Mothcast Show number 3 with John Ilett is now online at http://www.mothcast.net
This episode is sponsored by ful-vue design.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
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Well you can cheer or cry, depending on your point of view, but there will not be a moth in the Olympics any time soon. The ISAF meeting in Madrid has concluded and the following equipment was selected:
Ballot 1: Women’s Windsurfing – RS:X
Ballot 2: Men’s Windsurfing – RS:X
Ballot 3: Women’s 1 Person Dinghy – Laser Radial
Ballot 4: Men’s 1 Person Dinghy – Laser
Ballot 5: Men’s 1 Person Dinghy (heavyweight) – Finn
Ballot 6: Women’s 2 Person Dinghy – 470
Ballot 7: Men’s 2 Person Dinghy – 470
Ballot 8: Men’s 2 Person Dinghy (high performance) – 49er
Ballot 9: Women’s Keelboat Match – Elliott 6m
Ballot 10: Men’s Keelboat – Star
There was a significant debate about the 29er XX vs the 470 for the women and can read the full story here sailing.org news article
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
I mentioned a couple of posts back that I thought changing my vang strop lengths had improved my upwind speed. I finally got around to fixing up my GPS (soldering was required) so I could download the data from last week, and the polar diagram really tells the story.
You can clearly see that the effective tacking angle is much narrower (the red is before the change and the green is after). The average and maximum speeds, and VMG are all much higher. This is because I am now able to point high and foil instead of needing to low ride if I want to have any chance of actually making the windward mark.
The total adjustment was to shorten the top vang strop about 50mm. This really goes to show that the smallest thing, if incorrect, can make a huge difference. It also highlights the size of the hill you have to climb when you reinvent the wheel yourself.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
So I was planning to go to the Interclub today at Balmoral, but yesterday what was supposed to be a 5 minute repair to my rudder on inspection was a bit more damaged than I thought. So in the interests of making things bullet proof, I decided to completely re-do the whole tiller attachment. A quick trip to CST composites for a new sleeving tube and this morning it was glued on and looking like this.
Tomorrow I will be vacuum bagging the whole thing in carbon, which I couldn’t do the first time around. I also finished the mould for my T join in my new foils today, so I will be laying that up shortly as well.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
So I was planning to go to the Interclub today at Balmoral, but yesterday what was supposed to be a 5 minute repair to my rudder on inspection was a bit more damaged than I thought. So in the interests of making things bullet proof, I decided to completely re-do the whole tiller attachment. A quick trip to CST composites for a new sleeving tube and this morning it was glued on and looking like this.
Tomorrow I will be vacuum bagging the whole thing in carbon, which I couldn’t do the first time around. I also finished the mould for my T join in my new foils today, so I will be laying that up shortly as well.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
Mothcast Show number 2 with Phil Stevenson is now online at http://www.mothcast.net
Phil Stevenson is one of the true innovators of the moth class. Over the recient years, Phil has homebuilt several moths and a development International Canoe using stressed ply, as well as designing and developing his own hydrofoils.
This episode is sponsored by ful-vue design.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
After a flurry of activity, my foil construction has stalled over the last couple of weeks due to work trips, bad weather and wanting to not spend every last second working on moth related stuff.
What I have been doing thought is making a number of smaller tweaks on my boat and it has been steadily improving its performance.
Last week with only Grant and I sailing, I tried a new wand configuration, albeit a hacked together temporary one and it was an improvement on what I was already running. If there is one thing that my boat has now it is control, and lots of it. My boat gives me a great feeling of confidence when it is up that it is not going to buck and throw me off. With the new wand I can now feel every bump in the road downwind and that is a great sign of the boat reacting to what it is sailing over.
This weeks tweak was to re-do my vang strops completely, and I think that I have finally sorted out my upwind VMG problem. Saturdays conditions were a perfect sailing breeze with some gusts over the 20 mark but the majority of the breeze sitting in the 15-20 range, with flat water making for great foiling or non-foiling conditions.
Downwind I am still not as quick as the fast guys, but the stays are now starting to make audible speed noise, when they weren’t before. I didn’t have the GPS on, but I think that I am tantalisingly close to breaking the 20kt mark in the right conditions. The new foil should definitely get me over that line.
