Bell Flyer

Looks very nice, Dolf, whatever the detractors say. Like a Cherub for grown-ups, actually.

Where in the Netherlands do you sail? I used to race regularly on the Braassemermeer, tho' my old club, Netherlands International Yacht Club, Woubrugge, is now defunct - victim of a property developer alas....

Sailed the boat for the first time on Saturday from Oxwich Bay on the Gower.  The wind was strong and gusty which made it "interesting".  She sails well enough but there were a few issues that I need to sort out.....

1) The toestraps are not easy to find in a hurry.  Because the boat is so open the straps tend to lie close to the floor.  I may need to put some semi-rigid webbing in place.

2) The rudder resonates at speed.  I've known this happen in daggerboards before and I've always just raised them until it stopped but I can't raise the rudder because it pivots.  I'll probably need to chop a few inches off (it is an exceptionally long blade).  Does anyone have any other suggestions ?

3) I seemed to be getting a lot of weather helm - I'm not sure whether this was connected with the rudder problem above or whether it's caused by the position/rake of the rig or something else.  Normally I'd expect to rake the mast further forward to correct this but to my eye the mast already looks pretty vertical.  It's possible that it may also be due to the way we were sailing the boat because I had a novice crew and the wind was more than enough to support his 14 stone on the wire upwind so I was being pretty tentative.  Does anyone have any other suggestions ?

4) The mainsheet swivel base and cleat have a very nasty habit of spinning to leeward if you relax the tension on the tail of the sheet.  This makes it difficult to uncleat when a gust hits. I'll need to play around with the fitting to correct this.

Apart from this everything was fine - no leaks, sails are all in great condition and the trailer rides well, the whole package looks very smart on the beach.  Not bad for £500.  Looking forward to trying it in a lighter breeze so I can get a better feel for the boat and see how she goes under spinaker.