Passion X

It was a windy forecast for Wednesday afternoon that frightened off all but six of the black fleet. The cooler weather and chance of rain did not set the scene for a comfortable post race BBQ so it was to be expected that numbers would be down. The brave six that did turn up had a good race with the bravest being Adrian with his new J121E who started with full main and jib and was rewarded with a first up fastest time. Flashback and Lisdillon pulled out their reefs next and finished in that order. We left our reef in for the second work to Goat Island and while there were some strong gusts there was also a lot of light air holes. Soundtrack and Fireball started to catch us on this work and Lisdillon and Flashback built up handy leads behind Jodi. A couple of big shifts around the eastern side of Goat Island enabled us to break away from Soundtrack and Fireball and after clearing Goat we pulled out the reef for the run home. We still had the small No3 jib up so we made little impression on the leaders. As the race finished the strong wind we had set sails for arrived but it was too late us.

In an attempt to improve our windward performance in a breeze I changed the bridle system on the mainsheet for two blocks either side of the companionway. It worked fine for allowing the boom to hang to leeward in the gusts but left a lot of spare mainsheet flogging around across the deck. It is a pretty standard arrangement for many of the Hanse yachts but was not to my crew’s liking. Also the spare sheet flicked a winch handle over board and that is expensive. Today I went back to the drawing board researching mainsheet systems and decided to revert to the bridle system. I unashamedly stole the idea from the very successful Jeanneau 439 and since then Jeanneau have used it on the new 440 and 490. I have a lot of respect for the Jeanneau design team and seeing the idea on the latest 490 convinced me to give it another chance. To help with the dumping of the mainsheet in gusts I added another 2:1 purchase to the vang system and then took Passion X for a solo sail to test it. With just the single reefed main up I had couple of pleasant works up to the Balmain shore and back inspecting the flow of the leech tell tales. I had added an upper and lower ribbon yesterday and they had streamed well with the Hanse style mainsheet system so I was interested to see how they went with the beefed up vang. To be honest I think they did not stream quite as well but then I did not have the headsail up so the main was not sailing in the header from the jib.

It was instructive to see how high the boat would point with the boom dropped to leeward like we sail the cat rigged Laser and it is a reminder why we do not have the boom in the Laser on the centreline as we do with a yacht with a large jib or genoa.

What I did lean from my solo sail is how hard it is to dump sheet when the mainsheet is wrapped around the winch. But who is strong enough to hold it by hand and play it in and out. Perhaps we do need a double ended main with a hand held 16:1 ratio for trimming!

Looking at the promo photos from the various manufacturers web sites I did notice a lot of sideways bend in the centre sheeted booms. Now we had to go for a larger section on Passion X when we bent the first one and I have sleeved the larger section around the spread out blocks so I will have to take a few photos under load for comparison.

The up and down breeze at Fort Denison was typical of our breeze on Wednesday night

For a second week we under canvassed for the runs and reaches without any noticeable improvement on the windward legs. I did replace the top two battens in the No3 jib with softer ones that did improve the sail shape in the lighter conditions and two slightly softer battens in the main seemed to be a small improvement but only at the margins. We made a good start but from the outset were run over by the fleet carrying full size sails. Sweet Chariot was holding us comfortably and on looking at the numbers it is not surprising. Their full size rig is a few m2 smaller than our rig with the No 3 jib but their wetted surface area is also less. The advantage of our longer waterline length did not kick in until well into the second lap when the breeze increased giving us a small jump on Sweet Chariot which we held to home. We sheeted the jib to the gunwhale for the reach home from Goat Island and noticed an improvement. As we approached Humbug we thought for a moment we might catch Fireball but they had a blinder of a run through Humbug and another podium finish. For the Summer series it seemed that Flashback, Fireball and Sweet Chariot could do no wrong and only a reappearance of Lisdillon stopped a clean sweep. If we are to be competitive on all legs of the course we need to find a way to carry the No 1 genoa upwind. Transom cam was in action again but it was not as well aimed as last week and it did not capture much in the way of the competitors. A photo from Jeff Lewis posted on the Greenwich Flying Squadron facebook page from the previous week shows the rig we carried and why we did not finish in the money.