Now if only I could turn corners without loosing 20-50 seconds to the leaders every time ….
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
Next time we meet for a port and starboard crossing, you might want to keep these photos in mind.
And I think that my next boat will be called son of skynet. This was for a halloween party last night.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
Next time we meet for a port and starboard crossing, you might want to keep these photos in mind.
And I think that my next boat will be called son of skynet. This was for a halloween party last night.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
Luka’s new toys arrived this week.
It looks even better out of the box !
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
If the Bladerider manages to succeed and become a one design Olympic class it will most likley have a minimum weight. And that is the subject of my latest poll:
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
For the last few months Luka and I have been working on a little secret project that we can now reveal.
Mothcast is a moth sailing podcast which we hope will interesting and fun. To subscribe to the show go to www.mothcast.net.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
So everything finally came together on Saturday and I hit the water in the “new” boat. It took a little while in the morning to get the new gantry all on. Changing to a tube gantry has cut 1.2KG from the boat, so that was a nice little gain right there.
Saturday was good conditions to get back into things with a nice gentle breeze. I had a few first day issues though, which included sailing the NE instead of the E course, loose hiking straps, and essentially bolt on and sail set-up, which is also known as no set-up at all.
My main foil, whilst it does get the boat up, is completely rooted. After being broken and repaired three times, it has high drag and poor lift, and puts me in a situation where I try and foil upwind, and can only do it reaching, at some 60 degrees off the breeze, with no VMG whatsoever. For the next race I will give it few degrees more AOA, to try and make things a bit better.
Despite the problems, at least I can still sail, and put all my off the water efforts into building a new main foil. This will be a very different construction to the last ones, it will be made in 4 pieces and then joined, the flaps will be cut into them later, and they will be foam cored with vacuum bagged skins, and a solid carbon spar, thanks to the magic of CST pultrusion..
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
Simon has finally revealed the bow of the Mach 2, over on his blog, and it looks … interesting. The wand gear will look nice and neat all hidden away in the bow, and it would also let you keep your settings to yourself, although it might make building a custom wand a bit more of a challenge.
The real interesting news, though is that they have already sold 20+ boats, on nothing more than Amacs reputation of being bloody quick, and a few computer renders.
Microsoft of old would be proud of that marketing effort.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
There is an interesting post up in the new editorial section of the IMCA UK web site. The first in what I can only assume will be an ongoing series of posts introduces the concept of the moth “middle class”.
Who is the moth middle class?
Time for a definition, paraphrased from the UK article.
People who paid full price for their (slightly inferior gear), without whom all manufacturers would go bust and all championships would fail.
So it appears that we how have a system in the class where the majority of sailors will be paying to compete with an elite number of sailors whom they themselves are funding? Huh ? What the crap are you going on about Bruce?
Ok let me explain, with a completely hypothetical scenario and manufacturer.
Now let’s pretend for a moment that an Olympic gold medallist, lets call them Bob. Signed up with a manufacturer team, and he got a new boat at a hypothetical 50% discount.
Let’s also assume that Bob gets access to a set of special “team only” foils that are smaller so in heavier winds they are 10% faster, and gets three sails. Bob flies to the regatta two weeks before the World titles starts, trains with the team coaches and gets used to the sailing conditions. The cost of his flights, accommodation and boat transport are less than the 50% he saved on the price of the boat.
Meanwhile Tim buys a boat from the same manufacturer and pays full price. On top of the purchase price he has to pay for his flights and accommodation. Tim runs his own (non-sailing related) small business so he can’t afford to take any extra time off to get to the regatta early.
Bob wins the regatta, and puts up his boat for sale. As the reining champion, his boat is in high demand and he sells it for only $1K less a brand new boat. That $1K is the total cost of his entire regatta, and he can now get another brand new discounted boat from the manufacturer, and repeat the cycle again. Unknown to the boat’s buyer, Bob changed back to his old foils, an old sail, and altered the boats settings before the new owner took delivery.
I want to stress that this is fictional and any resemblance to an actual person or manufacturer is completely co-incidental. This is a hypothetical scenario that could happen in the future.
