Hadron H2

Bait taken....  so what should the Olympic classes be?

Ducks behind parapet!!! Is this new thread time?

There were clearly of few bits still as a work in progress, seemed to have a lot of draft towards the head of the sale and the cunningham needed far more purchase, but looked an interesting boat. A nice thwart to keep you of the knees going forwards. It looks quite an expensive boat to build hence its not cheap - about 9k I think, but its very beamy and has a thwart all of which add to the build. Light winds at the club this morning and it was the 'heavy boats' with 'dated' round forms that went the best! Well sailed finns and the K1 were really quick - no chines on either! 

Anyone else get a look at it at the show. I spent a while, even got to talk to the designer guy (he was wearing a yellow blazer, you just cannot ignore a guy with a dress sense of humour, so I sidled up to him and asked my best dumbass question (Why is the mast deck stepped when it would involve less extra kit to punch a whole through the deck and mount it on the bottom.)
I can't even remember the answer I was still overawed by the blazer and wondering how such a slender guy could weigh 80 kilos, it was those two facts, (he didn't look like a big bloke and the blazer) that re awakened my interest and for a couple of moments, I seriously began to think maybe I could sail it.
Then all the other advantageous bits, the no knee problems, the heeling moment, it wasn't that heavy to lift (I got to try that) even the sail didn't look anything like as bad as I first feared it might be and you can adjust the forestay on the fly. There were loads of obviously interested folk I think he's going to be onto a bit of a winner in a quiet and understated way, eventually I snapped out of my reverie when I spotted two antidotes in the form of self balers, I can't stand the things and have vowed never ever buy another boat that uses them. Other than that its a nicely turned out sailing tool and I'm sure it'll do well.

Edited by iGRF - 06 Mar 16 at 3:20pm

I can explain it in laymans terms, as it is very prevalent on raceboards and you can actually feel the power drop in your hands so to speak as you are holding the boom when you rake the rig back, with the foot pedal, fully sheeted in and in your harness on the fly.

I figured that as things are in the optimal sailing position, with the aerofoil set to develop power from the combination of the actual wind and the created wind, so initially the power from the created part of the apparent wind is depowered by the change of angle, this is more prevalent in boards as we're going a bit faster than the average dinghy, so having depowered we then have to foot off a bit close the slot and build up more created wind.

So on a dinghy, dropping the rig back must have the same effect, but since they don't go so fast, the created element of the wind never really gets as established so the power doesn't come on and have the heeling effect, that and the natural tendency of the rig raking back must be similar to boards in that it must produce a windward effect, So you have the twofold effect of the foil not being so efficient in its presented angle to created wind and the lessor effect of heeling the boat so not having the thing blown over replaces the inefficiency of the rig laying over sideways, with a more vertical rig driving properly from the true wind.

Well that's my theory anyway.

Edited by iGRF - 21 Feb 16 at 8:17pm

Well neither the Aero or the Zero are exactly "FAT" heads, not in the way that H2 is. My first Alto sail, that is on it's last legs but I've repaired time and again because it works exactly the way Keith describes, as soon as the winds up it twists off a treat and it can be repowered once I learned exactly how important the kicker was, but to give an example of how effective it was, we broke our kicker five minutes after the start of the Round Sheppey but still got round the 35 miles in a force five to six, and that was thanks to a fat head sail.

Now the aero and zero fall more into the category we used to refer to as 'power'head, i.e the head is supported by a top batten but the twist comes more from luff curve induction when downhaul is applied and when mast bend sideways occurs it actually tightens the sail up. I've not studied the Aero rig, can't say it was my favorite feature of that particular craft, it went when you pulled on the rope bit, and went with a bang, quite a surge of acceleration as I recall, but I never really got to sail it overpowered so can't really comment, I just didn't like it because it was cloth and cloth stopped being an efficient sail material years ago in my mind.

Fat heads also give you the ability to put the area up top in more wind in sheltered lakes, but they also allow a shorter boom less likely to dig in on a rock and roller that that boat clearly is judging by the video of the first gybe.

But it's got stays so running by the lee ain't easily going to be on the cards, unless of course that adjustable forestay lets you run slack shrouds, like you have to on the Solution, not ideal but let off some kicker and that big old head could twist off enough to be effective. I'd have to try it and see, I'd love to have a go in one, one day, to see wether you could work the magic. I had a blinder the other week coming from third past the two boats in front one of which was a good guy in a Solution, doing that running by the lee magic, I love learning this stuff.

Edited by iGRF - 16 Feb 16 at 5:26pm