Thread: Is that a 12' GIS I see hull down on your horizon

Has the new 12 footer been out on the water for a sail yet?

Any performance reports and/or pictures on how she does/looks in the wet stuff?

Joost

Another shot of the 12er popped up on WBF:
Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival - Page 5

Storm first sail 026.jpgStorm first sail 077.jpgStorm first sail 082.jpgStorm first sail 084.jpgNo wind, but got it wet, sailed to the middle of the lake, tacked around for an hour, then came back to shore. Air temps +13c, water temp +9c. Might be the last sail of the season.

Originally Posted by pdr311

Storm first sail 082.jpg

This is a great view of the sail. It looks like the battens are doing their thing to create shape, especially given the angle of the boom and head. I would have expected more draft down low given that it's loose footed. Or is that a result of the light winds? Of course, it's very possible my eye needs more training on sails shapes. Regardless, this just proves how a picture is worth a thousand words.

Congrats again to Rick and MIK!

Vang is on way too tight for the weight of breeze. In drifting conditions it's a good idea to slack the vang off completely to get sufficient twist.

Originally Posted by Sumbloak

Vang is on way too tight for the weight of breeze. In drifting conditions it's a good idea to slack the vang off completely to get sufficient twist.

As Sumbloak correctly observed, vang has caused the sail to hook to windward and the top batten is even pointing toward the windward transom corner. But these conditions are so marginal that the increased drag would probably not even be noticed. But it does demonstrate the sensitivity of the sail to vang setting. The angle of the square top relative to the boom angle is a good indication of what the vang tension needs to be, but there is also quite a bit of batten tension contribution as well. With some more wind pressure it will be easier to play with all the variables.

The boat sits on the water in a very Goat like way.


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Originally Posted by woodeneye

But these conditions are so marginal that the increased drag would probably not even be noticed.

Depends what you mean. If you mean would not result in an apparently huge increase in speed, yes (because speed will be low anyway). On the other hand, correct trim in very light airs can make the dfifference between moving and not moving at all, or moving backwards.

Ghosting conditions can be a lot of fun if you get things right (and aren't in a great hurry).

!

Well Rick, looks like a tad more breeze than last time, but only a tad! I guess we're running out of time to see you sitting on the wing?

Put blades on it for winter and turn it into an ice yacht.

So no full time report on how she sails for a while I guess (or will you be able to sneak in a third sail in windier conditions before winter Rick?)...

What are you initial impressions of the boat and rig (the sail seems to set a lot better this second outing)?

Joost

Sailed it a bit by myself, then went in and had my father in law crew for me, then after a while we went back in and he took it out so I could get some pictures. (my camera is supposedly more complicated than sailing, so I let him go in the boat) He owns a Hunter 35.5, and sails Lasers and 420's. Well, the photos speak volumes. The air temps were +8 to +13c, water temps about the same. By the time I ran to the truck and grabbed the camera, he had already gone over. Lost the paddle, the bailer, the rope and his hat. Kinda knocked the stuffing out of him. We found out a few things; it is really easy to reboard, and it comes back up reliably. It comes up even from turtle relatively dry, less than 10 litres of water from fully upside down. I forgot to fillet the wings to the deck, and while it was lying on it's side, it filled the airtank on the port side past the inspection plates. (this was unknown until I tried to load it on the truck and found it had tripled it's weight. This amount of water on one side accounted for the three subsequent knockdowns) He had the mast rotation all wrong. Actually, he was unaware of it, and in half the photo's, it is rotated the wrong way (!) This, coupled with the wind that changed directions 180 degrees twice in the two hours we were out, made it frustrating to sail, wind shifts of over 30 degrees in less than two minutes a couple of times...Oh, and it was tender. Like really tender, but I wonder how much of that was the rising winds from weird directions, and how much of it was the boat. By the time we loaded the boat back onto the truck, it was blowing 50 kmh, gusting to 80. Overnight temps are below freezing now, so our sailing season is pretty much done. I wish I hadn't been so busy at work that I could have spent more time with the boat, and the time I did spend was more focused on making it pretty for the boat show season, than making it functional. Oh well, there is always next spring...

If it had a side tank full of water that would markedly affect stability, so I'm not sure you can draw any real conclusions about tenderness yet. You'd have to sail it in the same conditions with empty tanks. They shouldn't leak anyway. Bad builder. Naughty builder. The whole idea of having bouyancy tanks is that they don't leak.

If the tanks are full and the weight of the boat had trippled, that would account for the tenderness, I would think.

Looking at the person in the boat, Rick' father in law I guess in most, if not all, of the photos, it looks like big boat sailing (body positioning can be improved much to keep the boat flat and properly balanced in the fore-after direction for the course it is sailing).

So I guess we will have to wait until next year when the weather conditions are okay for proper test sailing (and hopefully with the sidewings and ballast tanks 100% watertight).

MIK, any comments from you as the designer?

Joost