The moral of the story
Unless you have very deep pockets, as long as your manufacturer has a “team” that is subsidised, and has an equipment advantage, you should look elsewhere for your boat. If you want a serious chance at winning a championship with a level playing field, you should insist on equal equipment at the same price as the team members are getting, at the same time that they get it.
Otherwise you can buy the boat and be very happy in your Ferrari Enzo, knowing full well that you have helped fund Kimi Räikkönen to winning his world title. You still have a fast car, you still can have fun and even win club races, but you will never get a shot at the title.
The other option is simple, talk with you wallet, and buy your boat from a manufacturer where everyone gets the same gear, and there is no A team. Apparently they do exist. Who knew ?
At the end of the day, a Moth upper class will only exist as long as the middle and lower classes are prepared to fund it.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
I have added a pole on the front page of the website, with the current topic being what is the boat to have in 2009?
At the moment I have had a huge 3 votes and the Mach 2 is ahead by 50%.
Make your opinion known and get voting !
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
A spot of grey paint and some sugar later and the paint job is complete.
Now I have moved on to the next item, a new gantry.
This will be the fourth gantry I have built in the last three years. The last one technically worked really well, and was very low drag but it needed to be replaced because it was heavy, ugly and wouldn’t fit the boat anymore now that I have removed the back beam.
I don’t think that I’ll make the race on Saturday, but I’ll give it my best shot. At least I will get the boat back in the shed and ready to go for the following week.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
In motor racing there is a time of year called the silly season. This is when drivers whose contracts are ending all look at their options and many move from one team to another.
Well, it seems that we are now in the middle of a moth silly season with the top Bladerider sailors deciding whether they should stay with the company of follow the ex-designer to his new venture.
So if you were a top sailor would you jump ship? Let’s see.
Cost The top guys all get their boats at a discount which esentially means that they can upgrade for free. Assuming that they will get the same discount from both manufacturers, the cost to churn would essentially be zero, or very little.
Performance potential Amac has all the knowledge about what makes the Bladerider tick. Amac will develop from the work he did for Bladerider, just as he developed from the Prowler a couple of years ago. With this in mind, it won’t be any slower than a Bladerider, so the Mach 2 wins here.
Reliability With McConaghy boats building the Mach2 and a ton of experience from having built the Bladerider, I think we can expect good quality from boat number 1, so this is also a non-issue.
So where does that leave us this silly season? I expect that a lot of the top guys will get shiny new toys for christmas.
So how can Bladerider respond? In my opinion the answer is simple. Be prepared to throw away your expensive tooling, innovate like hell and come up with a better mousetrap. The real question is, can they do it without Andrew McDougall.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
After another two hectic days of, sanding, sanding, filling, sanding, sanding, filling and more sanding we finally undercoated the hull today. The last two days have really felt like we are chasing our tails where just when you think you are done, you find some where else that needs filling and then the cycle starts all over again.
To get to this stage, we have added about 300 grams of filer, 150 grams of primer and 500 grams of undercoat.
The successes however just keep on coming as after a couple of false starts, we now have a completed set of moulds for the foil horizontals. In the end the total cutting time was about 11 hours, (5.5 hours per side).
I have taken a couple of days off, so the weekend is only half over (yay). Tomorrow’s to-do list is more sanding (boo), building a gantry jig and spraying on the top coats.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
BMW Oracle racing have launched their 90′ square trimaran that will be used in the 1:1 match with Alenghi if the current court ruling stands.
It’s right about now when I expect Doug Lord to start a sailing anarchy forum with "proof" that a moth is faster.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
Teknologika is almost ready for some colour. There are still a few spots to fill, but apart from those she is ready for undercoating. The photo makes things look worse than they are as most of the “filler” you can see is actually just primer in light surface scratches from when the layers of clear coat were removed.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
So our good friends at Channel 7 decided to show about 1 minute in total of the 49er medal race. Well thanks to everyones’ favorite video sharing site youtube you can watch a 10 min highlight package of the action packed race.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
One of the key themes of the terminator moves is machines that make machines. Well
we are now doing our bit to help move towards that future with the CNC machine now
cutting out bits for itself!
