The latest 'project'

If you really just want to have an easy to sail boat that will outrun a Merlin the way forward is simple and obvious.

Get a modest high aspect assy kite (perhaps a 29er one)  put it on your Icon and rig it with an RS200 SRS system so you can goosewing it on the run. The fact that it is modest will mean you can carry it quite high and if you put a trapeze on you will have plenty of righting moment to do so plus you will be able to use the trap upwind in a breeze.

Yes ! .. simple, proven and easy to use with a modest sized sail.

Mike L.


Edited by blaze720 - 06 Nov 13 at 11:13am

Originally posted by 2547 Originally posted by blaze720 Get a modest high aspect assy kite (perhaps a 29er one)  put it on your Icon and rig it with an RS200 SRS system so you can goosewing it on the run. The fact that it is modest will mean you can carry it quite high and if you put a trapeze on you will have plenty of righting moment to do so plus you will be able to use the trap upwind in a breeze. Yes ! .. simple, proven and easy to use with a modest sized sail. Mike L. Sadly I fear grf is so desperate to prove he knows better than the established dinghy wisdom and so will pursue some crazy idea that will ultimately waste a load of his time & money and prove that actually the proven designs are built on a great deal of experience and expertise and in fact he probably does not know better after all (anyone for a VTwin?)

+1

Originally posted by 2547  Sadly I fear grf is so desperate to prove he knows better than the established dinghy wisdom and so will pursue some crazy idea that will ultimately waste a load of his time & money and prove that actually the proven designs are built on a great deal of experience and expertise and in fact he probably does not know better after all (anyone for a VTwin?)

Originally posted by 2547 If you really just want to have an easy to sail boat that will outrun a Merlin the way forward is simple and obvious. Get a modest high aspect assy kite (perhaps a 29er one)  put it on your Icon and rig it with an RS200 SRS system so you can goosewing it on the run. The fact that it is modest will mean you can carry it quite high and if you put a trapeze on you will have plenty of righting moment to do so plus you will be able to use the trap upwind in a breeze.  If you really want to make it easy for the crew perhaps use the Merlin twin pole system for the gooswinging element. This configuration will be simple, use proven designs and will work. It will also produce a pretty quick boat on all courses ... a bit of a weapon I suspect ...

ER isn't that what I've been proposing all along only with a caveat that the kite is designed precisely with that in mind?

Just to open your minds a bit further, have you ever wondered why Lasers and my EPS go faster downwind sailing by the lee? Has no-one ever thought a carefully constructed kite might do the same?

It's just a kite, nobody makes perfect kites for dinghies they are all horrible shapes that collapse at the first whisper of a header I can't think of one nice kite of all the boats I've had with the exception maybe of the MPS kite, So as a reminder I've sailed with 6 different Assym kites and they were all dodgy in one way or another. I should also remind some of those that confuse humour with ignorance that I've been helping design sail shapes for none planing and planing craft for the best part of 40 years, so sails are one area that I do claim knowledge, and more than most of y'all so give me a little credit will you? I don't do things unless I think there may be a gain.
I've run out of cash for the V2, had the money kept rolling (and my R&D grant come through)there would now be a working boat that would do what I set out to, from what I learned, which was that a floating foil works fine, that a mono bow could successfully split into two hulls that plane, so a centreboard without flushing strips is a reality, that it would be the most stable thing you could achieve, it only failed in it's righting after a capsize, I view that as a success, it worked and worked fine, it would have worked even better if it had been down to weight and had an inflatable luff sail or something to stop it turning turtle.

This new Psychon whatever we call it will a)work straight out of the box and b)be a product someone could take to market should they so wish, so I'd get to sell it one day which sadly aint going to happen anytime soon to the V2.

I'm not going to be stupid enough to do anything irrevocable to fit some half assed kite that doesn't work, but just because things work the way they do now, doesn't mean they always have to. If a kite can be made to gybe without graunching over the forestay all the time would that not be a bonus? And if by being tight both leading and trailing edge, sailing asymmetrically it turned out faster downwind, in the same way lee side sailing mono rigs do, would that also not be a bonus?

So, is that or is that not worth a try, given you can always go back to a conventional assy or that SRS 200 system whatever it was..

There enough ranting today... I've got the bloody vatman in so can't keep wandering back all I can say is..

Minds wide open please

Edited by iGRF - 06 Nov 13 at 12:54pm