Au under canvassed Passion X finished mid fleet for the last two weeks.

After days of windy weather we were cautious in the jib selection department and went for the non overlapping No 3 jib for the twilight race. You can imagine how we felt when we lined up for the start and could see the earlier starting fleets becalmed in Humbug. We rationalised that it would be heavier out on the course and made a very good start on the club end of the line on starboard but were forced to turn away early as two of the leeward yachts tacked onto port in our path. Rule 14 says don’t hit them no matter how much they deserved to be hit and we did just manage to tack and get across the bow of Jackpot who started further back along the line.
It was not good being first of the black fleet into Humbug as the earlier fleet was becalmed along the Onion Point shore and there was no room to go below them. Indeed they tacked onto starboard just as we arrived forcing us to tack away from the favoured shore. Jackpot arriving later was able to squeeze down the shore and escape way out in front of the rest of the black fleet. Dump Truck went as low and as fast as possible into clear air but was still a long way behind Jackpot.
Flashback and Passion X were having a good time trading tacks up the course to Goat Island and our pleasure was only interrupted by a sneaky Fireball who found a lift in closer to Goat Island and sailed on past.
Every now and then Dump Truck would park in a windless zone giving us false hopes of catching them but it was not to be.
Much Ado V kept catching from behind giving us anxious moments but we held on in the dying breeze.
We did work the small jib and main as best we could in the light conditions. By easing the back stay in the lulls we put draft into the headsail and powered up the main. In the gusts we wound the backstay back on to depower the main. With the fluky conditions this was a frequent activity.

For the evening we set 12 m2 less area than the J122 and 20 m2 less than the First 40.7. While both yachts are heavier their wetted surface area is similar so it is not surprising that both did well on handicap.

The surprise was our 3rd place on handicap as we did relatively better against everyone except the J 122 and the First 40.7 and quite a few were left out on the course in the dying breeze.

Hopefully next time the breeze is this strength we will set an extra 10 m2 of sail area that is fuller and more suited to the light breeze.

Small jib with very stiff battens did not look good in the dying breeze

Room to tack diagram very similar to the position discussed.

On Thursday I was still contemplating  a yacht’s response to a call for room to tack. Rule 19 gives only two options for a call for room to tack. The first is for the hailed yacht to tack and then the hailing yacht must promptly tack too. The hailing yacht must tack even if she subsequently gets a lift that would carry her above the obstruction. If she does not tack she would be subject to a protest and would lose. The other option is for the hailed yacht to call “You tack” if she is prepared to give the hailing yacht room to tack and avoid her in a seaman like manner. A yacht that is not given safe room to tack and avoid a collision would win a protest as the hailed yacht has assumed responsibility for giving room. The particular circumstances which have left me perplexed was a response to our call for room to tack to being met with a response to “go behind.” Now “Go behind” is not a valid response although in a protest it might be accepted that it was shorthand for “You tack and please try to go behind if you can.” I did not anticipate that we would be able to complete the tack and go behind in a seaman like manner but was left with no choice but to attempt the manoeuvre. We did clear the stern of the hailed yacht but not in a seaman like manner. The hailed yacht might argue well you cleared our stern so our call was good, ignoring all the alternate possibilities if we had not cleared. The sharp tack and bear away might not have been possible if the breeze had been a couple of knots stronger.  In most cases the windward right of way yacht can tack and be in either a clear ahead position or at worst in a leeward position As for the rest of the race we did better as the breeze faded and those caught out on the course in fading breeze had a particularly slow trip home. We have been there before and I felt empathy for Soundtrack and Ausreo. Soundtrack in particular had been with us at Goat Island and must have found a lot of holes on the way back. At the front of the fleet Captain Beck scooted away early and managed to stay in front of the aircraft carrier, Flashback, who has sailed in a very flash manner this past two weeks. The light air conditions on Thursday was an opportunity to take the mainsail of Passion X and have the reef points on the luff moved aft to match the position of the reef  lines further back on the boom than is usual. We have three sets of single line reefs that can be managed from the cockpit and with the third reef in the sail meets Category 4 requirement. It is a 50 m2 sail made from heavy Hydranet radial and that makes it a handful for one person. I was fortunate to have the help of a fellow club member for the take off but was not so lucky for the refit. I did use the 2:1 main halyard to winch the sail up onto the boom but there was still a bit of man handling needed to fit all the slugs in the track and re attach all the lines. I stopped a couple of times for a rest and still managed to have it all packed away by 4:00 pm. Included in my refitting exercise was testing the bottom two reef positions which meant hauling the mail to almost full hoist. It was a very civilised process swinging on the mooring and enjoying a cool beer from the fridge which by luck I had left on for the day.

