I have just returned from Amsterdam where I was lucky enough to get a ride on a new Blade in what I can only describe as most excellent conditions of wind, sunny 78F weather and flat water, with an offshore breeze of 10-15. I was on a 24 hour layover so we sailed only Saturday, the racing was on Sunday and I missed it, but on Saturday we had two new Blades and Wouter's Tai Pan F16 to go and practice. We were sailing in the North Sea with a pretty good swell running, which made for some great surfing downwind, with a gusty wind off the land, it was very nice conditions for some fast two up trapp sailing upwind and single trap spinnaker sailing downwind.

Both of the Blades had come over in May and they said that month was lousy weather so they really only started sailing them in June, so neither boat had much time on it.

There were a couple of new crew to the Blade who were being taken out for demo sails too, so we just played around with each other and enjoyed the day.

Frank Boom has sail number 013 and took out a couple of different crew to show them the boat. They had a great time and the crews were impressed. I spoke with Frank afterwards and he told me to tell Matt he is very happy with the boat. Both the new crew liked it too.

The Blade I was on was number 014, owned by Geert Ruesink. We first took off the beach in pursuit of Wouter and a new crew from Belgium, Gill de Bruyne, who is interested in getting into serious cat racing. They did not have the jib on, we did, so we caught them going upwind when the gusts came and we could double trap and really use the extra power of the jib.

After lunch Frank came out to play as well, with Louis Schuurman, and we had a tougher time with them going upwind as they also had the jib on. I think the boats are very evenly matched but the wind was very shifty and gusty near the shore, so we were almost never sailing in the same wind strength or direction, but we kept pace with each other most of the time.

OK, now for the fun part; Downwind! What a ride we had!! We were not racing to a mark so we could sail the optimum course with every wind gust. I got out on the wire and luckily Geert has put footstraps all the way at the back on his boat, (Frank doesn't have them on yet) so I got back there and sheeted the spinnaker while Geert surfed the waves up and down, heating it up, get it up on one hull, then carving down the wave front, for mile after fast mile! What a ride! The footstrap saved us many times as we did stuff the hull(s) pretty hard several times but never came close to a pitchpole. I did swallow about a gallon of the North Sea however! The nose would stuff up to the mast but as I dumped the spin and leaned back the bows would pop right back up. Frank was being more conservative because his crew was new to spinnaker sailing on a cat, and he had no foot strap, so he kept it on two hulls and was going fast but a little lower than we were. Still, his GPS showed him going 33Killometers ph! (I think that's about 19 knots?) We were going a little faster but headding higher. On a race course where you have to sail to a mark, I don't know which technique would have turned out faster. It was really fun not having to worry about that and just sailing for pure speed! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Enough about my fun, how about the Blade?? Well, Geert is not a small guy, he is tall, maybe 6'+ but thiner than me, I think he said 80 kilos? I'm short and fatter, being from America, home of the Big Mac and BK Wopper, maybe 85 kilos, but I also had on a full body wetsuit, which was carying quite a bit of water as I was eating most of the wave tops going downwind. Every time the windward hull came down I got hosed fully in the face. My eyes still sting, I had forgotten to pack my sunglasses. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

So at about 170 Kilos of crew, the boat performed beautifully. We were in no way too heavy for it in 10-15 and with my weight on the wire downwind it would easily fly a hull with Geert sitting on the tramp at my feet. I would say that any crew who are not too heavy for a F18 would also be good on the Blade in every wind but very light. And then you would want as light a crew as possible any way, but you would be overpowered upwind with a light crew in the wind we had.

We didn't have to ease the traveler at all going upwind and almost never let out the main, but again, we were not trying to sail to a mark so we could just head up or down with the gusts. The boat was just right for our weight and that wind.

I think the crews who sail F18's and I20's but have never sailed a real F16 will be very surprised at how well the Blade caries weight when they race it at the Alter Cup. I would have been overpowered solo with main only if I had been sailing it like that, Wouter was double trapping with just his main on but he and his crew were a little lighter than we were and Frank was double trapped most of the time too.

The boat, being only 16 feet long, is more sensitive to were you stand when going upwind and down, than an 18 or 20 footer of course. We would occaisionally stuff the low bow going upwind but it doesn't slow it down much and all you have to do is take a short step to the back and it pops right up. The hulls are very full all the way to the stern so you can get your weight way back when going downwind, keep the bows up and not sink the sterns.

I was very favorably impressed with the boat and I may have to find crew, since I think I will be too light solo in anything but very light air. I don't think any of the Alter Cup skippers should be worried about finding a "small crew" just for that regatta. I would instead find a crew that can run the spinnaker well and knows how to rotate the wing mast.

