AJ,

Nope, never lived near Atlanta. I have only been there once. My name is very common. I have been mistakenly invited to golf vacations and other vacations. Thought about going as the REAL Chris Allen though several times.

Since you sail one of Randy's old boats, do you have any pictures you can or would like to share on how it is setup? We are always up for new ideas. Does your square-top hold it shape well? Ours is bending off going up wind even in light air. In 0-5 its ok, above 5 it bends off. Not to happy with its shape at the moment. What are your diamond wire tensions, spreader rake, and resultant prebend? We are currently set-up using Rick Bliss's guidelines for the NA main. He is an incredible resource.

where did you get Rick Bliss' tuning guide? (I assume that's what you meant).

Randy told me I should take a hit on my main but not my jib since it has the same sail area as stock.

Doug Ramsey

Hey Chris,

Different Chris..... Sorry about that.

My main is only 1 year old and still stays pretty flat. Did the Pentex this time. Big difference compared to the Mylar. Doesnt move or strecth much at all. I used to have some problems with the twist in the top of the sail. Going to weather requires some pretty serious sheeting and downhaul. After some schooling from Randy I can get it flat as a pancake now. I have bent a clew traveler from sheeting the main so hard. Got 2 clew traveler cars on there now to help spread the load. Are you using some of the wider foam core battens? This makes a difference. Are you a "real" Express (Orig. 6.0 with the lower mast hound and single diamond)? If you are, you have to get the main flat to point well with that huge jib. Took me a long time to figure it out.

Or are you a NA? Different all together than my boat.

Funny you mention the diamonds, spreader rake, tension and pre-bend. I am getting ready to contact him to find out. I'm having them redone before the RTI. I dont actually know what the tension is (never measured it). I'm sure it is probably different than the NA. The spreader rake is 1 1/2". The bottom diamond mount has been moved up about 3" and forward about 1". Also the trap wires are mounted about 2' 6" higher than the main mast hound. Which puts them a foot higher than on the NA (more leverage). Spin hound is about 1' from the top. Mast is just under 32'. I measured it once. 31' 8" I believe. Mast rake is fairly upright at the moment at 18". I am able to swing it back to over 30" with some shrouds I had made locally.

I like the boat but I hate what they have done with the rating. These boats havent been raced much the past 4 or 5 years so why the dramatic change?? Takes some of the fun out of it.

Here is a pic. Dont have many good ones. I'll post one of the Pentex main below as well. It is a notch top (goes to the very top of the mast).

Different topic.......

Hope all that helps some.

Just a little off the thread.

Sorry Doug.

AJ
Express 6.0

Nacra 6.0 Express

Oops here is the 1st pic.

AJ

Pentex square top main last year. Brand new. Spin pole not on. The boat went over 3 times that day.

AJ

A new set of sails (from a good sailmaker) will always be faster than an old set. After a few seasons a set of sails will get blown out and will create less lift and more sideways momentom due to the sail stretching and the max draft moving further aft.

We had a new set of sails made for our Tornado (see attached picture) and have just updated to a new cut spinnaker - higher profile, more roach which is alot quicker than the previous cut.

We get a couple of seasons out of our main and jib (self tacker - dose not flog) and get a new kite anually.

Our Sails are from Olympic Sails in Sydney, Australia and are one of if not the best Tornado sails you can get - used by Bundock and Forbes, current World Tornado Champions. Gary Geitz from Olympic Sails has worked closely with Bundy / Forbes and Mike Fletcher (coach) to develop and refine the sail cut and produce world winning sails.

Jake,

I said they were Rick Bliss's, however that may not be true. He directed me to them as a good guide. Here is the link:

http://nensa.org/tunetips.html

AJ,

Thank you for the photos and the rig/setup descriptions. We are an NA, with Smyth big jib and Squaretop main. On a few occasions we have gone upwind with two a-cats. The important word there is few.