No 1 reef point now in the correct position

No 2 reef point also moved aft

Another job ticked off the list was replacing the nozzle head on the transom shower. At $14.95 this will be one of the least expensive luxuries on board. During the day I heard from the crew on Sirocco who had the embarrassment to be knocked overboard by the boom during an unplanned gybe. They are all well and thankful for the assistance from the crew of GWhizz who plucked them from the water and for the crew of Dreamer who stood by in case extra aid was needed. It is a timely reminder to practice crew retrieval.

Screen shot from Volvo Ocean race footage showing a fishing boat off the coast of the Solomon Islands

AkzoNobel off the coast of the Solomon Islands taken from drone footage

Mapfre in port Cape Town helicopter photo

The video footage from the Volvo Ocean race has been amazing. The images taken from the helicopter at the start of the legs has been groundbreaking in showing how awesome these yachts are and how fast they can sail.
I believe each yacht is carrying a drone and the footage from the on board drones is a first for ocean racing. The cruising blogs have been using the drones for a few years now and showing scenes from remote locations and now the Volvo Ocean racers are showing some footage far out to sea.
I have taken a screen shot from the latest drone footage not just for the view of the yacht but to show the by catch of the footage, a deep sea fishing boat off the east coast of the Solomon Islands.

The first race of the New Year was our chance to see if the extra rake in the mast had made any difference. It started in a good fresh breeze and in those conditions the No 3 jib and full main were doing a good job of keeping in front of Flashback and Dump Truck. Stephen was in his element in the new Meridian and with a crack skipper on board he lead the fleet all the way around the course. Meridian’s race was outstanding considering her rating and if that form is continued the J 112 yachts will be winning a lot of ORCi and IRC races.
As the breeze died we found ourselves very much under powered. Our No 3 is a heavy air flat sail and does not develop the power of a light air non overlapping jib so we suffer from more than the 10 m2 of sail reduction.
I am tempted to try the No 1 in heavier conditions with the reefed main even thought this is not the optimum sailing configuration. In this mode we can take out the reef if the breeze dies but only if we have the leeward backstay right off and behind the head before we start.
We did score third place on handicap for the night so perhaps we are a bit hard on ourselves. We knew what gear we had up and there were no grumbles from the crew as we enjoyed a very pleasant evening.
Christian Beck fresh from the Hobart race in Infotrack had a slow start on Dump Truck but once in the groove made a good recovery and sailed quickly through the fleet. For the record Dump Truck had 10 m2 more sail area up and weighs 500kg less so I have to be circumspect about our performance as the breeze failed us.

Thursday was a great day for a light air trial of our new Code 0 which has been sitting in the hull for weeks waiting for the bowsprit rigging to be finished and for a suitable day. In around 7 knots we had a very pleasant reach out to the heads and back down the harbour. The 60 m2 sail area will serve us well in light air tight reaching and might be an interesting sail for short leg work in the west harbour.

Sunday was the hottest day since we launched Passion X and the heat on the perspex sliding hatch was so much that it expanded until it would not slide. A quick remove, trim and replace was effected in 35 degree heat but the job is done and will suffice until the next temperature record in say 80 years time.

