The boat is now at the stage where I'm letting other people have
a go in it. There are still plenty of bugs/issues/faults to be ironed
out, but basically its OK I think. This page will cover feedback I get
from them. Where I have comments they are [square bracketed in
italics]...
Charles Crosby, May 1999
Yachts & Yachting, Late January 1999
Andy Champ, Jan 1999.
Andrew Paterson, (Bloodaxe Boats).
Forecast winds 10 - 15 kts, actual wind about 5-15 kts, so a bit of
dithering about big rig / small rig . As the small rig is still 10m sq,
the small rig seemed the best option as the wind was obviously
unstable... and it was raining!.
First impressions : The sea had the characteristic short solent chop,
always worse in the shallow bit from Hillhead to Stokes Bay. Sailing the
boat for a few minutes before the start, it seemed quite stable and
fairly fast. The deck seemed slippery ( in spite of the new layer of
Pro-grip ) and I felt it needed more kickbars in the back. Gybing was
easier than tacking... it was a long way from one wing to the other...,
but I still didn't get stuck in irons, in spite of the nasty waves.
At the start of the race, I eased off to make sure I didn't get too
close to anyone, and only got an average start. The first leg was a
short reach, and I got there reasonably placed with some RS 400s 29er
L4000 etc. The next leg started as a tight fetch, but a big black cloud
overhead produced a doubling of windspeed ( to 23 kts ) and a big NW
shift making the fetch a broad reach. One or two Cherubs passed me along
this leg, but I repassed them before the gybe mark.The waves kicked up
by the fleet of fast dinghies were surprisingly big, and so with the
increased wind, waves going the wrong way for the wind, at the gybe mark
there were many capsizes...(++ and all the Cherubs included.) The
race was nearly abandoned at this point as nearly all of the fleet were
capsized. I think the only boats still upright were some Toppers and a
Wayfarer. The sea at times was about 6 inches over the foredeck, filling
the cockpit, with very heavy mainsheet loads to stop the boat capsizing
to windward, nowhere to brace to stop sliding forward, but capsize was
inevitable.( to windward )
Righting was Ok, so set off down the run... but it was now another
reach. Not too bad ( except for Toppers being ahead ), I even managed a
gybe. However at the next gybe, it didn't happen, so another swim.
Unfortunately this time the boat inverted ( well ~60 degrees ), but the
mast got stuck in the bottom. The rescue boats tried to help, eventually
by pulling the bow to windward, the mast came up, and so I was able to
cruise back to the beach and retire.
Top batten end cap destroyed so batten was 1/3 out.
spreader bracket joint to mast broken on one side.
locking wire to spreader broken.
Track on front of mast pulled off ( this was coming off before )
However, the mast was still standing after bouncing on the bottom and
after three heavy windward capsizes.
The daggerboard needs bungee retainer to stop it disappearing
when inverted. More non-slip (on floor and gunwales ) and kickbars
needed. The mainsail seemed a bit too flat in the lighter winds. Not
enough rocker in big waves/strong winds. Transom port too small when
boat full of water.
Mast / hull strong enough!
I was hoping to assess the 'groove' problems ( possible daggerboard area
/rig drag etc), but conditions were too extreme.
Perhaps the flatness of the main makes it too tricky to sail 'in the
groove'.
by Charles Crosby (ccrosby@mweb.co.za)
Let me say straight away that I'm a keen supporter of the entire
concept of the ++. I love fast dinghies, and I prefer to do things on my
own. As an engineer and technical enthusiast I also like the idea of
development classes. In fact, I'm of the opinion that the concept of the
manufacturer one design class is doing the sailing movement quite a lot
of harm... So, when Jim first mooted the idea of a development single
hander for "normal sized" people (I've been told that the
Mothies are midgets who live on diet pills) it resulted in a great deal
of enthusiastic e-mail discussion. I had been thinking along roughly
similar lines for a long time (Although I now cringe at my initial
misconceptions - so we learn!), and even did some interesting
single-handed experiments on a Dolphin (roughly similar to a Vanguard 15
and other relatively fast trapeze-less and spinnaker-less "husband
and wife" boats) fitted with a trapeze. Eventually then, once the
++ was sailing and somewhat debugged, I popped the question to my wife:
"When would you like to tour the UK, my dear?" ...
