I posted an event report on MYA downwind but for me it was a disappointing day as it highlighted the shortcoming in my rig setup or more to the point the way the mast was prebent. On a positive there is room for improvement and you tend to learn more from your mistakes than successes.
Whilst I was disappointed in myself I did prove that an Alioth out of the box with old sails on a badly pre-bent or rather kinked mast can be competitive and Craig showed that a well set up Alioth can dominate. WIth the boom band on the Alioth measurement of 150 mm above the step, the main boom is high and requires the mast to be vertical to lose the weather helm. It did not look pretty combined with the kinky prebend.
My challenge for the day was getting off the line with a boat slightly off the pace. Instead of having a nose in front after the first 40 yards I was a nose behind. Not easy to handle. That combined with 3 races where I was taken out on the start by a boat that decided to bear away into me and take me the opposite way to the fleet, picking up a reed whist lying 4 th and ending up last and then my own mistake of trying to pass Craig on port when the call was a too close. 360's on the first beat are not conducive to doing well. Stupid mistakes are all to frequent.
So on the back of the event, the to do list was:
Stage 1
New A rig mast with smooth prebend
Drop all the rigs to make the step to band dimension 135mm. This gets the boom band and boom as close to deck level as possible. the spreaders on the a rig are 62mm.
Balance the boat with mast rake
Continue using 2020 vintage sails
Stage 2
Sand the hull smooth
Stage 3
Apply up to date racing sails
I want three stages because I want to see how the boat performs at each step to see what difference it makes
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