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J24 (Sail No. 4239) Dartmouth |
Laurent Giles 'Jolly Boat' Exeter |
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Experience with the H2 |
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H2
Really should get out more Joined: 26 Jul 17 Online Status: Offline Posts: 749 |
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Topic: Experience with the H2 Posted: 23 Feb 18 at 1:59pm |
A few people have asked me to write up my experience as an owner of the Hadron H2 - so here you are! Firstly some basic background: I am in my mid 40's, 6 foot and weigh in at 95kg - am sure I could get down to 90kg if I tried hard but I am quite fit (run half marathons for fun in 1:40) and spend plenty of time in the gym already. My sailing background is that I grew up sailing and went through the RYA squads in 420s and Lasers as well as doing the University match racing scene. Did some in-shore big boat stuff when I started working in London and sailed a Laser 4000 from Itchenor with my wife till we had kids and as we were moving around the world with work I kind of stopped sailing until the kids got into it so I bought a Laser 2 and then a RS400 which they crewed for me at the pond we use in the midlands. As the kids grew up and either went off to do other sports or wanted to sail by themselves I was found to be crewless so started to think about getting back into sailing single handers. The experience at our club had showed me that asymmetric spinnakers where fun but not competitive on short leg courses in shifty breezes so I wanted a single sail.
Aware that I was a big lad I tried out a Solo as they are popular at our club but it quickly became apparent that I was too big for a solo. Looking around at what I could get that would work on the lake I drew up a short list that included Phantom, Supernova, OK, Finn and a few others but I quickly realised that only the Phantom or Finn was really going to be big enough and then I heard about a new boat that had just started to get traction called a H2, by some fluke some of the guys from the club had been in touch with the maker and in a few weeks two demo boats were on their way over. I ordered one the following week after the demo and took delivery half way through last summer so have been sailing it now for around six months. I loved the fact that I could spec the colour I wanted and the fit out. You can go look at the H2 on Google of course but in essence it is a Merlin for one made out of modern materials so it weighs in at 56kg for the hull and 76kg fully rigged. The rig was put together by HD sails and is a large(ish) flat top fully battened sail matched to a Superspar carbon mast. So what is she like to sail? Well in a breeze she is proving to be a bit of a bandit! The width and hence leverage you get combined with the freeboard and powerful kicker/cunningham / flexy rig means that she is so nice to hike when fully powered up. Off wind she is very stable and you rarely get wet which is noticeably different to the guys in a d-zero. On a run, so long as you do not let off too much kicker she does not death roll and gybing is stable and easy. Its nice to have that central buoyancy tank which you can sit on sidesaddle rather than be on your knees like you would in so many soap dishes these days. As a class we continue to struggle a little getting her to go well when the breeze goes light (i.e. when you have to come off the side and onto the thwart). It seems that the margin for error for setting the rig up narrows significantly and it is very easy to get it wrong when it goes light - we have Jim Hunt running a training day in April where we hope to sort this issue out as I am aware that some very good sailors have used a H2 in the light and made it go well so it is possible but the average club sailor seems to be struggling in the light whereas in the heavier wind rig set up seems to be less of an issue. Now onto handicap - the designer suggested a PY of 1040 but most clubs seem to have started the boats off at around 1030 or similar to a d-zero which I actually think is probably about right. My club has us pegged at 1028 and I won the 50+ boat frostbite series over 10 weekends on that PY in the run up to Christmas and am now sailing off of a much lower personal handicap for the pre-season fun series that our club runs, but still in the top three boats mid way through the series. Great Lakes had it down at 1015 I think which they always do for new boats and adjust based on results; I hear that a EN is due out from the RYA soon. So far in the first year 30 boats have been launched which is not bad considering its not one of the mega builders and we have four opens and a national planned for this year. Class association has been formed and will be represented at the boat show in March staffed mostly by the designer, builder and owners. Actually that is something I have really enjoyed - it is a great bunch of owners and we are all working together to work out how to make the boat go, pooling our ideas and findings rather than fighting for position. I have loved owning my H2 and sail it each week and as often as I can. Happy to try and answer questions that people may have.
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turnturtle
Really should get out more Joined: 05 Dec 14 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2538 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 23 Feb 18 at 2:37pm |
nice write up!
