Laundry Day! (i.e., setting maximum sail area)

[rbgarr]

Windward Passage, a 72' dinghy :D.

A 1967-8 design and how she is today with a new keel: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/wp/ Notice the two coffee grinders on the fantail. What a view that would be while tailing on all the kite strings!

http://i42.tinypic.com/2eyl1zb.jpg

[boylesboats]

Maximum? Geee... thats lot of cloth there...

[mizzenman]

Must be a 70's or 80's era boat, with that sail setup?

[Jon Agne]

What's so special about that? Every day is laundry day on Surprise!

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/jonagne/SURPRISE/Reach3a.jpg

[Peerie Maa]

Here is one from way back.:D http://www.johnmaggs.co.uk/PICS/MS%20EWC/MS%20EWC%2040L.jpg

[The Bigfella]

Doesn't look like a passage to windward to me. Looks decidedly downhill to me.

[Hwyl]

Windward Passage, a 72' dinghy :D.

A 1967-8 design and how she is today with a new keel: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/wp/ Notice the two coffee grinders on the fantail. What a view that would be while tailing on all the kite strings!

http://i42.tinypic.com/2eyl1zb.jpg
I didn't know she was still around. I sailed a sistership. I miss those bloopers, she has not set her mizzen I see, that would give maximum sail area.

Amazing to think that the Miami Jamaica used to be considered a major ocean race

[Paul Pless]

Ahem!http://img.nytstore.com/IMAGES/NSAPMY1603_EXTR.JPG

[rbgarr]

They are all impressive but I imagine on a sail area to displacement basis the hydrofoil trimarans, Flying Moths, kite and sailboards would have the highest ('maximum sail area') ratio.

[Paul Pless]

No winches on the big schooner though! :eek:

How fast do you reckon Windward Passage is doing on that run?

[Hwyl]

pretty slow, there are no whitecaps and she is obviously going slower than the wind, maybe 12 knots. Would have been considered spectacular back then

[John B]

I dunno Gareth... thats a pretty impressive wake and an aerial shot like that.. Well we know photos of sea state can be deceptive. I'd think 15 knots myself.
I've never set a blooper... but that long halyard gives me the willies.Number 1 criteria for the dreaded death roll I reckon.

We ran down the harbour reaching ( quite deep at times but forward to 60 degrees apparent too as the wind shifted)with jib main and mizzen staysail yesterday, no mizzen. With a small amount of tide in 12 knots maybe 15 at times we were sitting on mid 7's and 8 and passing boats at speed. When we dropped the MS by the marina we dropped off back to a very sedate 5 or so. Grunty sail and getting a clear air feed really helps.

[Hwyl]

I thought the wake spectacular too, but Maxi's were slow boats, I will up to 15, I looked closer and saw a couple of whitecaps, and she's in a wave.

What do you reckon the windspeed is?


The blooper rarely made the boat faster, just helped with the rolling.

[bamamick]

My gosh! That is PASSAGE! One of the most awesome ocean racers ever! And for those who don't know, she is wood.

Gareth, as far as I know she is still going strong.

Personally I used to hate screwing with the blooper. Quite honestly I used to hate pretty much everything about sailing those horrible old IOR boats. The tiny mains and giant gennys. The little cockpits that were deathtraps while you were trying to work. The dumb bloopers. They were torture racks, imo. God bless Bruce Farr is all that I can say on that subject.

Mickey Lake

[John B]

Gawd, say what you mean eh Mickey:D. Lots of old Farrs still racing and doing well on handicap here. He broke through with Prospect of Ponsonby IIRC,an 1104. New ones too of course.

I didn't realise the blooper would help dampen a roll.. I saw that one with its long halyard free up top and thought it'd be the opposite. There are rules against them still aren't there.. no one flys em.

[bamamick]

John, dampening the roll was all they did, balancing out the sail plan downwind. You had to play both the sheet and the halyard, so the blooper took as much manpower to operate as did the kite. I distinctly remember a particularly long race where I was assigned halyard duty on the blooper as one of my normal jobs. Ideally you want your blooper flying as low as you can get it without it getting wet (iirc) and you are constantly adjusting the halyard. It is/was a tedious way to spend time.

We sailed a lot on boats designed by Gary Mull, and though I have a ton of respect for the man's ability to design a fast boat according to a rule, what the IOR was producing at that time was these really fat boats, round in the mid-sections, with a weak entry and little tiny sterns. They were really slow compared to what we have today and they were really hard to sail. Farr came along with these wide-sterns and much easier to sail fractional rigs and completely changed the world, as far as I am concerned. I know Bruce Farr is not really considered the 'in' guy right now, but in my book he will always be one of the giants.

jmo Mickey Lake

[Hwyl]

We're agreed Mickey. I sailed on early Farr boats, there was a time when the IOR rule was changed to legislate specifically against his designs. He's done alright for a Kiwi.