Tight reaching to the heads with the Code 0

A tricky attempt at flying the code 0 to windward.

No not the cricket but a photo of Passion X on the cover of the latest Australian Amateur Boat Building magazine. The designer Dudley Dix has a good article on his radius chine method of construction and used a few photos of Passion X and his original Black Cat to illustrate the article.

Australian Amateur Boat Building magazine cover shot of Passion X

It has been quiet on the sailing front with the last race of 2017 abandoned due to a storm cell and accompanying lightning at the time skippers were attempting to get yacht off their moorings. The cell did pass but too late for the racing which was already appropriately abandoned.

For Christmas we headed north to Ballina for family celebrations and a good rest. After Ballina I flew to Perth for some time with my family there and am now back ready for sailing.

Today Joe Walsh had a look at the rig and we raked it back a few centimetres to try to gets some weather helm. The forecast for tomorrow is 20 knots so we should soon know if we have enough rake. The bend in the mast now looks more even so we will see how the draft looks.

The book the “Art and Science of Sailing” given to me by a crew member has provided much food for thought. It has the best description of the forces on the sail that I have read and a good scientific basis for how to trim the sails. Now if I could only work out how to invert the top of the mainsail to give windward forces on the head to counteract the heeling forces I would be happy.

In other Christmas reading I note the new Jeanneau 490 has a mainsheet bridle just like the one we have on Passion x and this is a yacht that weighs twice as much so it seems the idea of the bridle from the 349 is migrating to larger models.

It has been a few busy days since the last race at Greenwich. On Thursday I was preoccupied connecting the NBN HCF connection and on Friday preparing Passion X for a quick exit to Pittwater on Saturday. The weather was perfect for a very tight beat up and a broad reach home. The beat was perhaps just 2 degrees tighter than I would have liked and the speed difference was noticeable but I was too lazy to bear away and have to tack back out to sea.

Elaine enjoying the cruising on Passion x

A very quiet Refuge Bay on the weekend before Christmas

At Refuge Bay the boom tent awnings provided excellent protection from the sun and Passion X was more comfortable than Passion by a long way. On the run home we did miss the Bimini but made up for it with long pants, long sleeved shirt, wide brimmed hat and plenty of sunscreen.
I was disappointed with last weeks race at Greenwich. It was almost a retrial of a race earlier in the season where I said I would like a resail with the No 4 jib instead of the No 3. Well it was better on the work to Goat Island and on the run back to Cockatoo and we were still in contact at the West end of Cockatoo island until we became becalmed in too close to the lee of the island. The small jib and reefed main need plenty of wind to keep the boat moving and we had none of that.
The second windward work was also very gusty but with a lot of holes and in the holes we suffered probably more than most and the gains in the gusts were not material. The final disappointment was to see Soundtrack pull out the reef in the main and with a much larger genoa just power away from us on the work home from Cockatoo Island.
Well done to the crew on Flashback who set a very conservative rig for the first windward work and held on for a good win. We expect Much Ado 5 to do well and they did come second with a heavy air loving Lisdillon beating us by 4 minutes over the line and 7 minutes on handicap.

