Thread: GIS Holland - setup and tuning - converting a Finn sailor.

Yesterday I have sailed GIS with Bf3-5 on a bigger stretch of water. Parts were sheltered, but on the main river ( about 1.5 mile wide ) there were bigger waves also due to frequent passing cargo-ships.

Hoisting my main with the bow fixed with a rope ashore I had my first "almost capsize" experience
I was stuck behind the mast, between the boom ( that came over in a wind-shift ) and my centerboard ( that was still half up ) ..............after taking 25 liters on board ( and that strong feeling......####, there we go ) the wind shifted back and I was saved .
Lesson 1 learned; lower your centerboard and be aware that GIS is not very stable if you have your bodyweight forward to the bow.

Lesson 2: always have that bucket with you!

The wind was quite gusty, but GIS sails very balanced and most gusts can be handled by letting your main go and/or some luffing. It's nice that GIS can handle greater angles of heel and keeps balance so well. It gives you more time to react on things. But you really need to have the main in your hand to be able to react in time! I bought a ratched block and that works very well.

Tacking against waves under Bf 4 (11.16 knots) gusts goes really well. It's nice to keep an angle of heel, than she keeps speed very well and hardly stops against any wave. Even when the wind started to increase (5Bf - 17-21 knots) I was able to keep her running under full sail, but you really need to be careful and the top-part of the sail does not really catch wind anymore in a gust. I was surprized that she was still very well balanced under these "survival" circumstances. Especially when I raised my centerboard with 10-15cm it became easier.
After that I have put a first reef ( probably needed in high 4Bf if you are single handed ? )and it became much easier to keep her running against the wind without loosing any speed. o

Lessons learned tacking: She survives very well under full ( to much ) sail, but early reefing makes much more sense. Keep and angle of heel against waves. Raise your centerboard a bit under rough conditions.

Running with the wind is just FUN . Sailing as simple as it should be..........the more wind, the more speed you have. Fully balanced, full control and full speed! No nose-diving ( different from a Finn ) But I really needed to raise my centerboard with around 30-40 cm.
Lessons learned running: raise your centerboard and just GO! If conditions are rough; use a stopper-knot in your main to prevent your boom to go forward and keep on steering!! If you have the right "dinghy feeling" it seems there is no limit running a GIS !

Damn, you didn't capsize! We are all waiting with baited breath to find out how your drain tubes work!!!

The drain channels through the plugs in the stern are a great idea and I wish I had put these in. Much easier than removing water with a bucket and sponge.

The wider spacers will help prevent breaking thumbs, so I have no issue with that either!

Stiff yard and stiff boom..., YES, good for a nice setting lug rig. The yard will twist off in the gusts anyway, and you can easily add more tension to the sail if you need to flatten the sail some more.

Your description of the sailing characteristics of the GIS are very accurate. In particular I have also been surprised at how well it handles quite big waves. For a light boat, there is very little resistance when the bow gets buried in a wave. Off the wind she is a delight to sail, and fairly scoots off.

You are right too about the centreboard. When you have good speed to windward, raising the board a bit helps to keep the boat flatter and it still provides plenty of lift. Mik's foil design is very good and it's well worth the effort to get it right.

The Goat provides a lot of simple sailing fun with good performance, without the complication that comes with a lot of other boats.

It's great to hear that you're having so much fun with yours. I don't think it's possible not to have fun in a GIS, but please, we need a capsize report

The Goat provides a lot of simple sailing fun with good performance, without the complication that comes with a lot of other boats.

It's great to hear that you're having so much fun with yours. I don't think it's possible not to have fun in a GIS, but please, we need a capsize report

Before the water gets cold!

Capsize in a safe place the first time. A bit of wind helps balance the boat while you get aboard again.

Very interested to hear how the mods work.

MIK

I have just relabelled this thread.

I wish we had all the performance and tuning stuff in one place with all the contributions from Joost, watermaat, Christophe, Clint, Brian Pearson, Bruce, Peter, David, Peter, John, Ian and many more.

If someone had a large bit of time it might be interesting to compile all we have learned - it would be quite some document in terms of solid information. I could set up a WIKI for people to cut and paste into on my site if anyone, or several, are interested in sorting through all the stuff.

it could be broken into different subjects. If anyone wants to give it a shot I can put the WIKI up.

MIK

Originally Posted by Boatmik

I wish we had all the performance and tuning stuff in one place with all the contributions from Joost, watermaat, Christophe, Clint, Brian Pearson, Bruce, Peter, David, Peter, John, Ian and many more.

