rudder didn't ventilate. Gybes remain tricky with my short tiller/extension but are coming along; remarkable how easy they were with the old foil but old dogs, new tricks, etc.
Rather disappointed to not give Richard more of a run for his money, but well done on his part after not much time in the boat. PS - Richard I have your coffee mug! Nat had a moment of glory being first to the windward mark at one point, only to have his vang implode again on the downwind. Otherwise the CCZ had remarkably few issues for a homebuild. Paul's Mach 2 looks like it has been set up for a pro: nice and high almost immediately and good height control on all points of sail with good speed to go with it.
In terms of lessons learned, it will be difficult to get the current version competitive in the light, but there is another version coming down the pike. I am encouraged enough to stick with the program; this game is sort of like learning to foil all over again and often enough a good gybe or nice downhill run is as satisfying as a whole string of gybes in the old boat.
I particularly like this shot for showing how close the rudder foil is running to the surface; small wonder I have ventilation woes! Goodbye old, hello new:
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3 comments:
I actually was second around the mark, but that didn't subtract from the glory. CCZ is just starting to stretch its legs. The tilt-a-whirl had some great moments, definitely shows promise. Looking forward to seeing version 2 take shape.
how big can your ski get before its a multihull?
Ha.
The thought has crossed my mind actually, as it is cranking some serious lift out there.
The serious response is that in order for it to be a multihull, it would have to generate lift that contributes to righting moment. Since the ski is on the centerline (see photo from astern) just like the hydrofoils, it cannot contribute to RM, so I don't think the multihull argument has much merit frankly.
There are other pressing questions however:
1) How long can your bowsprit get before it's an 18?
2) How many times can you say "f$*# me" during a race?
3) If you get rid of the waterski-sized thing, and go back to a cross-country-sized ski tip, will your friends stop making fun of you, or will they just keep on?
4) How many times will your bowsprit cause you to break your wand off on your trailer/dock/other boats etc? And how many times can you repair your wand before it becomes a telegraph pole?
5) Will the boat exceed Mach 3 with a new rudder?
6) How often can you tear the daggerboard trunk out of a Prowler before it becomes a Magnum 8?
7) Will you man-up and actually be fit enough to complete two laps of a race course by Thanksgiving?
I'm very fortunate to be sailing mostly with a group who are climbing the proficiency ladder together, which makes for some nice sailing and racing despite my control issues.
So far the boat is most promising in fresh breeze, though I do need to settle it down a bit.
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