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Does everything need an asymmetric kite? |
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Medway Maniac
Really should get out more Joined: 13 May 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2788 |
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Topic: Does everything need an asymmetric kite? Posted: 28 Mar 13 at 5:02pm |
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I got the 5kg figure from someone at P&B - must include more than the sleeve. But a further disadvantage of the arrangement is that a carbon pole becomes very dubious running in that ss sleeve. Personally I'd rather the stick my money into the carbon pole and a chute mouth that allowed wrong-side (port-gybe) drops more easily (the latest complaint I've heard from Alto crews at WSC).
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oldarn
Far too distracted from work Joined: 10 Apr 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 440 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 28 Mar 13 at 6:14pm | |
In fact the 2.1kg I gave should have been lbs. In fact the sleeve is 1kg. I must stop using the kitchen scales! Medway Maniac, you really ought to get your facts right. The AltO uses an aluminium pole, however you will be disappointed to learn that the carbon pole on the prototype boat is still fine after eight years. Regarding your preference for a chute mouth that allowed a wrongside drop which I assume you have on your boat, you must find it annoying sailing against boats like the 400, 4000 and the Alto all of which swing the pole. You ought to consider fitting Grumphs bit of kit which does it all. What is a wrong side drop? Do you mean a drop when on the wrong gybe! |
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thefastexcitingrunningasymmetric
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Bootscooter
Really should get out more Joined: 15 May 07 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1094 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 28 Mar 13 at 6:43pm | |
I've not waded in to this one yet, but having sailed all of the types mentioned I'd say its a case of horses for courses. I do thoroughly enjoy a good assy blast, but get bored of W/L courses. The old L2 was a fantastic boat with the ability to point quite high under kite, which gave some fantastic racing on the circuit back in its heyday. I do also love working the boat down hill in a laser or now the OK - different skills, DIFFERENT tactics, but just as engaging.
As a personal preference, I enjoy slower, boat-on-boat racing and tactics, which is reflected in my choice of boat. That said, this Sunday will see the Yoof and I out for the first time in the (borrowed) Alto. I can't chuffing wait! Review to come! |
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Medway Maniac
Really should get out more Joined: 13 May 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2788 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 28 Mar 13 at 7:12pm | |
I must learn not to believe everything I'm told by friends in the trade. By no means disappointed about your carbon pole, just surprised given that lack of durability was given as a reason when I asked an Alto sailor why the boat didn't use a carbon pole. Must learn not to believe all I'm told by Alto-sailing club-mates. I have to say I've never felt significantly disadvantaged racing a V3k against pole-swinging Altos. As I said, even watching a swinger Alto racing a non-swinger Alto on a dead run in a F2 from the vantage point of a RIB, we had to wait quite a while before it was clear which boat had the advantage. It was the swinger, but the difference wasn't dramatic. Might have been that the non-swinger was better able to react quickly to the shifts. Wrong-side drops (yes, indeed, on port gybe) are more problematic than starboard gybe drops on a 3k, but not so much as to make me leave the kite in the chute to avoid them as an Alto pair (formerly out of a 400 and an 800, respectively) did in our racing two weeks ago. At least that was their excuse, but it wasn't very hairy - a Vortex sailor was able to hoist and drop on his own... Edit: yet another thread hijacked by an Alto discussion!
Edited by Medway Maniac - 28 Mar 13 at 7:14pm |
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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: 28 Mar 13 at 7:30pm | |
I guess that might be the girls was it? I had a chat with them up at the show, Mike bless him won't listen to sense when it comes to his spinnaker chute arrangement which is worse on the stock Alto than it is on mine because I fixed it early on with an even heavier bloody great stainless hoop.
It's not perfect, what I'd do now would be to redesign the foot of the jib and have the forestay attached above a spinnaker chute, but I guess it's been tough enough in this climate with the mediocre businesses (Rondar & P&B) that were involved in the early stages of the Alto's lifespan, having got it as far as he has, has been a bloody Miracle. I'd love to have witnessed that battle down wind between the swing and run and the high and fast you saw, although I imagine just how far and wide that river you sail on permits, to make it work you do need some legroom as I'm sure you're aware in the V3000, we (steve & I) used to have some great battles with dumb & dumber in their V3k. As to the hijack, it's the obvious boat to discuss the Assym v Symm merits and tactics, since it is the one boat you can almost employ both, and my point it still has room for further development imv, maybe I should swap some of the v-twin bits onto that fireball and see how it goes as a single handed assym with racks... Edited by iGRF - 28 Mar 13 at 7:31pm |
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RS400atC
Really should get out more Joined: 04 Dec 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3011 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 28 Mar 13 at 7:31pm | |
Was it the 400 sailors who thought carbon poles were not durable by any chance? |
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Medway Maniac
Really should get out more Joined: 13 May 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2788 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 28 Mar 13 at 7:52pm | |
No, but they were having big problems with it too. Must say, I found it odd, as both crews have had the boat quite a while now and the issue has taken quite a while to come to a head - I don't remember any complaints last season. Maybe it all feels more critical in sub-zero temperatures! Yes, the space on the Medway does help, but short gybing inshore is quite satisfying once into the groove of getting the roll right, and it's a chance to put in some distance over less proficient crews. Whether to move the jib tack aft of the chute is an old problem and classes have gone both ways - sometimes like the Scorpions there and back. You loose a smidgen of ultimate rig efficiency when you move the jib back (unless there was too much underlap before), and of course on the Alto your self-tacker would complain bitterly and might refuse to tack! Only very long boats in relation to rig size like the FD or those with very short jibs like the Buzz can stick the chute out front and lose nothing by it, the rest of us have to resort to technique, which is apt to let us down at critical moments.
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