First stop on the above-mentioned UK tour was of course Island Barn
Sailing Club! My first sight of what passes for a reservoir in England
cleared up something that I had failed to understand properly all along
- Jim's insistence on foldable wings and easy on-shore handling. I
simply hadn't appreciated the fact that these reservoirs are built with
banks well ABOVE ground level, and that this entails hauling boats up
and down 45 degree slopes and through awkward gates and things. In South
Africa we just wouldn't bother if it was that difficult. Then again, the
rest of the world wouldn't bother to sail in the miserably light inland
conditions we accept as normal, so I suppose things even out ...
The breeze was a very unsteady 10 to 15 knots, and Jim suggested using
the "small" rig option. Although I gather that putting
together the "stump" reefing system was a bit of a nightmare,
it certainly works well enough. It was easy to drop the foot of the mast
down the tube and to shorten the shrouds. Rolling and then zipping up
the reefed portion of the main was likewise quick and easy. Generally,
all the systems on the boat (including the folding wings) work very
well. It is clearly not a SMOD... Dragging a fully-battened mainsail
with a fair amount of luff-curve up a straight mast is always a bit of a
pain though! [ I've established that there's a problem - at some
stage I must have pulled the luff rope up through the groove a bit and
the track has cracked slightly at the bottom. I shall glue it back
together and reinforce the entrance heavily. This is something to note
for other carbon spars...Jim C]
The sail looks surprisingly small once it's up, but it is largely an
illusion. Reefed, the proportions are rather squat, and the broad head
and big roach make the sail look small and square. In fact, as I pushed
away from the jetty and set off on a tight reach, there was a mild puff
(certainly no more than 15 knots) and I was immediately fully hiked and
dumping power. Wonder what it will be like in 25 knots?
So what did it feel like?
- Due to the wings and the dished deck, there is a lot of "49er
feel" about it, without the viciously aggressive non-slip, of
course! The high boom adds to the effect.
- It could use some of that non-slip. Jim acknowledges this, and later
showed me a large roll of rubber material to be used for exactly this
purpose.[Spent this weekend gluing it on in fact - Jim C] At the
moment, the only concession to traction is what the surfers used to call
"Sex Wax" (had a hard time explaining that one to the wife!)
and it's not enough. In fact, I managed a perfect "banana-peel
slip, fly and thud" effort on one failed tack.
- I managed not to tip it in, even with the banana-skin effort, so the
boat can be described as not excessively tippy. There is not a great
deal of static stability, but it felt loosely similar once again to a
49er or I-14. Once you dip a buoyant wing tip into the water, the boat
stabilises quite dramatically. It also slows down very dramatically!
- It planes more cleanly and with less fuss than anything I've ever
sailed. On a tight or beam reach, it gets on the plane incredibly
easily. During the development of the ++, I've always been concerned
about down wind performance. It's always a problem with a non-spinnaker
boat. If you're not wildly overpowered on the beat, you plod downwind.
Come to think of it, most of the the older single handers plod both
upwind and downwind, only a reach produces much speed! But the ++ hull
is very clean, and even a broad reach produced an easy plane in
relatively light wind, sitting well inboard. I'm impressed!
- Tacking is quite difficult. There is not a great deal of inertia, but
there is a great deal of rig drag, so the boat slows down quickly into
the tack. If you dip a wing it stops! I managed to find a workable
technique after a while, which mostly entails NOT dipping a wing.
- I didn't really like the mainsheet system, which I think contributes
to the difficult tacking. It's a centre bridle arrangement, with the
final lead taken off a boom-mounted ratchet block. You need to sit quite
far forward when beating, pretty much up to the leading edge of the
wing. This means that when you tack, it is necessary to move a long way
aft, thus dragging the transom and slowing the boat down, and then swing
the long tiller extension around the back, which is awkward and slow.
When I did my trapezing Dolphin experiments, I used a transom bridle,
with the final lead taken off a ratchet block attached at the kicker
attachment point on the boom. This system allows a fairly conventional
tacking procedure, where you don't need to move backwards or forward, or
struggle with the extension. Even proper roll-tacking becomes quite
easy. It would be very easy to try it on the ++, and I think it would
make tacking somewhat easier.
- Gybes were surprisingly easy. (Aren't they always on a quick boat?
This from someone who managed to capsize a Mirror on a gybe, so I should
know!) You're already trimming well aft, and you can sort out the
extension before the gybe. I suspect that my suggested mainsheet mod.
may make gybing more of a pain...
- Finding the groove on the beat is extremely difficult. A lack of
upwind pace with the small rig is clearly evident. Crack off a fraction,
and the boat picks up and goes, but try to get up to a decent beating
angle, and the boat slows down dramatically. Possible reasons for this
are discussed at length elsewhere. I probably didn't experiment enough
with twist. I think now that trying it with a lot of twist may have
given some useful clues about it being a profile drag or induced drag
phenomenon. I understand that it is much less noticeable with the taller
rig.