Antifouling touch up on Passion X

While the top guns from Dump Truck and Much Ado V were away playing with Infotrac the rest of the GFS Black fleet enjoyed the YOTS night at the club. A group of enthusiastic youths from Youth Off The Street descended on the club and we were fortunate to have three strong young men join Passion X for their first sailing experience.
We were delighted to give them a close race with Jackpot and Flashback and even more delighted to score a fastest times win.
Courtesy of our photographic ambassadors we have some more photos from the evening.
The race was conducted in the aftermath of a rain and lightning front that had me a bit concerned. The BOM rain radar suggested it would all clear up in time and so it did with the wind returning right on cue.
With the change in wind direction the only was to cross the line was on starboard tack but for some reason a couple of port tackers forgot what was their left hand and what was the right hand and even refused a call. To make matters worse they tacked onto starboard on front and forced us up above our line. No wonder we were not first into Humbug and had to chase Jackpot down the course in just a couple of knots of breeze.
It was pleasant with the three young guns on the bow lifting the stern of Passion X right out of the water and reducing the wetted surface. We had just snuck past Jackpot and were still in front of the menacing Flashback when fresh wind sprung up turning the run into a tight work to Goat Island. Being in front helped as we had first use of the breeze and held the lead around Goat and back past Snails Bay. In Snails Bay the YOTS trio provided live ballast so we could take advantage of the last gusts to come up the river.
Jackpot and Flashback were giving each other a bit of treatment behind and that left us to concentrate on using what fluky wind there was.
Through Humbug our first two tacks were right out of phase and the chartplotter tracks show how easy it was for Flashback to catch and lead us out of Humbug. Our salvation was a starboard tacking red fleet yacht that put Flashback about leaving us free to sail closer to the lay line to the finish. We took advantage of that piece of luck from to windward and Jackpot took advantage from leeward to establish the finishing order.
Nothing it seems can stop Sweet Chariot winning on handicap with a naughty 35 footer in second place while we managed the third spot for the night.

Today we had lift at Woolwich Dock to touch up the antifouling on Passion X and it was a stunning Sydney day for the task.

Passion X enjoying first us e of the new breeze

Passion X leading into Humbug with the YOTS trio on the bow

Passion X takes the gun

Light duties are driving me nuts since I would rather be out on the water testing sail settings on Passion X than sitting at home writing blogs. I am also mortified that my gentle observation on my face book page that we need to do better to sail to our difficult ORCi and ICR ratings was cheekily construed by a “friend” as wielding the cat o nine tails whip. The crew has already rejected T shirts bearing the observation “The beatings shall continue until morale improves” so perhaps I am just digging a deeper hole by raising the topic. Despite my disbelief at the level of our ratings in both forms of the game (ORCi and IRC) I do believe we are not sailing the yacht to its potential. The crew have observed some very good performance and we would like to emulate them more often. Some recent very good photos of Passion X on a twilight evening at Greenwich Flying Squadron gives a basis for comparison with the really top gun boats in the 40 ft size range. Tongue in cheek, but perhaps more seriously than that, I have found a few photos for comparison. Apart from the rather obvious large numbers of crew leaning hard from the rail of Invictus there are some sail setting observations worth considering. These Fast 40+ yachts have wider spreaders and despite that their sails when beating in heavy air are well wide of the spreaders and their booms are dropped to leeward. This is something we need to experiment with and find how to have such a free leech with out it flogging in the wind or hooking with a tight leech line.

Passion X current windward sail settings. This was in a light patch of an other wise average 13 knot evening.

Invictus at a similar angle to Passion X in the first photo with some minor changes to crew positions

Girls on Film on starboard crossing Invictus on a hard windward beat. Note the jib twist and boom down.