I suppose I had better get moving on my foil designs designs. If only I didn’t have
another moth related side project that was keeping me busy …
The video is here.
Original post by Bruce McLeod and software by Elliott Back
One of the key themes of the terminator movies is machines that make machines. Well we are now doing our bit to help move towards that future with the CNC machine now cutting out bits for itself!
I suppose I had better get moving on my foil designs. If only I didn’t have another moth related side project that was keeping me busy …
The video is here.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
One of the key themes of the terminator movies is machines that make machines. Well we are now doing our bit to help move towards that future with the CNC machine now cutting out bits for itself!
I suppose I had better get moving on my foil designs. If only I didn’t have another moth related side project that was keeping me busy …
The video is here.
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
I have always had a lot of respect for John Ilett’s work, but I have not experienced
it personally. Until today. Lea was kind enough to give me a sail on his prowler,
and I was facking impressed. It felt so much quicker than my boat it was not funny,
and it’s all down to the foils.
The wind was a steady 15 with some serious gusts to 20-22+, and the speed over the
water was seriously impressive. So impressive that I was completely shitting myself.
Returning to the shore, Lea asked if I had broken anything as I was coming in so soon.
My response was simple and short, “no Lea, mi cohones pequeño”
New foils just jumped to the top of the winter build list. Now if only I had a CNC
machine handy …
Original post by Bruce McLeod and software by Elliott Back
Upon the IMCA site at the moment is a general reminder that rule 20.3 (d) (i) will
be enforced at the worlds What the heck is that rule? I’m glad you asked.
(d) (i) Boats
The forward part of the hull on each side of all participating boats in an event shall
only display advertising chosen and required to be displayed by that event organizer
as follows:
- for boats under 6.5 metres, 25% of the hull length, and
- for boats over 6.5 metres, 20% of the hull length
excluding bow numbers. If such advertising is required, it shall be so stated
in the Notice of Race. If advertising is for alcohol or tobacco, the word “may”
instead of “shall” applies;
So this essentially means that the entire front 25% of the hull must be free of any
sponsors logos, the name of you boat or any builders marks. I am glad I know this
now as I was planning to put the name of my boat there when I re-paint it, and I would
have to remove those stickers at any event that enforces this rule.
I think that major event sponsors deserve this type of exposure and I expect that
more events will enforce this rule going forwards.
I can also see a lot of boat owners having to remove the Bladerider signage off the
front of their boats in the next few weeks to comply with this rule. That would suck.
Original post by Bruce McLeod and software by Elliott Back
Ok here it is. This is what we have been working on. It’s a homebuilt CNC router for
making the next generation of foil moulds to upgrade my foils to a new more modern
design.
This should be up and running this week hardware wise, now on to the software …
Original post by Bruce McLeod and software by Elliott Back
This week Bladerider have launched another model into their lineup, the FX. According to their site, the main differences are a fiberglass gel-coated hull, straight wings, aluminum gantry and prodder, dacron sail, significantly reduced price and a one design class.
One design classes generally promise that there is an even playing field with all equipment being identical. Once you talk to a few people who compete at the top levels in classes like the 49er you realise that this is not the case at all. For example, 49er masts. The top 49er guys will arrive at the docks when the batch of masts arrives from the manufacturer and go through the entire shipment of masts looking for masts that are on the extremes of manufacturing tolerances for stiffness. This essentially allows them to get stiff and soft masts for a class where all masts are created equal. (The class is currently addressing this by switching to carbon masts).
Having spent the last six months developing my own boat, it is very apparent that tiny changes in certain areas on a moth can make huge performance differences around the course, and these types of changes would be almost impossible to police if someone wanted to bend the rules a little bit. So the whole one design thing doesn’t appeal to me at all, and I don’t think it will work as the motivation to tinker is too great with a foiler.
So do I think the FX is a bad idea? Quite the opposite actually. I think that the idea of the FX is a good one. For a lighter guy, say in the 65-75 kg mark, of average skill level, they could buy a FX, sail it well and still expect to be very competitive in a moth fleet. They probably won’t win, but there are a lot of us that would never sail at all if our goal was to win. Will they be the first to take off in light weather? Probably not. Could they expect to be right there in medium winds if they sailed well? Absolutely. Could they upgrade their boat in the future? Well it is still a moth …
Lowering the barrier to entry for the class is a very welcome addition, especially in countries where there is not a large number of second hand boats.