- The breeze occasionally dropped enough to necessitate adopting real
light weather trim. The hull clearly doesn't have much rocker, and I had
to get right up against the lower shrouds to prevent the transom from
dragging. If I were designing a ++ for our predominantly ludicrously
light conditions, I would add a little rocker, so that one could get the
transom out a little easier. [Designing a boat for consistently
lighter conditions would be interesting. I've taken a penalty in light
airs in order to claim the extra performance when the breeze is in
double figures. I think you'd probably want to start with a more all
round shape - something like a thin Merlin-Rocker or RS400. Also the
mast would want to go forward in the boat some and probably change the
mainsheet system - Jim C]
It's a wonderful "silly-grin" kind of boat. I want one!
Well, it IS proposed to be a development class, after all... Jim
and I have differed all along on the issue of trapezes. I like trapezing
(less hard work) [You can see in the photos we took that
afternoon that Charles is sitting out hard, whereas I'm sitting on the
edge of the wing. *That* is less hard work than a trapeze. Charles, can
you imagine how much work bouncing in and out off the wire in those
gusty conditions would be! - Jim C], and it would make the boat slightly
cheaper and lighter, and would eliminate the need for folding wings.
Unless one used wings AND a trapeze. Now there's a thought ;-)
I would do the mainsheet differently, as mentioned.
Hull shape might be somewhat influenced by conditions. Jim's hull is a
real planing beauty, but it will be interesting to see how it goes on
rougher water. [Not that well I suspect. I reckon a nasty short
sloppy Solent chop would have pretty drastic effects upwind, and it
might well disappear down the backs of too many waves downwind... - Jim
C]
It might be interesting to try it with a jib. It should add to the
windward performance at the cost of some downwind speed. The question
is, how much? [That's something that is definitely in the back of
my mind! - Jim C]
The Cherub is a tremendous boat when you're young light and
agile, writes former Cherub sailor Jim Champ [Its a bit of a
cheek including this in a press page since I wrote it and it was only
lightly edited by Sue Pelling's blue pencil, but never mind] .Once you
get past 40, however, and aren't perhaps as light and fit as you used to
be, it starts getting a bit more effort.
Having reached that landmark the time had come to consider something
different. You would think, with well over a hundred classes sailed in
the UK, there would be something for everyone. There is, however, one
significant gap. That is for the person who has wishes to sail a
restricted design singlehander and will not see twelve stone again. Its
not a gap in the market that you'll see Laser or RS filling, and its
obviously not ever going to be filled with huge numbers of boats. On the
other hand all the best new designs have significant roots in the
Development Classes, be it RS300/600 (Int. Moth), B14/49er (NS14,
Cherub, 18 footer) or RS400 (Merlin Rocket), so such a boat might have
something to offer the future of the sport.
What I've come up with is the Plus Plus, a 14ft singlehander which is
long enough to carry some lard , but short enough to build in the
Garage. It has an overall beam of 9ft including wings - the old legs are
not up to the trapeze any more, and that much beam gives you enough
power to plane upwind without acrobatics. Lots of rag, and a way of
reducing sail area, so there is enough sail for light airs, but the boat
is still sailable in a breeze.
Bloodaxe Boats built the shell, which I finished off, and Caws Sails
built an excellent radical looking sail, based on 12 foot Skiff and Moth
ideas. Although its looks like a big Moth, the hull shape is out and out
skiff. I find it a joy to sail, light, responsive and fast, and I'm
using a PY number in the 960 region.
Do not expect to see it winning at the major handicap events though - I
will freely admit to be far too mediocre a helmsman to do that. Do not
expect a major launch of a new class or a presence at Sailboat either,
as I have no intention of attempting a commercial venture. If, however,
sufficient people want to take the risk of sailing a new class with no
chance of commercially sponsored class racing, then no doubt they could
get together and form a class association..."
( c) Yachts and Yachting Ltd.
I normally sail a Solo, which is to be honest an old design, and not the fastest thing on the block. The competition, on the other hand, is very hot, and you can always find someone to race against. (OK, the Laser is even better for the competition - but I like to sit in the boat, not sail along beside it!)
