My new A

Colin,

If your worried about the centre mainsheet, then why not revert back to the traditional transom main ?
The reason I say this is that on delivery of his flyer, Matt Causon tried his boat with the centre sheet and no jammer and got completely tied up. He changed back to an aft mainsheet and is now more comfortable and gives Nige a good run for his money, with no apparent loss of performance.
As for the adjustable diamonds, I agree with some of the other comments, where its suggested that its only of value on older rig types. One would suspect that in a vast deal of conditions you'll set this up to match your body weight (ie. sail power carrying ability)and pretty much leave it letting the top of the sail and the flexible carbon mast de-powering the tip. I noticed that Nige's new mast is the same as yours (He smashed his old one to bits in a monster pitch pole in Oct/Nov) so it will be interesting to see how much benefit he gains from the additional control!

Originally posted by Scooby_simon Colin, I'm really interested in the adjustable Diamond tension and it's use.  Is the plan to use it to depower up wind in a similar way to the downhaul (as in is it adjustable from the wire, or do you just set it at the bottom mark for each lap ???) and then let it all off downhill?

Hi Simon,  it is adjustable form the wire - ish - you would have to move to near the side-stay - but only on one side of the boat - I chose starboard.  I'm not really sure at this stage but I think it's something you set at the start of a race and leave unless there is a dramatic wind speed change.  Presently I'm just trying to keep things simple and just set it once per race - while I get used to the boat - the centre sheeting is a little different... 

NB: I read somewhere that they are becoming unnecessary with the newer masts but I can't remember where (possibly the Int. A forum) or why...

The experts on catsailor.com would know much more...

 

Originally posted by craiggo So Colin, When are you coming down to Thornbury SC ? We've got two Flyers out regularly and your only 1hr 30min away. Nigel Lovett & Matt Causon would love the competition.

Hi Craig - I dunno - certainly not before my tacking stops resembling a cat fighting with a ball of wool - this centre sheeting without jammer was possibly a step to far...   There are about five As in Cork now too...

Edited by sailwave

And a fair bit of water underneath... It would look very good on water, you know ; it's already very impressive in a car park!

We want a blow-by-blow account of your first outing, with pictures, eh Isis?

Originally posted by Prince Buster Is that a Tartan sailbag?  Where is that?  The boat looks amazing!  Bet u'll have loads of fun on that beast!!

No that's a tartan rug I was using to get underneath the boat 'cos it was so wet - it's my age...  The location is Mumbles Yacht Club...

www.mumblesyachtclub.co.uk