If someone had a large bit of time it might be interesting to compile all we have learned - it would be quite some document in terms of solid information. I could set up a WIKI for people to cut and paste into on my site if anyone, or several, are interested in sorting through all the stuff.

it could be broken into different subjects. If anyone wants to give it a shot I can put the WIKI up.

MIK

Yes, have thought the same - what an extraordinary amount of information there is in this forum, but often all over the place. It would be great if you could set up a wiki with some subject titles to break it into manageable bits and between us we can start pasting it across and tidying it up.

Ian

I will get a wiki up.

MIK

I have opened a new thread on making a WIKI - or ersatz WIKI in this case.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f169/d...oils-c-124158/

Help please!!!

I have used a few tricks to make rigging as simple as possible.

Around the mast on deck I have drilled four 8mm holes, rounded them with a router and epoxied them carefully ( I did it already during building )
With 4mm dynema loops and stopperknots you have very simple removable fastenings for everything you need. No screws, flat surface after removal.
Attachment 148308

I have used the same "trick" to fix mooring-lines on the three corners of the boat. 12mm holes, rounded with a router and you can fix any line using a stopper-knot.
Attachment 148309
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I have also used holes to fix the traveller. This traveller is fixed through a spacer-block. I have placed it a bit more aft, to be able to sit on the aft-deck in front of this traveller ( tip from Joost ) .
Attachment 148312
Attachment 148313

FYI
I am making a Blog now about sailing with my new GIS. I will try to regular update with experiences and tips&tricks.

Sailing a Dutch Goat Island Skiff

Last week I made non-slip area's on the bottum. Especially under rough circumstances and when you are roll-tacking GIS can have a great angle of heeling. These non-slip area's make it much more comfortable.

I have used a very simple and inexpensive way, using fine sand and varnish. I have used so called "birds sand" or "shelf sand" in my area. I have also used a fine sieve to keep small stones out.

Step 1 Sanding the panels and masking the area's that you do not want to have non-slip on.
Attachment 148314
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Step 2 Varnishing and let that cure for about 20 minutes to have it smooth.
Attachment 148316

Step 3 Poor sand on, use plenty of it. I needed 1.5 kg for both panels.
Attachment 148317
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Step 4 After about 5-7 hours ( if the varnish is not sticky anymore ) I have turned the hull to get rid of the excess of sand. Don't toutch the surface, just let gravity do the job.
You can also remove the masking tape at this stage.
Attachment 148319

Step 5 after the varnished has fully cured ( 24 hours or more ) you can remove loose sand and small stones with a hard brush and vacuum the inside.

Step 6 Put another coat of varnish to fix the sand. This sand will soak up plenty of varnish, I used some extra thinner in my varnish to let it flow better.
Curing could take much longer, due to the thick coat. It took 48 hours before it was hard enough to be used carefully.
Attachment 148320
Attachment 148321

This gives a semi-transparent pretty sharp non-slip surface that is very durable ( sillicon is very hard ) . If it appears to be too sharp ( it's like sanding-paper ) you could put another coat of varnish to smoothen it a bit.

I have used this technique in the past with wooden dinghy racing and I still think it's one of the better ways of making non-slip surfaces. It's very inexpensive and you can make all kinds of patterns that you like.

Originally Posted by Watermaat

Around the mast on deck I have drilled four 8mm holes, rounded them with a router and epoxied them carefully ( I did it already during building )
With 4mm dynema loops and stopperknots you have very simple removable fastenings for everything you need. No screws, flat surface after removal.

VERY sexy. SO appropriate for the Goat and its simple-is-better ethic.

I chose MIK's preferred sugar method. Application was just like yours but the sugar is washed away which follows MIK's #1 rule--add nothing that adds weight!

You don't get the sharp feel of sand but you do get a nicely textured surface that is almost as clear as gloss varnish.

Originally Posted by MiddleAgesMan

I chose MIK's preferred sugar method. Application was just like yours but the sugar is washed away which follows MIK's #1 rule--add nothing that adds weight!

You don't get the sharp feel of sand but you do get a nicely textured surface that is almost as clear as gloss varnish.

I never tried that system so I wanted to stick with my own experience using sand.
regarding weight; I did use 1.5 kg of sand to poor on, but after removing the excess there is just a very fine coat of sand left, weight probably less than 250gr.

The sand can be very abrasive if it is too coarse - the fine sand here is OK.

The sugar method is really neat - same trick as the sand - but use a larger grained sugar. Next day wash off the sugar.

It is a pretty nice method.

But those "built in" rope loops are just brilliant. Put the goat up on its transom and it would feel like you were mountaineering.

MIK