The mast rotation is much more important than on most cats because the Super Wing mast is flatter and has a much longer chord, if it isn't faired into the mainsail it really makes the telltales dance so you must make a large adjustment from going upwind to downwind, to upwind again. You can really feel it and see it when it's not right so find a crew that can handle that.

Well, I think that's about all I have time for today, I just got back last night from 6 days on the road and I have
to do alot of laundry and pack. I'm only home one day in 10 and my wife is pissed. Tomorrow I'm headding over to Dublin to visit Dermot Mangen and hopefully we will sail his Spitfire F16. That is a very nice boat as well, it looks fast just sitting on the beach! I'll let you know how it goes when I get back.

Many thanks to Wouter for setting this up and to Geert for taking me along for the day, to Frank for the Pizza and beer, and all the great people I met at the Zandvoort sailing club. They have a wonderful location right on the beach, mast up and 100 yards to the water with about 100 cats all ready to go! If any of you are ever in that area you should make an attempt to get out there and see it. And Wouter, can you please get all those girls on the beach to put their tops on next time I come? How am I supposed to look at the boats?? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Take pictures next time meng!

Now when are you ordering your blade? I asume you are going to compete in the AREA D qualifiers?

Robi, sorry, no pictures, you will have to go and see it for yourself. There are some good porn sites that have better pictures of boobs anyway...In the mean time, think about a very long beach, good wind, bright sun, topless women and some Blades going very fast downwind along the beach! That's what it looked like to me... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Yep, the Blades were very impressive indeed Saturday. I hope to be sailing one with my girlfriend too next year !
Anyone from Belgium interested in a Nacra 5.0 ?

I've got an on-the-beach pic of the 2 boats....

Frank, Geert and Wouter, thanks for the day !

Gill

Hey, We actually had a topless woman on the beach down from the Club on Saturday. Very unusual for the Lake <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />
I hope that we get some wind for Racing on Wednesday evening - unlikely with this high pressure and heat. 28 degreec C and we call it a heatwave <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Gilo, it was nice to meet you too, did your girlfriend sail on saturday? Dermot, even if the wind doesn't blow, it's always great at the pub! See you then.

Nice report Tim, although Gill and I never double trapezed. I was out on the wire with him helming from the trampoline. I worked the mainsheet and we just played the gusts. Two on the wire was too much for the lulls and nothing is as slow as draggin a crew through the water so it was better for us to keep one on the wire and just shave off the tops of the gusts by sheeting the mainsail out somewhat.

At first we were racing you guys well and it took some time and effort to overtake although it is beyond a doubt that the jib makes a doublehanded F16 faster then one without.

Additionally. I have singlehanded my F16 in these conditions plenty of times and even considerable rougher as well. I'm 85 kg's, so comparable to what you are. I say don't worry about singlehanding it. Derotate the mast pull on some more downhaul and mainsheet and the boat will be adjusted to suit the lower crew weight. If it gets really rough then let some traveller out. Surprisingly enough the boat will feel much the same as when doublehanding, that is apart from the accelleration during a gust. You really shouldn't worry about that. I think Geert doesn't think twice when singlehanded his in similar conditions and you know what I'm refering to.

I can also see that all the Zandvoort club members thoroughly enjoyed themselfs with the visitors from USA ans Belgium, they still mention it in passing. So thank you to you guys and gals as well.

Wouter

I think you would have been hard to catch if you were alone, especially in the lulls. There seemed to be more wind later on though. Perhaps Gilo can tell us what he thought of the boats compared to his 5.0?

Well the 5.0 isn't really a racing cat. That difference you immediately feel when you sail the Blade. Especially in the gusts the boat accelerates a lot.
It also felt as if the Blade went twice as fast as my 5.0, certainly downwind !

How did you and the Blades do on Sunday Wouter ?

Gilo

Timbo--you might want to post your Blade review on the open forum for all potential Alter Cup-goers to read.

If I knew how to cut and paste I might try that but to retype all that...nah. I might put a post there, directing them here instead, unless one of you want to try to switch it, you have my permission.

Turned out that my crew was indisposed for sunday. I had rigged the boat fully up, jib and all, only to find out at the last moment that she was not going to make it. So I encountered one of the more endearing quality of the F16 class. I rushed to pull down my jib and stuff it into its storage in order to switch my boat from a doublehander into a singlehander. The others had left for Velzen already where the racing was to be held and I pretty much tried to catch up. Took about an hour of upwind work to get there.

The racing was of the fun-race kind, with an unconventional race course mixed with a obstacle course.

