I have been very preoccupied getting Passion X ready for launch and stepping the mast so I need to catch up with the reporting.
In my last post I showed the colour of the antifouling on Passion X from inside the shed. It is lighter in the sunlight which Passion X saw again on Thursday as she was taken from the shed for the final touch up to the pad areas of the hull and for applying the Propspeed. We kept working as long as possible on the internal fittings and by launch had all the skin fittings installed and most attached to the plumbing. There is a lot left to do but the boat floats.
After the launch on Wednesday morning we took time out for a breakfast with friends at the Deckhouse and then took Passion X around to Joe Walsh Rigging for the stepping of the Allyacht Spars mast.
True to his word Joe stepped the mast today and the crane was gone by 1:00 pm. During the afternoon enthusiastic crew helped to lead all the halyards and reefing lines to the appropriate jammers and winches and fit the boom bag. By late afternoon the yacht looked deceptively finished. Tomorrow I hope all the life lines will be finished and enough of the rigging so that we can have a sail over the weekend.
Our Passion X is a Didi 40 Cr Wide Stern version by Dudley Dix. I always liked the hull lines but wanted a more racing oriented cockpit which Dudley drew for me. It meant a bit of extra work doing my own detailing to the new lines and detail around the cockpit structure but the strength and stiffness has amazed me. With Dudley’s help we have also done a little more to the racing potential with a deeper keel to 2.45 metres and a tiny increase to mast height and boom length.
The longer cockpit always seemed to need a longer boom and I am looking forward to sailing photos to see how it looks. it is surprising how very small changes in dimension can improve the appearance of cars or yachts. The slightly shorter cockpit coamings on the Wide Stern version look very attractive and the blending of the coamings into the cabin also looks more modern. The deeper keel meant a lot of extra work to support the small increase in righting moment. One option was to keep the righting moment the same and save 200 kg of hull weight. We have made our choice and hope that the upwind speed will be just a little faster. I am waiting on an ORCi Club rating for the updated configuration and will let you know how we fare. Black Cat raced in the Cape to Rio race with an IRC of 1.05 which I think was achieved with some sacrifice of genoa area. We are going the full sail area route as we do a lot of light air sailing in Sydney twilights and RANSA Winter Wednesday races and were looking for a light air flyer. As a consequence I think our rating will be around the 1.1 and hopefully we can sail to that.
Passion X emerges from the shed into the sunlight
Passion X wets her keel
Passion X at Woolwich Dock while we go to breakfast
Breakfast at the Deckhouse. Very nice!
Next day another crane for Joe Walsh rigging to lift the Allyacht Spars mast into position.
Floating nicely on the waterlines with the mast and boom installed
Work finished for another Day on Passion X our Didi 40 Cr Wide Stern version