Worrell 1000

[david r]

That yellow boat is really slow today.  They got passed by Netherlands during the last 20 minutes.  Those are the only 2 boats near shore.  The rest are headed for the layline for the point way out to sea in much different wind.....according to the trackers

 

[Bucket Mouth]

Go Team Australia, I’m in total awe of Rod Waterhouse.He must be in (or close to) his sixties now! That finish yesterday shows extreme fitness ( and skill) for someone in that age group. 

Chris Way his crew is also in his mid sixties, Pretty fit for an old bloke though

 

[david r]

 The 8 times I've raced that leg the rhumb line never paid. I've done the rhumb, split between the two (that was the absolute worst) and run the inside and the inside always worked. The Fleet may "take" the rhumbline ,and they often do, but that doesn't mean it's the fastest. Herd mentality is a bitch.

probably if you raced a ninth time, taking the outside approach will pay on one of the legs

Certainly banging the corner the furthest out to sea paid today. 2 boast on the beach during twilight and the fleet due in later tonight. Some, the ones that took the shoreline, much later.

 

[Ventilo]

    I went to visit dear old Mum for the weekend and was telling my nephew the story of my entry in the 1997 Worrell and leading Randy Smyth (briefly...). Then I get home and read this! That year was pretty much 'run what you brung' and Smyth's custom Team Domino and our Gumbo Mudder SuperCat were by far the most radical. Neither boat was really ready in time for the race and we both dismasted the first day but did get jury rigged during the night but failed to make the second start in Satellite Beach and got disqualified. Smyth was pissed but I got invited to join the race committee... Crazy times and stories from that adventure!

That was 87 not 97, I was in 97 it was 20 ft and under 8/1/2 beam or less. Randy won on a Nacra 6.0 for Chicks Beach. I was on a Mystere 6.0 for Key West I remember it well. First leg we lost 5 Boats.

 

[F18 Sailor]

Out of curiosity:

What TWS do you have for 12 knots boat speed upwind? What boat speed upwind would you have at 10 knots TWS?

For 12kts of boat speed upwind, that's about 15kts of wind speed and above. To get to 10kts, we probably need 11-12kts of TWS. I'm working on getting a more accurate F18 polar diagram.

 

[Sidecar]

Surprised that you don’t seem to lose much boat speed in 12+ knots TWS upwind due to waves and chop….

 

[LionIsland]

Hey Mundt. 
« …AARP zone. »

please explain. 

 

[Trevor B]

American Association of Retired People….old folks.

 

[martin 'hoff]

Surprised that you don’t seem to lose much boat speed in 12+ knots TWS upwind due to waves and chop….

Depends a lot on sea state. 

But F18s handle it so much better than my short-stubby-nosed Nacra 15 it's not funny. 

 

[bushsailor]

this may have changed but our optimum speed upwind was around 12kn to 12.4. When training we used a speed puck to target this speed. This gave the best vmg.

 

[F18 Sailor]

this may have changed but our optimum speed upwind was around 12kn to 12.4. When training we used a speed puck to target this speed. This gave the best vmg.

Depends on the boat. My testing was done in flatter water (1' chop or so) with the latest equipment. Pulling the windward board and putting the bow down let us go from 12kts to 13.5kts upwind with very little loss in angle (maybe 1-2degrees). Obviously in chop this is pretty heavily impacted, note the 10-11kts upwind the top teams were managing in big breeze and waves in this race.

 

[Irrational 14]

If the crew is hiking hard, actively trimming the main sheet, and flying a hull as they are supposed to, these speeds are achievable. For long distance events, fatigue will set in and the speeds go down. The F18 requires a very active main sheet and they are very loaded up compared to other types of craft.

 

[david r]

That Yellow boat really moves off the wind.  They showed the bottoms when they were lifting the bows to put the wheels under.  Very similar to the bottom of a windsurfer.  When they hit the beach at Hatteras, they didnt hit it they shot across it.  I have never seen this happen before; auto gybe on the sand...here is a screen grab of the clean sailors finish.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gH9VTPVv7o-BnJBiRTEfwZYlrLqRxsF-/view?usp=sharing

 

[Sidecar]

 

[Lost in Translation]

I wonder when they lost a rudder. Didn’t seem to slow them down. 

 

[USA 007]

On their 2nd capsize, they bent the tiller connecting bar, which toed the rudders in and loaded them up.  After the 3rd capsize, they lost the rudder.  They sailed pretty conservatively after that, and had no idea they were in first at the finish..

 

[F18 Sailor]

Certainly strange, but C2’s have been known to split at the seams. Add in the sub-optimal rudder system and the lower volume compared with new designs and it’s the last boat I would choose for the race. 
 

My choice-an Evo with a Mk. 2 Infusion on a trailer as a spare (95% of the parts are direct swaps). Backup choice would be an eXploder Scorpion. Arguably a faster hull (its won the last 4 worlds after all), but the rudder system would be a challenge in the surf and the paint a pain to fix 10 beach landings later.

Randy and Dalton are clearly fast, but I have zero sympathy for their mast breakage. I’ve never heard of a F18 mast folding while sailing upwind. They took a huge risk moving the trapeze attachment to the spinnaker bail location and likely suffered the consequences. 

I think I'm resending my original thoughts on the mast breakage. At least on the Scorpion rig, the spinnaker hound is probably 1', maybe 18" above the standard hounds. Moving the trapeze wires up there probably added a little bit of compression to the mast, but I doubt enough to fold a rig. Also, this is likely a worthwhile tradeoff to help stabilize the top of the rig when double trapeze spinnaker reaching. Did a lot of that yesterday and the spindly nature of the top of the F18 rig always makes you question if it will stay in one piece...

Congrats to all the teams that finished and Team Australia for the win!