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Eisvogel
Posting king Joined: 09 Dec 16 Location: Birmingham Online Status: Offline Posts: 135 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 23 Feb 18 at 3:57pm |
One of our members at Midland SC just bought one...
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Enterprise 20361 (Eisvogel), Laser 102727 (Halcyon), Laser 121986
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H2
Really should get out more Joined: 26 Jul 17 Online Status: Offline Posts: 749 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 23 Feb 18 at 4:18pm |
Yes I think they did a demo recently at Midland? I was the first to buy at our pond and we now have four H2s and suspect we may have 6 or more by mid-summer. Most have come across from Solo's & Vareo's but in other clubs they have come from RS300s, Blaze and Aero's
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Eisvogel
Posting king Joined: 09 Dec 16 Location: Birmingham Online Status: Offline Posts: 135 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 23 Feb 18 at 4:53pm |
Indeed -- it was on the strength of that demo that our member decided to go for one.
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Enterprise 20361 (Eisvogel), Laser 102727 (Halcyon), Laser 121986
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rich96
Really should get out more Joined: 20 Jan 05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 596 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Feb 18 at 2:09pm |
Its interesting, and quite brave, that people go for these boats when we have such well established Finn and Phantom fleets with the associated circuits.
They are clearly different from a Finn and perhaps different enough from a Phant ? Especially as the boat looks quite 'retro' ? - or is that appeal ? |
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Sam.Spoons
Really should get out more Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3398 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Feb 18 at 2:30pm |
Merlins are gorgeous though and since H2 is, effectively, a singlehanded Merlin....... If that big premium bond win comes through........
FWIW the Phantom is a handful in a blow, H2 seems to revel in those conditions (though, so far, they do seem to suffer in the light stuff). Edited by Sam.Spoons - 26 Feb 18 at 2:31pm |
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Spice 346 "Flat Broke"
Blaze 671 "supersonic soap dish" |
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iGRF
Really should get out more Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6496 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Feb 18 at 2:31pm |
Well I find it good that 'the few' fight so hard for the many despite all the obvious forces against them. People that go to the considerable risk and hard work to independently build and market new craft to this ridiculous market of class obsessed luddites and establishment opposition deserve all the business and respect possible.
I'm really pleased to read there are thirty now it always looked a great boat even if perhaps a bit big for me personally, good news thanks for the review. |
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H2
Really should get out more Joined: 26 Jul 17 Online Status: Offline Posts: 749 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Feb 18 at 2:34pm |
Hi Rich, the Phantom and Finn were my shortlist until I came across the H2. Like all these decisions its a balancing act and for me the Finn was too confusing as I just wanted a boat I could get in and sail without messing around with different sails and rigs and the associated cost so for me it was relatively easy to discount plus the sheer weight of the thing was not appealing on a small lake. The Phantom was a much more compelling boat but I did not like the straight leg hiking position (lack of freeboard), the scrabbling around on knees down wind and the relatively boring appearance of the boat - grey is just so dull. The H2 addressed these issues as it has much more free board so is nicer to hike, you are not on your knees downwind and it can be any colour you want plus fitted out to your own spec. The "risk" of the H2 was that I bought the 15th boat so I had no idea whether it would take off as a class. But I am probably fairly typical of the sailing public in that I want to sail in my handicap fleet most weekends and Wednesday evenings year round and if I had a Phantom, Finn or H2 it would have been the only one at our club in any of these classes. We now have four H2s at our club and a few more on the way so it will be the second largest racing fleet in the first year of my ownership. I do also want to do some class racing and in 2018 in the 2nd full year of the class there will be four opens and a nationals plus of course I have gone along to a few of the Great Lake events over the winter and there will be a number of H2s at the Paignton Open (POSH) so there is more than enough class racing or big fleet racing open to me even with only 30 boats sold in the first year but I suspect we will be nearer 100 sold by end of 2018. I do get that the risk is not for everyone but I only get to live once so I may as well sail a boat I enjoy rather than the one that RS or one of the other big builders tell me I need!
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rich96
Really should get out more Joined: 20 Jan 05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 596 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 27 Feb 18 at 5:32am |
It sounds like a great success
The Finn rig/sail combinations can be a little confusing (and can be expensive) when buying but its actually fairly simple and most of us mortals can get away with fairly standard kit. The problem can be that the miniscule differences (and ways to achieve them) that the Olympic sailors look for dribbles down to the club sailor - hence the reputation |
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