HALO (and 'Fire') ....

Originally posted by maxibuddah Why not Paul? Would it not give better running angles by letting the rig go forward? Would it allow you to depower the rig upwind like on a phantom?

Greame

I know it is 'heavy' ... we deliberately plan and build all hulls that way . 

The target for 'joined and trimmed' for the Blaze is in fact just 51kg - a comfortable weight even given the size of the hull.  We add foils, rig (which is actually very very light) and in the case of standard Blazes a full telescopic wing system... and then we add correctors for Blaze.   I cannot remember the EPS official weight but the one Laser loaned my for a few weeks years ago was ... not exactly what I would call light even then.

You must remember most old boats do and will have got heavy through moisture absorbtion, I'm especaily talking about polyester examples sailed on the sea.   Most don't use the stuff these days but there are plenty of existing dinghies built of the stuff still out there.  Today it is more often vinylester or epoxy (in fact Cirrus has always used these two alternatives although the early Blazes supplied by Topper were Polyester).  Part of the justification was to avoid this issue.... however if you know what you are doing you can often get a bargain and dry out old polyester hulls getting them back to their original fighting weights ! 

Anyway we have built a specific 'Fire' hull as you know ... but I'll leave you guessing on the weight until it is Y&Y tested - and as you expect it is somewhat lighter.    Our early assessments with target group testers is however that they mostly prefer to retain the leverage of the standard Blaze (even when it carries the weight penalty that entails).  For those with less upper body strength than 'regular guys in their prime'  comfort, leverage and very light sheet loadings are what they really value.  Remember we are primarily looking at the young(er). old(er), light(er) and females out there who don't sail Blaze (or Halo) today.

We are not after the 'Fuller Shilling' as I've said already but you are always welcome to try one of our boats if the urge grabs you ....

Mike L.

Mike - does the Blaze (and derivatives) have on-the-fly shroud and forestay adjustment (Phantom style) or it fixed/fast pin only adjustment?

Meway

There is fair bit of tolerance and both Fire and Blaze sails are 'in the zone'.   If it needed a rake alteration to maintain good handling and 'feel' we would recommend it and as with Halo it can be changed in a couple of minutes anyway.   Even with the regular Blaze different individuals favour different rake settings - we just tell them the range and they determine what they like after a few sails.  With Halo2 we did need to reset the centre of effort with a rake adjustment and this also helped us increase the overall area as sought.

Greame - Don't really go with the foils comment.  Blaze points pretty high when needed even in lighter winds and I suspect your comment arises because the case you had was not packed out correctly (leaving the c'board to float around to its own devices).  I cannot remember the sail number of your Blaze hull but if it was a very early one (first 150 or so - or more than 13 years old by now) the foils  were slightly smaller in profile and just 20/21mm thick - all subsequent ones have been about 10% larger and 25mm and today are manufactured in aluminium tooling to a very high standard and finish.  The good news is that you can retrofit the later centreboard into these early hulls if the original one is ever damaged beyond repair.

'Floppy rigs' .. all is relative and  best not 'bar tight' in any circumstances - my own one has lightish tension achieved with a simple highfield lever on the forestay.  Certainly don't recommend adjustable forestays myself... or obviously 'floppy' set-ups.  You can do it on the alloy masts as they are if anything slightly stiffer than most of us prefer and  it makes little difference to the way they really work (many have tried to 'better' the recommended over the years !)  .. at least with our (stayed) rigs you can adjust things to suit your weight and sailing style whenever  you want
 
Fire sail ?  Send them  along to try.  We'll tell you and them it is wonderful ... of course we will, but I'm pretty certain that is something you should (as always) determine for yourselves.  It is not as fast as some, including the Blaze itself, but that is not the point - but it is a very very nice derivative that we know will suit a great many out there...  Besides if speed was all everyone would be Cat, Hydrofoil, or board sailing.    

Mike L.

Amazing that the Fire doesn't require more rake or the mast foot moving aft compared to the Blaze.  The c.p. must be further forward. You don't find yourself heeling it more to get the helm feel?