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Since the Marblehead meeting at Fleetwood I attended the IOM ranking event in Eastbourne and the DF65 Nationals at Gosport. The report for the Eastbourne meeting is on the MYA web site and the DF Nationals will be posted soon.
Eastbourne did not go so well for me but I had enough points in the bag to qualify for the Worlds which is my main objective for the year. I had to test out my Alioth with smaller prebend, a bulb a fraction too far aft and a fin not raked far enough back creating weather helm and the boat slightly stern down. The challenge with weather helm is you cannot take your eyes off the boat for a moment and when you do you lose a boat length or two which in this level of competition is a disaster. The other thing is it does not allow you to drive the boat upwind with high VMG. That said and done, when I got back home I set too with the Dremel and moved the bulb over 1.5cm forward which put the bulb back in its design position, with the fin raked back the full 2.5 degrees, which I knew would work. Interestingly when I measured the angle of the trailing edge it was exactly vertical. Whether that means anything I do not know.
I put the boat back on the water after the fin and bulb adjustment and with a bit more prebend in the mast and hey presto, it was on its lines again with the transom just kissing the water and when sailing the boat was perfectly balanced. You may ask why I did not do this before Eastbourne? The answer was I was concerned I might ruin the bulb but as it happened the end result and fit was near perfect. Hindsight is always the best manager.
Lots more is happening on the development front which I will set out on the web site after the Nationals when I have time to document everything. I am trying to get a new boat on the water for the nationals but we have experienced a couple of technical challenges so it maybe a bit last minute. com
The DF 65 Nationals went pretty well. The wind was blowing across the Cockle pond at Gosport and we had a decent race course although the wind was horrendously shifty. It was my third time out in the boat so 5th was not a bad result. To be honest I struggled initially in the shifting winds which is not my favourite condition but gradually got to grips with the boats and the shifts to produce a half decent result. I like the DF65 and the one design nature of the sailing. They are tricky boats to sail fast and the competition is fierce. I look forward to the TT races later this year. One tip if you have a DF is to always wash the bearings in the gooseneck carefully at the end of each day and add a bit of silicon or oil to stop the rusting.
More after the IOM Nationals