My brother Jim has a different attitude. He's always tried to go for a boat which is faster than the other guy's boat. For many years that was a Cherub, but now he's come up with this new single hander. Apparently I'm the first person - other than himself - to sail it. I'm also the person - including him - to sail it in the most wind. This may have coloured my experiences slightly - certainly I want to give it another go when the wind isn't above the design range for the small rig! [Strictly speaking this wasn't above the design range for the small rig, but it was certainly more wind than I'd have felt happy taking the boat out for the first time in. It blew up from 15 knots to 20 knots pretty much as he left the beach...- Jim]
Setting it up was a bit of a slow process. For the first time the lower mast setting and reefed sail were in use. Since the shrouds aren't quite long enough, this was painful. In addition the sail didn't want to go up the track - in the end we had to pre-bend the mast to get it to behave. [And I was sure I'd double checked the shroud lengths: bother. Don't know what the sail was up to with the mast track, its never been a problem before - Jim]With lowers and a mast strut, together with the spreaders on a carbon mast and Mylar sail, this is a whole lot more sophisticated than the Solo's bit of metal and terylene. Anyway, in the end the sail was up, everything pulled in - all the controls are split out, and quite light to use - the wings extended to their full width, and off I went.
It became rapidly apparent that not only was I over-powered, but that the wind was up and down enough that if I let the sail out enough to keep the leeward wing out of the water a couple of seconds later the windward wing was in, along with my behind. I only once or twice got onto the end of the wing - balance, not power, was the limiting factor. Perhaps practice would improve it. [I suspect this was at least as much apparent wind effects as actual gusts - it was not the easiest of breezes- Jim ] Perhaps there's a Moth sailor out there who could show me how it's done! Anyway, even with all this flopping from side to side it didn't capsize, and while it was going from one wing to the other put up a fair turn of speed. Enough that the concrete reservoir wall was getting kind of close. Time for a tack. Ah - a gust. Depower, slow down, helm down, boat stops. Now head to wind and going backwards. Oh well, a three-point turn does the trick.
Wait for the racing fleet to clear, power back up a bit, off across on another reach. A few more splashes from the wing ends, and one or two moments where I got out on the end of the wing - not hiking, just sitting - and some speed came in. Only looked back once - there must be a stern wave there somewhere, but it's pretty flat, and pretty far away. Wind is being more unkind as time goes by and it is quite apparent I really can't sail this thing at all well. [At this point I should add that a fair few of the club racing fleet were taking inadvertent swims, with Solos, ISOs and Lasers all horizontal in various bits of the pond - Jim]
Reach across to the other side of the pit, heave to for a bit to let a Laser clear in front of me. Hang on... that's the same Laser I waited to go in front of me on the other side of the reservoir. I went behind him then - and this is the fleet leader. If I can splash across sailing like that at Laser speed, there must be some real performance here - for an expert. Somebody by the way with suckers on their feet - the inside of the boat is fairly smooth and rounded, and several times I ended up in a heap in the bottom. [Yeah, the non-slip isn't up to the job. To save tine I thought I'd give it a go with a good lot of boardwax, but its not up to it, plus it seems nearly impossible to add more in the winter!]Time for another three point turn, still not getting enough speed up to make it tack. Ummm... slight problem now. Even with the sail all the way out, I'm pointing upwind of the jetty. I'm not going to be able to sail gently back downwind, and I really don't think I'm enjoying this. Oh well, the only thing to do is to bear away, steer for balance, and hope.
For the first time I have the boat powered up. Kind of nerve racking this, big sweeps in the course to keep the mast over the boat. Looking back on it now I should have gone upwind again and tried this some more - this is a direction where I can actually control this thing. Wings are clear of the water all the way down. It's still gusting over 20kts (I'm told .. but not over the deck). [It was actually averaging a reasonably steady 20 knots by the clubhouse anenometer, so gusts would have been rather more than that - Jim] Instead the bow is sort of dipping into the water, spraying a bit of water about (which runs straight out again) and then coming up. It actually feels OK. Hang on, wasn't I further upwind than this? Help.. how do I stop?
Jim's estimate from on shore was that I was doing about 12 kts, and that it looked like it might pitchpole. [It was never close, but the bow was definitely in the water and a big gust could have been embarassing. I won't really know where the limits are until...l There was certainly no sign of the stickiness I've had in the Solo when it is thinking about doing a nasty, and that has me heading for the transom. (not that it's ever actually done it - even in far more wind than this)
Anyway, here comes the shore. Luff up gently, sail depowers, smooth turn into the jetty. I just reach out and...ah. The jetty is 4 feet away on the other side of the wing. Not just at arm's length like the Solo. Oh well, foils up, drift back to the shore and out over the transom.
An interesting experience, and one I must repeat - in less wind!
Andy Champ