I am on light duties for a couple of weeks so the light weather on Wednesday night was just what the doctor ordered. For most of the night I occupied the back corner with Elaine and we shared the back stay duty. From the stern I could get a very good view of the mainsail and played the back stay on and off according to the strength of the breeze. After eight months of sailing Passion X I was still surprised at how responsive the mainsail is to back stay tension and Ron was able to leave the mainsheet in the one position for much of the windward works. In the light conditions we drifted out of Humbug with the fleet closely packed. Dump Truck had her nose in front at the exit and was first to the breeze. Soundtrack had edged ahead to leeward and also took off early so there was a good crowd going down the side of Cockatoo Island. From recall we had Flashback to Leeward on starboard and Soundtrack in front when a competitor pushed through inside alongside the continuous obstruction and then wanted room to not hit Soundtrack. We could have argued all night but rule 14 says avoid a collision and I was in no mood for a protest hearing so I told the crew to let it go. My reading of all the discussion on continuous obstructions is that the yacht passing inside must have a clear path and that includes all other yachts ahead which are obstructions. If the passing yacht is naturally faster and has a following wind that blankets the clear ahead yacht then there is no way they should go inside. If they want to be there they have to win the race to the corner of Cockatoo Island. Irukandji was having a good night and threatening to go inside around the end of the island so we pinched up into the dirty air of Soundtrack and which was not the fastest place to be. Soundtrack and Jackpot ahead drew away while we had an absorbing tussle with Irukandji and Flashback all the way to the finish line. Flashback made a huge gain alongside the Greenwich shore while we lost out on the Balmain shore but with all the wins and losses we came together at the navigation mark off Goat Island with Flashback streaming in on starboard. It did not help our case that Irukandji had just tacked onto port above and overlapped so that we had no where to go to other than take Flashback’s stern below the navigation mark. Perhaps it was the outgoing tide or the lift off the sails of Flashback but just as we tried to tack we lifted to the mark and scraped around it with inches to spare. Once we regained our composure it was time to chase Flashback down and try to stay in front of Irukandji. From my perch at the back of Passion X I aimed the Gopro camera at Irukandji and ordered her to stay behind. I aimed it at Flashback and noted her sweet sail settings and tried to emulate them on Passion X to a degree of success. We made a little break on Irukandji which lasted to home and soon ran down Soundtrack. The fleet ahead of Jackpot, Dump Truck and Much Ado V were becalmed in Humbug and we hoped for another miracle by hugging the Onion Point shore. Flashback ahead had to tack away from the shore while we lifted further along and were able to tack back ahead. (Thank you wind gods) From behind Irukandji also caught Flashback to add to the insult. Our fourth across the line was a little undeserved but as always we take what crumbs we can. Talking about crumbs the series wrapped up tonight and we were 4th fastest over the spring. There was a tight race between Jackpot, Flashback and Passion X and to be fair Dump Truck might have won had the paper work been in order but as I said we take what crumbs we can.

Stay there Irukandji

Nice trim on Flashback sails ahead

Fastest times result for the spring series

For those with deep pockets who want to race at the front of the Greenwich Flying Squadron Black fleet on the Wednesday night social race they can do little better than look at the Ker 40+ Invictus that is now up for sale at GB Pounds 575.000.00. Google translates that to AUD 1,006,700 but you might be able to haggle the seller down to under a million as you will need another $25 grand to get it to Aus.
My guess is that it will rate 1.3 and do well in the super 12 regatta at Port Stephens if they go there again.
Our Passion X rates around the 1.1 for which I am very crooked on the handicappers but be that as it is, it cost around AUD200,000.00 For five times the cost we could go 18% faster. My quick calculation is that this is A$44.000 per percent of boat speed.
Since Invictus was launched she has has a foam filled bow added and a keel modification and the designer has more go fast ideas in mind.
We all want to go faster and on Sunday at Middle Harbour Yacht Club I had a look at Show Time a 2011 Ker 40 that rates 1.2. Since launch, from the ORC rating certificates, it appears she has shed half a tonne of weight and grown a deeper keel. Also the mainsail has gone up 5 m2 and all this has increased the rating from 1.13 to 1.2. Regardless of results they seem happy sailing in the Super twelve fleet.
There is a demo MC 38 for sale at A$375,000 and that rates around 1.2. The draft at 2.8 metres would also be an issue but in terms of bang for buck it would seem cheaper speed than Invictus. On a dollar per percent increase in speed (compared to Passion X) it is a more realistic $19444.00.
Now there are practical limits to keel depth if you want to finish the GFS Twilight race without running aground. We draw 2.45 metres and have already touched the soft muddy bottom up the Lane Cove River and we are nervous sailing the Drummoyne shore.
We are not at a draft disadvantage compared to Dump Truck, the Ker 11.3 that draws 2.4 metres but they have less in the carbon hull and rig and more in the keel for a massive increase in righting moment compared to our epoxy ply hull and alloy rig. This shows up in the ORC speed guides where the Ker 11.3 is quite a bit quicker to windward than Passion X and we are supposed to catch them off the wind with with frequent sail changes. (Yeah! Right!)
On the plus side we have 600 litres of water storage if we want to fill it up. hot and cold running water with inside and transom showers and a big powerful fridge to get the beer cold during the twilight race.
With that in mind it must be time to take Passion X up to Pittwater relaxing along the way as the autopilot looks after the steering.

