The RS100 Owners Thread

Get the vortex out and come to Bala?

Had a lot of sailing this weekend in a variety of conditions and now really
starting to learn the boat and appreciate its quality, despite the
limitations of my ability !

Wow what a difference that extra bit of kicker makes. Given its been
pretty breezy I've been pulling the kicker on block-to-block and it simply
transforms the sail, flattening it right off and making it very low drag,
transforming both the power and the speed upwind - it just glides
effortlessly when flattened off. Only downside of maximum kicker is that
it is a little more prone to getting stuck in irons and boom is quite low,
particularly if mast is raked back.

Have found the cleat is a non-starter upwind and actually downwind its
not essential as you can play the kite and main together in the same hand
with good effect. Been sheeting off the boom upwind which works really
well, is great for tacking and enables very quick trimming response.
Thinking of possibly putting the ratchet on the boom and plain block on
the jammer.

You need to take considerable care with the main and kite sheets to
avoid a major birds nest around the jammer when dropping and rounding
up in a blow - can get very knotted if you dont take care to keep things
tidy.

A few good sailors (much better than me) have now tried the boat and
universal response is that they are all blown away with it. General
comments are:

* Most comfortable hiking boat they have sailed.

* Incredibly well sorted - everything is in exactly the right place and they
cant fault anything.

* Very rewarding boat with input directly translating into speed.

* Essential to keep flat at all times. Seems quickest downwind with a
slight windward heel.

* Can they have one please !!!

One observation I made today was around the kite chute at the bow.
It's got velcro attaching it to the bow and I found the kite retrival line
was snagging it a few times today resulting in the Velcro being pulled
apart. I think I will tape over the Velcro to make a smoother exit and
entry for the kite. Wondering if anyone else has found this also.
Cheers, Keith

Hi Keith and Phil,

Yes, having same issues with kite chute velcro to. Havn't been able to
suss out quite how it is intended to work yet. I think the velcro is
supposed to be fixed to the inner top edge of the chute roll over - but
you would need very long arms to reach in that far !!! Needs something
as I think it is causing some snagging and resulting friction is causing
haliyard to cut into chute mouth a bit.

Think I had similar racing experience to you guys. In the lighter stuff
(light and very smooth water) smoked away from everything upwind
despite limitations of my ability. When the breeze and chop got up took
quite a few swims (due to stupid boat handling errors !) found the max
kicker was essential and free off a bit to keep speed up.

All-in handicap racing over 3 days in a variety of conditions (sailed my
Vortex for a change today in nuking breeze) finished somewhere near top
very
pleasingly ahead of quite a number of very competitive well sailed Solos.
TN at 1005 feels about right but I can see it dropping a bit as more boats
get on the water and we all start getting to grips with it.

Forget the kite on the reaching legs in any sort of breeze. Found the
downwind angles are very deep, which is great for soaking below trapeze
assymetrics but still with good speed.

Overall very very pleased and really cant fault the boat at all - just need
to get fitter and learn some better boat handling - interestingly found I
sailed my Vortex a lot better after just a couple of days in the 100 as it
demands considerably more precise sailing.

Edited by ChrisC

We will have a closer look at the next batch of boats going through here this week to understand what is happening - photos to Rob Eastwood would be great: Clearly we were planning that this boat would be "tape free"!! We still do not use it at all on the demo boats.

Good news that you all have pace in the light - performance in breeze will come with practice, technique, and I'm afraid hiking fitness!

Nick.