The Tasar v the Icon

I'm sorry tick, I've gone a long way already to compromise my hard core surfy,snowboardy skater boy, biker kiter image to do this sitting down nonsense and it may be that the new boardies I had on last night could have contributed, but I call an absolute halt at any thought of sewing a beer mat to my butt.

Now, some credit here has to go to the crew, John Shillyshally from Chipstead it was he who piloted the D zero to third in Sundays race despite having 'previous' in Enterprizes, we've had him in the wood decontamination room being thrashed by birch twigs until he admits his guilt. Anyway he knew what to do with that pole thing and correctly applied it whilst I used my helming genius to keep us as lined up with the shifts as possible off wind and not being blatted or death rolled over by them, and that was a close run thing I can tell you.

My booties are worn to perfection they are at that stage in their life when the grip is at it's best, better than bare foot, I even got stung by a nettle on wednesday they are that thin, so cannot be blamed, it's probably release agent, and the sea is a bit more slippy than fresh water at different times of the year, so it could also be that, there are stacks of jelly fish about, maybe one got in to attack us, maybe the Merlin boys gave us a bit of a spray with sun tan lotion, I wouldn't put it past them, come to think of it I saw mark in the changing room using some ghey spray on factor 50.

Either way it was as slippy as a slippy thing and I'm all over the place and deeply unsettled, I even discussed going over procedure with John before we started I was that convinced we were headed for a swim.

But we managed it, which does kind of suggest it's quick, a couple of new bods fumbling about still managing to beat the boys, and they are no slouch those two, they don't hang about, they absolutely killed it at the start beat us to a pulp, but luckily there were shifts and tide to work which helped even the score and we did manage to round first and a really nice gust saw us sprint on the first leg to gain two or three hundred yards which it took them two roundings to haul us back in on the off wind legs thanks to the kite.

Had we finished at the bottom instead of the top they would have had it, so it's Icon upwind and Merlin off wind which was pretty much how we'd called it before we started and a very enjoyable race it was, I'm stiff as a board this morning, hell there was one tack I had to say to John, 'There's absolutely no reason to tack, this is the best heading, we're being lifted, got the tide on the lee bow and there's plenty of pressure, but I've got to tack off, it's hurting too much..
And they got us on that one.

Edited by iGRF - 25 Jul 14 at 8:58am

Originally posted by Punky What's not to like about the jib zip Graeme?  Its way better than shanks or a luff wire IMO.

It will break, zips always do and then where are you? Then there's the lack of a pulley block at the top and Wing wang told me to route the halyard back down the jib luff and through that little pulley at the bottom.

Maybe it's me but every boat I've had uses enormous lead edge jib tension, Jib sag is a killer, that leading edge needs to be knife sharp, there's nowhere near enough purchase to get the sort of entry I like with the jib, call me picky but I think that needs sorting with a different approach.

Edit, it's also actually attached at the head to the forestay, so you don't get the differential between forestay and actual jib tension they are both pretty much the same thing. The forestay is fixed by a snap lock doo dah
so even if you do manage to tension the jib you'll get a bowed forestay, I don't like it.

Edited by iGRF - 25 Jul 14 at 9:49am

Originally posted by iiitick Tasar (this post is Tasar v Icon) has stupid little clips on the jib luff. It also has a wire forestay to clip it to. Tasar runs minimal rig tension and the jib luff can be seen to fall away up wind, however when you both hike the mast falls away to leeward and the jib luff tensions. Tasar, with floppy rig points very well. It is a shock however because we came from a Javelin with an iron hard rig.

That could also be happening, we. well me, come from the Alto which also has a nice tight rig with the ability to tension jib and forestay independently and she did point OK as it happened it's just shoreside fiddling I'm blathering about.

Originally posted by iGRF Originally posted by Punky What's not to like about the jib zip Graeme?  Its way better than shanks or a luff wire IMO. It will break, zips always do and then where are you? Then there's the lack of a pulley block at the top and Wing wang told me to route the halyard back down the jib luff and through that little pulley at the bottom. Maybe it's me but every boat I've had uses enormous lead edge jib tension, Jib sag is a killer, that leading edge needs to be knife sharp, there's nowhere near enough purchase to get the sort of entry I like with the jib, call me picky but I think that needs sorting with a different approach.

Originally posted by Rupert Maybe try some sailing boots for grip? Your comment about your "splitties" (whatever they are) being nearly as grippy as bare feet suggests it is the wrong kind of grip for a dinghy non-slip, as bare feet really don't grip that well either. You cleat the main going through the tacks? Why not just learn the proper method of tacking, and then you will find a whole area of sailing tactics opens up, as well as being able to switch from one set up to another without struggling.