The Tasar v the Icon

Originally posted by Rod Porteous You came through below us like a train, my wife and I both said B@@@@@cks weve got the tide wrong.!! we should know better sailing in Chichester Harbour and done our home work before the event! We did really view it as a fun day out , but you know what happens the competetitive spirit takes over!! The Icons looked great and bang up to date and looking forward to giving one a go   Interestingly we came third in class exactly the same position as when we last did the event!!

Yes I'm sorry about that, you deserved to beat us over the water as well as on handicap, but we had another battle with some local lads, the Bandit Brothers in their Buzz, we'd just scalped them and they were after our blood, we'd taken them mainly because they were ignoring the tide, in between their desire to cool off, unfortunately in showing them the way, up went their kite and down they came, so it's another pint I've lost and we're both assym kite sailors really and all this goose wing soaking is the devils work.

.Well where were all the icons at HISC Barts bash? We were super chuffed to have won in the tasar with 168 boats. The class still has life!The biggest buzz for us though was seeing all the kids out sailing with their mums and dads, six kids In a RS venture was a sight to behold!!

Well as a postscript our Blaze sailor has a broken kicker strop and suggested we team up in the Icon and its the first time it's been used since the Round Sheppy, having sworn never to go near it as long as I live, I changed my mind to give it another go.

The first thing we noticed as we put it together in somewhat less of a rush than the round island race, was that the mast position ws a bit loose and needed tightening up which brought the foot back a bit, this helped to tighten the rig a bit more, it's still not tight enough in my mind there's still a degree of jib sag, but it was better.
The second thing and heaven knows how I missed it but whoever set the kicker up, up at Hunts needs a lesson in kicker management, it has absolutely no range, it can neither be let totally free and comes block to block well before its maximum, in fact I'd put money on this being the reason we went too slowly down wind having to carry that much kicker.
Then we had a look at the flushing strip which whilst it looks on the surface as if it is in good condition and in place, in fact isn't it's secure from and back by all the way down, it's away from the hull, so no surprise again the off wind legs were so appalling.
Despite all this we had a bloody good race, an eye opener for me to sail with another really good crew, pete is both weighty and superbly athletic and unbelievable confident, it started off quite a light Easterly we went of a compromise start between going inshore and getting a port end flyer but risking lack of wind and starting down the starboard end out at sea in the tide. We rounded 4th and worked our way up to 2nd with the Merlin leading after a triangle and a run, then a the start of the fourth beat, they were in our sights had gone inshore out of the tide when we noticed a nice wind band coming from lightly south of east not only lifting us but increasing the wind by 10 knots.
I'm about to take the lightweights depowering routine, Pete grabs a handful of sheet with a whoop of joy and goes 'lets go' the Icon literally engaged another gear and we leapt off, the Merlin now a recent memory, it wasn't long before the Contender that had been lurking around in the light conditions, came at us on starboard as we were leading on the Port layline and we went round together. I fully expected him to do a horizon job on the tight top reach, Pete was having none of that, more sheet back down the boat we slid and it came unstuck and flew down the reach losing next to no ground to the Contender. He eventually got way on the next upwind leg but not that far and we finished a credible third after a B14 overhauled us.
It was a most enjoyable race, it's still slippy, it also badly needs sorting out, but pete now wants one and there's another couple of hot shots coming down next week for a go in it. We'll have to get those flushing strips glued back if those and the kicker were sorted, it could be a great boat, very marmite though, due to small fit out issues. At least I now know what went wrong on the sheppy race, I was really not happy losing that.

Edited by iGRF - 12 Oct 14 at 2:41pm

The kicker is tied to a makeshift bit of rope around the base of the mast , if that's Hunts way of doing things then as I said, you need a lesson in how to set up a boat from a windsurfer.

My new expert crew said it's a joke the way it's cobbled together and I'm inclined to agree.

It nether allows the boom to lift and goes block to block before the leech achieves any significant windward hook. I know a bit about these things now and when someone else also points them out I can't help but believe them to be fact rather than my opinion which naturally I'm never that confident in.

Edited by iGRF - 12 Oct 14 at 4:22pm

Mike, have the details not been in the public domain for weeks????  https://www.facebook.com/IconCup2014?ref=br_rs