First sail of Boat #3 today

Another of Boat #3 today
RG

Any reason for the dolphin striker front beam? (other then cost or availablity)

It would seem that a strikerless carbon beam would be better

Yep, I definently like that boat!

Actually, it stiffens up the whole platform not just the front beam, weight or cost are not a consideration.
RG

Have you considered adding a rail so that you can trap further out? And give you a place to sit/hike?

I noticed Ian had his feet half way down the hull in Hoppycong. In the ocean I would think he would be fighting to stay on board.

Bill

I did draw such an arrangement up initially, but John and Ian didn't want it. Ian appears in most of the pic's to trap with his feet just above the waterline, he has also sailed this way in 3-4 ft short steep slop and has yet to mention it as a problem. If someone wanted a trap rail, it's easy enough to add.
RG

How did you do boat for boat at the Worlds?

Doug

Boat for boat I'd have to say it's not living up to what I'd hoped for, that said it still does some stuff extremely well and I'm pretty sure that neither John, Ian or I am about to give up on this approach just yet. More importantly we learned a lot and next time round it will hopefully be improved further.
RG

FOLLOW UP ON THE LR2

After finishing the A Class Worlds an evaluation of the LR2 was made by builder, John Lindahl; builder/sailor, Ian Lindahl; designer, Richard Roake; sail maker/sailor Randy Smyth; and sailor, Fred Smith. Input was also received from several others and the conclusions are noted here.

For a brand new boat (both design and build) there was a general feeling of success. The boat itself performed very well, for as little time as the sailors had to learn it and tune. Roakes hull shape put some lift in the bow and got the weather hull out of the water very quickly. Everyone commented about the fact that this design does not want to pitchpole. There is plenty of volume forward. One nice attribute of the design is the boats ability to go into “point mode” and maintain speed. The best VMG downwind seemed to be achieved by heading down rather than doing the “wild thing”. The unique bows did not dive and trip, like a lot of people thought they would. Instead they stabilized the platform and at times there was a feeling of too much bow. This was felt in the accelerations coming out of a wave or when a gust hit you. The hull shape above the waterline reduced air drag, so you didn’t feel the bows getting pushed around in the wind. Boards and rudders were excellent with extremely good getaway from the starting line and a no drag feel when underway. It was possible to easily pull them up, even when “loaded” on an upwind beat.

When the building project began there were two overriding parameters: integrity and weight. The platform had to be strong and light. Hull panel stiffness was achieved by using a much thicker core than anyone else (9mm). The thick core was shaped by strip-planking the foam core inside CNC cut female frames. The core was then carefully laminated with carbon and epoxy inside and out. Beam junctions were glued and carbon wrapped for an exceptional joint. The first three LR2’s built are all under class minimum weight, with the third boat being 15 pounds under). Minimal fairing and attention to resin use kept the hull weight very low, as well as there only being 63 sq.ft. of surface area on a hull. The platform was stiff, strong and surprisingly light, with the added bonus that the boats finished out looking good.

All agreed that time on the boat is all that’s needed to put this boat up at the front of the fleet. All also agreed that the rig tune (mast-sail combination) was the area that needed the most attention. This of course goes back to time on the boat. There was also a feeling that the platform could take on more power.

This exercise was intended to get some new ideas in design and building technique introduced to the A Class community. We feel successful in doing that and will continue custom work on the boat. Complete boats are available as well as kits for those interested in doing their own. Board and rudder speed kits are available as well. R & D will continue with Richard Roake in the New Zealand design studio and Lindahl Composite Design here in Michigan.

A website is in the works but for now information is available from:

John Lindahl
LINDAHL COMPOSITE DESIGN
6002 Cedar St.
Fennville, MI 49408
269.650.5900
jlindahl_lcd@yahoo.com

Jake:
The LR2 looks like a Submarine Hull. I remember Bill Roberts telling us that No one had put more money into a hull design than the US Navy, and that was essentially the shape they came up with.
CARY
A-CAT 29

Copied from email on LR2 site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LR2ACATS/
Hello,



For those of you who have dreamed of building your own boat I think our method of building will be of interest to you. A competitive A can be built by this method and if done correctly will yield a boat that is as strong and stiff as anything out there and under weight. If you are familiar with strip planking canoes read on, because that is how
we built three A boats in the summer of '07, and the third one weighed only 150 lbs. In order to help everyone with the "hard" parts we have come up with a "kit" idea. The concept allows a person to pick out the parts of this
that he feels capable of doing and getting help with the rest. Fist you should read the boat building articles on this site. Then remember, you need no autoclave, no vacuum bag, no resin infusion, no prepreg, and no solid surfaced mold to laminate into. What you do need is patience, attention to detail, and a knowledge of working with
epoxy resins. What we can offer you is a design that has been converted into a bunch of female building frames for the hulls. We can even take your own design and convert it into these building frames. These frames will give you the "mold" to strip-plank foam strips into. We can also deliver a CNC cut pattern that aligns the two hulls when
cross beams are added. We can also supply daggerboards and rudder blanks from our CNC machined model that are outstanding in performance and less than 3lbs. each.
A list of our suppliers for building materials is also available, and you will get all the instructional help you need. The purpose of making this all available is to encourage the development of the best single-handed catamaran out there and get you into the basement or garage mixing glue. Cal Fuller (Lake Hopatcong)got me going and we're just passing it on.

John Lindahl

Has anyone heard how the LR2's are going (if at all?)since the worlds? seems like they vanished into thin air.

They are sailing pretty regulary. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LR2ACATS/
Click on this link and send John or Ian a message and they will update you on what is happening in their world. I believe that they have sold 2 kits for people to build their own as well as one that is a partial build with the purchaser choosing to paint and beam the boat up himself.

Apart from what Tom posted, boat #1 was sold to a guy on Lake Hapatcong, Ian kept boat #3 and Fred still has boat #2. Ian has been racing most of the summer and has now got to the point where he wins about half the races in MI, with Matt Struble winning the other half. Quite a few problems with the rig/sail combo that will hopefully be cured by a recut this week. We are looking into doing a larger chord wing mast for Ian, but no decisions just yet.
Cheers
RG