So would I buy one, probably not as is, however add in the option of an FX plus where I can upgrade to a carbon hull and a monofilm sail but keep the cheaper wings, gantry and prodder and I think it would be very tempting. The only problem then is that I would continue to live in envy of those uber-sexy moulded wings …
Original post by Bruce and software by Elliott Back
There is a lot of talk about facks at the moment. So far all the evidence to date
has been of touch and go tacks where the boat does touch ever so slightly before lifting
off again. A great example of this can be seem in the videos of Rohan and Bora.
Rohan even states the following in the Bladerider
high performance guide “It seems that only a few have claimed to have done an
airborne tack, but rarely (ie ever) are they ever witnessed by anyone”. On Sailing
Anarcy they simply say “Pictures or it didn’t happen”. Well you are going to have
pictures then Thierry Martinez is the guy to take them.
In the sequence you can see that Simon Payne has clearly tacked and is nowhere near
the surface of the water in his latest blog entry.
So now that the grail has been found, we don’t have to worry about the Knights
who say Ni.
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Original post by Bruce McLeod and software by Elliott Back
Well it’s that time of year apparently, and it’s time for the Worlds form guide. This
time around I have applied a confidential, statistical approach to how things are
worked out. (In other words I guessed.) My guess included the following factors:
- Results at previous world championships
- Results at the most recent regatta the sailor has competed in.
- The gear they are using
- The amount of time they have spent on preparation
This system places greater emphasis on regatta results than training so the results
are a but different to some other form guides out there. I am not trying to predict
the finishing order, I am giving odds on the overall winner.
2:1 Simon Payne
Previous world champion, a recent win at Weston, solid preparation and the latest
generation Fastacraft gear places Simon at the top of the list at 2:1.
3:1 Scott Babbage
“Identical” gear to Simon, and a solid preparation places Scott second at 3:1. The
main difference between Scott and Simon in the odds is Simon’s previous world championship
win.
5:1 Rohan Veal and Andrew McDougall
Rohan’s previous results and amount of time on the water have kept him high in the
5:1 odds here, even after retiring. He claims his fitness isn’t as good as it used
to be, but you won’t see him puffing and wheezing his way around the course. The new
prototype Bladerider that he is apparently bringing won’t be any slower than a standard
one.
Amac’s solid performances in recent regattas are placing him well here. He will be
right there, but failing to capture that number 1 slot perviously at the worlds is
keeping him at 5:1.
7:1 Matt Belcher
Matt is the exception to my formula. It
calculated him lower because he has not competed at a world championships before.
That same excuse didn’t stop him winning the Australian nationals first time out.
Scott beat him fair and square at the NSW states, and Amac at the Victorian States,
so he rates below them at 7:1.
10:1 Graham Vials, John Harris and Bora Gulari
Graham, John and Bora are all sailing well and using Bladerider equipment. Bora’s
display of foiling tacks is impressive, but it takes more than tacks to win a world
championship. John and Graham both appear to be on the pace and are sailing well.
Want to see what other’s think you can read guides from Scott, Phil and
the UK.
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Original post by Bruce McLeod and software by Elliott Back
Over on a moth
sailing discussion on Sailing Anarchy, some guys suggested that it would be good
to have a specific search engine that could be used to search the “Mothosphere”.
Great Idea so I went ahead and built it … http://www.mothosphere.com
It’s implemented using a google custom search with a limited subset of websites. The
look and feel will improve when I have a bit more time.
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Original post by Bruce McLeod and software by Elliott Back
With the guesses coming in, I thought that I would post another image of what we are
building.
I expect that this one will give the game away …
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Original post by Bruce McLeod and software by Elliott Back
It’s getting closer by the day …
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Original post by Bruce McLeod and software by Elliott Back
Another great discussion has started on
sailing anarchy. It’s one of the most interesting threads I have read in a long time,
here are the first few posts. 
 Today,12:53 AM Post #1
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