This post is both pre and post op. The post op is from a fibre reinforced David who is feeling pretty well.

Last night we improved on our previous race and finished fifth fastest. The fresher than expected breeze faded at the end of the race stringing the fleet out a little more and favouring the front runners for handicap places.
Dump truck gave the fleet another lesson but this time it was mainly in how to sail fast so it was Dump Truck then daylight followed by a fast improving Jackpot.  Flashback with a new genoa just held out Much Ado V and we followed across the line.
With the light winds forecast the course setters sent us out around Cockatoo Island then to Goat Island and home. The breeze freshened at the start and stayed around 12 to 15 knots for almost the whole hour of the race. In anticipation of sub 10 knots we set the 140% genoa and a full main which served us well on the reach out of Humbug and run around Cockatoo Island. Once on the work to Goat Island Dump Truck and Flashback, who were ahead,  drew away and Jackpot overtook us along Cockatoo Island. Much Ado V caught us by Long Nose and Ausreo was right on our stern. A combination of our dirty air and lightening winds allowed us to hold out Ausreo until we could reach away at an angle more favoured to Passion X.
We were clearly overpowered to windward. At 10 knots we are at our limit for maximum boat speed. At 14 knots we should have a reef in the main and the No 3 jib to windward and full sail area downwind.  The struggle is to find the right sail combination for upwind and downwind or like Flashback last week change down and then change up the headsail. I was reading the post on Sailing Anarchy

http://sailinganarchy.com/2017/11/21/maybe-not-completely/

“But this speed is crazy. In the last race, we were the king of the light and medium air but we were not fast in heavy weather so we worked really hard to find solutions this winter and this investment has paid off.”

So I think we need to work really hard and we will find a solution. I would like last week’s race over again with the No 4 jib and the main reefed and I would like last night’s race again with the No 3 jib and the full main. But considering what we had up I think we sailed pretty well by adjusting the rig for the up and down conditions and we will improve with more time on the water.

The other  post on Sailing Anarchy also caught my eye

http://sailinganarchy.com/2017/11/21/dummy-of-the-day/

So our little pre race bottom touch in the soft mud could have been worse.

Overnight some good photos came in courtesy of Peter Miller.

Dump Truck is already in Humbug but here is Flashback, Jackpot and Much Ado V making up the fleet ahead of Passion

