VeloceSailing

My Sun Fast 32i had 186cm headroom. Fast is relative

Thats right. In fact I am considering starting with the standard one and possibly keep it for redundancy next season in case it will not suffice. The same brain support below deck solutions as well.

My current AP system is a Raymarine ST4000+. It consists of a controller + a fluxgate + an actuator. The vintage version, with no gyro rate at all. Raymarine has not updated its tiller actuator in the later versions (spx5 and EV100). This means that my current actuator is the same that used to come with the SPX5 and EV100, the same thrust and hardover-time. The controller is not very "smart" though has a fluxgate compass but no other sensor at all. Pelagic solution includes a far smarter controller and sensors on 9 axis. I expect a huge jump in performance. My question is weather their standard actuator is sufficient for a 32ft displacing 4.4 ton in terms of thrust and speed or whether I should go for their heavy duty version, if anyone has any experience, since it is a new product.

You are right. What I meant is that the fluxgate is not enough as it does not keep into account heel, pitch and yaw.

Time to replace my old Raymarine ST4000+. Considering price/ruggedness/reviews I decided to settle for a Pelagic tiller. My boat displaces about 4400kg with a LOA at 32ft. The ST4000+ is the SPX5 and EV100 predecessor, in fact the drive unit is exactly the same. The old fluxgate compass struggles to steer upwind in a chop and quartering seas are a real problem. Playing around with gain and response helps, but heading oscillates up to 40 deg... if I don't round up. Auto tack has also stopped working. I don't feel there is any problem with the thrust of the drive unit though (thrust is not expressed on the documentation, it is suggested to boat up to 6000kg displacement).. Pelagic sales a standard drive unit and a heavy one. I'd love the first one as it fits perfectly in the Ray pins. Any experience with the Pelagic "heavy"? Where is the limit where the standard becomes overpowered? Most of the video and reviews I find on Pelagic are related to the standard unit, but seldom on boats displacing like mine. Any feedback is appreciated.

I want it! I wonder how the last 10 seconds count down sound... I race on several boats, only one of which is mine, and like the portability of a watch. Using ProStart as a hand held can of course be a solution

I love my Optimum Time sailing watch with its countdown numbers, ease to use and toughness. I also like Pro-start simple, effective and precise distance to line features. Is there any product on the market merging these functionalities? In practice a watch with pro-start functionalities such as countdown/distance to start and so on. Some smart watches can run apps doing the same, but I wonder if there are any specific watches, doing only this. Thanks!

That's perfect! Thanks a lot. Exactly what I was looking for!

Much appreciated! Thanks

A as far as I know the 34.7 comes with barbers for both genoa and jib. I'd like to see the set up and emulate it on my boat

I am looking for the Beneteau First 34.7 deck layout. In particular her inhauler systems for both genoa and jib. Anyone who can help?

Thanks! If I take the largest genoa on my 32 footer displacing over 4.2 tons, the area is about 29 square meters. The lightest Aramid Sport, called AS06 weighs 5.9 sm-oz, which is about 253,7 gr/sqm > about 7.34 kg A suitable GPL GraphX for that area and deplacement is the GPL05 at about 4,4 sm-oz, or 75% of AS06, for a total sailcloth of 5.06 kg The appropriate Carbon Sport cloth is CS10 at 5.3 sm-oz means sailcloth for 6.59 kg. The latter was really discourage, it is only marginally lighter and slightly more expensive than Aramid Sport, so that is excluded. GPL looks like a great option, but considering that clew, hanks, luffrope, seams weigh the same on all options (and are not in the calculation above) the 2.28 kg extra on the aramid sport may be worth in durability (I race solo/shorthanded, inshore/offshore), provided form stability is the same and the "light skin" keeps water away from the aramid fibers. Anyone who noticed creep, elongation or other such behaviors? Another aspect is that, given the price I have on hand and being aramid sport at 30% lower price than GPL GraphX, those 2.28 kg cost 830 USD each

I did not request an offer for membrane, however I happened to see some pricing. A mainsail in Aramid Sport is about 70% of the same mainsail in membrane with the same sailmaker. As a main has more labor into it, I assume that a headsail would have a slightly higher price difference. No idea about GPL, however I was discouraged by the sailmaker to consider Carbon Sport, in spite of a price just a tad higher

Yeah, it is a bit confusing as Aramid Sport is a relatively new product. The usual downside with aramid fibers is that they degrade very fast with UV exposition. However by being enclosed in Light Skin layers they should be protected. My sailmaker says that it should be a better option for shorthanded racing, especially off-shore where it may be subject to rough handling, flogging and so on.

I sail a Sun Fasy 32i, a displacement monohull just over 31ft. I will switch from foil and furler to hanks for shorthanded racing and I need new headsails. My sailmaker suggested this, in 2 different weights, as it stands better flogging and rougher handling, which comes with single and doublehanding. It comes at 5.9 and 6.6oz, so slightly heavier than other options, but it seems promising...on paper. I wonder if anyone can confirm it or had any problems with creep, elongation, and so on.