The start and first leg was close to the beach on a beam reach. The A-mark was layed right in the corner of a big pear and the beach with leasure vessel anchored and people in the water swimming. The starting vessel had only one flag, a blue one, so it used this one for all signals. Try to time your start with that singlehandedly in a fleet of about 22 boats while on a beam reach. I missed both starts by 30 to 60 seconds. I never figured out which blue flag meant what. Luckily I positioned myself upwind to the fleet so I could upwind myself out of bad air and overtake the bulk of the fleet to windward while ducking motor vessels, swimmers and fishermen. Both Blades got caught in the fleet and ate heaps of bad air. I hugged the pier after rounding the A-mark, this was a spi leg that was layed down under a 90 angle the the first leg. I rounded the larger weather pin out to sea as 3rd or 4th boat overall. Then it was an upwind leg back through swifty and unstable winds where I simply took a bad tack. I was still racing a nacra 6.0 for 5th place on elasped time when I approached the last mark before going on a long reach to the finish. The Nacra beat me to the finish and I came in 6th on elapsed time in a fleet of 22 boats. Not bad I say considering the course and the conditions. I was 4th out of 10 F18's and F16's on elapsed time.

Sadly under Texel I have the second fastest rating in the fleet where the course was for 30 % a beam reach where I can't pull a spinnaker. I tried very briefly as I had to do something to close up on the leaders but with the shifts and large gusts the spinnaker was impossible to control singlehandly. So I pulled it in and plain beam reached to the finish. On handicap I finished the first race 10th overall. No wonder as the big reaches always favours the spinnakerless boats like Hobie 16's and Prindles. Still a good result considering my noteworthy bad start and the fact that I beat most F18's and both the 2 other F16's to the line.

I never tuned and trimmed so much during a race as in this one. Wind could go from 5 knots to 15 knots in a matter of seconds.

In the second race I got the worst start of both races but pulled the same trick to pass the fleet again. This time I was less succesful in getting out in front and into clean air so I race 1 Blade F16 with Geert and Karin all the way back upwind to the A-mark. On this leg it looked like I had the upper hand and that I would reach the last mark before the finish first. I was pointing high and had decent speed. A gust came and I went out on the trapeze only to find that suddenly my leeward hull was liften out of the water with me sinking in the drink. Still confused I pulled myself up to the sidestay on the other side of the boat prevent the boat from capsizing to windward. All the while kicking and hiting the mainsheet to uncleat it. Finally it released and the mast came back up again. I looked around, seeing my battens had popped, pulled my sheet in and I continued sailing in exactly the same direction but now on another tack. Yep I just had witnessed a 90 degree windshift in 10 knots of wind. My competition, the blade had experienced it too and was no blasting towards the mark. No way I could stay ahead, their jib now providing lots of power and my pointing ability being made useless. I rounded the mark right behind them only to find that the anchor lines of the mark weren't weighted down. This is great for hobie 16's but a real pain for any boarded cat. So I had to clear that off as well. All the while the Blade fast beam reaching to the finish. This was quite a long leg and it took my several minutes to complete bobbing around in what seemed 5 to 6 knots. So I'm trimming and trimming to make the boat go but without much succes. So I pleasure cruise my way to the line with the last 50 meter suddenly finding a good breeze to make some true speed. I then look behind me and I see a whole fleet of Hobie 16's and Prindle beam reaching to the finish line while lifting their luff hulls. Yep, I'd rode the lull between two gusts. So in race two I ended up 16th on handicap. So I wasn't to pleased to have thrown that race.

But all in all an enjoyable day. But more importantly I had a really great weekend.


Wouter

Timbo, just highlight the text you want copied and press ctrl + c, that will make a copy of your text. Then create a new post and simply right click paste the text, or press ctrl + v to paste it.

Thank you guys for the great fun last Saturday. Really enjoyed the sailing, company and views <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.

What I havn't read yet is that Gill and I flipped over going down wind under spi <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />. A bit of a gust and a little to late with the reaction. However, it took us no time to lower the spi and tip the boat back on its hulls. Even that experience is a good one on the Blade <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />.

Regards,
Frank

- Yes, but that was a 1991 n6.0 with more epoxy repairs and aluminum reinforcements than one can think of, not to mention the mouse-eaten sails and app. 30 liters of water in the hulls <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

guess we can try again this weekend?

You sailed very well !

(or I sailed very badly !)





At the Rem-race event ? I would love too !

This weekend I'll be doublehanding. At least that is the planning. I hope the weather doesn't turn too foul as I'm not really looking forward to a survival race, like last year.


Wouter