Passion X just ahead of Soundtrack beating to Goat Island

Passion X close up

Passion X from the stern

The Big Ausreo arrives on the scene

Followed by Lisdillon

Fireball and Sweet Chariot fight it out

I have a many small tasks to complete on Passion X before she will be fully finished and today I tackled a few that needed some epoxy undercoat. I had already made up intricate backing pieces for the bolts holding the bowsprit. These had been shaped and painted and now needed to be epoxied inside the anchor locker and finished off with a final coat of epoxy. An extra coat of epoxy was added inside the bolt holes to lock out the water. As I worked away in the confined space of the anchor locker I noticed the area where the latch was fitted was unpainted so it received a coat of clear epoxy and a couple of coats of white epoxy wet on wet to seal the edge of the plywood. This is a really strong area of the boat as I put a 12 mm ply doubler on the hull side to carry the load of the bowsprit and two 12 mm ply doublers on the deck side to compensate for the hole in the deck for the lid of the locker. It is no coincidence that it looks like a J122 anchor locker including a matching latch.
The surplus epoxy primer/undercoat was used for a few tiny touch up jobs and to coat a section of backing ply inside the vanity in the head. It has been unpainted since March but the head is so dry that the piece of ply was as new. Now it has a couple of wet on wet coats of white epoxy to protect it.
When we first launched we were getting a little salt water into the head. After a bit of investigation the source was found to be the outlet for the sink. Passion X is a light boat and heels to 30 degrees in a breeze. At that angle and with wave action some sea water was pulsing up the drain. When racing I now turn the outlet valve off and that has solved the problem. An alternative would be to put a right angle outlet on the sink and lead the hose towards the centre of the yacht but the extra distance is quite small and I suspect water would still pulse up the pipe in a big seaway.
The tiller was manufactured the day the yacht was lifted out of the back yard and with not a lot of spare time before launch it received just two coats of clear epoxy. I sanded it back and gave it another coat today but the rain came before the coat was fully cured so it might be a rinse and repeat task for later in the year. We have modified the angle of the tiller from the plan by gluing a hardwood wedge to the underside where it fits into the stainless steel head. This lifts the tiller and gives more clearance for the knees of the crew.
Following up from yesterdays disappointing race I re positioned the first reef line so that it is fixed to the boom behind the slug on the boom bag. We will now be able to flatten the foot more when we have the reef in the main. Both the first and second reefs come to the boom next to boom bag slugs and I will have both moved soon to give a bit more room to adjust the foot depth when we are reefed.
I am annoyed with myself for not fixing this issue sooner. Almost as annoyed as setting the No 3 jib last night instead of the No 4.

Very briefly we were shown on the Greenwich Flying Squadron results as leading the fastest times point score for the Spring series but after the pride there is always the fall and tonight there were seven in front and three behind.
On reflection the wind was similar to race three when we were third fastest so what was different?
At the front end of the fleet tonight the crews of the Ker 11.3 twins,Much Ado V and Dump truck, put in a very impressive performance. To windward they were particularly strong. Both yacht carried what I would call a No 4 jib and a reefed main and on the course they had the mains out wide in the gusts. Flashback had a very large crew on board and at the presentation skipper Brian paid tribute to the crew doing two headsail changes out on the course. The live ballast on the rail from the fifteen crew would also have helped in the heavy conditions.
Jackpot had their temporary secret weapon on board manning the mainsail ably assisted by a young strong winch man winding it back on. They had similar issues to Passion X and like Passion X they moved their jib cars back and played the main very aggressively. Unlike Passion X they had enough power to handle the conditions.
On the work to Goat Island, Soundtrack picked up a left shift above Passion X and lifted well above us and were never seen again until the race ended.
We had a good tussle with Lisdillon who likes a bit of breeze and was handling the breeze better with a full mainsail than Passion X was with a reef in the main.
Ausreo is a big powerful beast and once she wound up she slowly caught Passion X. She went inside us at Onion Point on the way home and then called for room to tack. There was not room to go through the obstruction so she should not have been there but once she was inside us the only polite thing to do was to give them room to tack. Another place lost on the way to the line was a bit of a dampener on an already disappointing evening.
We did hold out Fireball, Irukandji and Sweet Chariot but only by a short distance and only after strong performances by these three on the beat to Goat Island.
We did much better in race three with the No 4 jib and the reefed main. In that race we took the reef out and lost a place to Lisdillon but possibly saved a place on Flashback. Tonight Flashback was so far in front of Passion X we could not do worse than to revert to the No 4 jib for the beat and take the reef in the main out for the run back to Cockatoo Island.
With the reef in the main we could not pull the foot out as flat as I would like because the reef line was in front of a slug on the boom bag. It seems a small issue but the fullness in the main cancelled some of the benefit of the reef.
We rounded up a lot tonight which is the first time we have experienced this as a persistent and troublesome issue. I was encouraged be Steven Bradley’s observations on the performance of Jackpot in the same conditions and that was the main needed to be dumped aggressively and wound back in just as strongly. As well as move the jib cars back they did tension the jib halyard and that was one area we could have given some attention to.
Above all I think we had too much sail area for the first three quarters of the race and had we had the No 4 jib up we might have taken out the reef for the last run through Humbug.

Jackpot on the way back to the finish with no reef in the main.

Flashback on the way to the finish with a reef but a big genoa after a headsail change