Sailing a box, pretty fast

[DGentry]

It's a modification of Phil Bolger's Brick - the Puddle Duck Racer. This one was built by my friend and occasional forumite Paul Helbert, and modified a bit further with Michael Storer's ideas. We took her out to a (relatively) local lake yesterday, and it was a bit windy.

Impressive how well an 8' x 4' rectangle can sail! But, yes, the square bow does indeed present some issues in high winds, and there is zero warning before the whole bow starts to go completely under! You have to keep your weight further back than I think is ideal, but she will definitely scoot in the right conditions.

Here are some short vids, and yes, that's me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwhZ1y-X5MU
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFRVT...eature=channel

[David G]

Dave,

Fun videos. I have hull #77 'Shredder' - 4th place winner at the '08 Nationals. One thought - it looks to me like your default position is maybe a bit too far aft. You're dragging that square transom and sucking water. When a gust hits and rocks you forward (and the transom out of the water) the increase in speed is noticeable. If you trimmed the b'ballast a bit forward, and only shifted aft in the gusts, I suspect you'd have been planing for most of that. I've had mine out in 20 - 25 (enough to snap the leeboard), and that was my experience. Need to be quick, though, to keep from rooting.

[James McMullen]

Hooray for the Balance Lug!

I think it's a bit warmer where you are sailing though. I don't think one of those would suit my stomping grounds unless your ultimate intentions were to feed the crabs.

[David G]

Hooray for the Balance Lug!

I think it's a bit warmer where you are sailing though. I don't think one of those would suit my stomping grounds unless your ultimate intentions were to feed the crabs.

They're pretty hard to tip over. That's not to say I didn't manage it one time in a near dead calm <G>

[sailboy3]

Not bad! A bit more fun to be chewing it up in a laser in that wind, but you can't build a laser out of plywood in your garage.

[skuthorp]

First time in a PD Racer can really give you a surprise.

[Breakaway]

She seems to jibe with good manners.

Thanks for sharing.

Kevin

[upchurchmr]

The best way to keep it from rooting is to put a bow on it.

Dave,

Fun videos. I have hull #77 'Shredder' - 4th place winner at the '08 Nationals. One thought - it looks to me like your default position is maybe a bit too far aft. You're dragging that square transom and sucking water. When a gust hits and rocks you forward (and the transom out of the water) the increase in speed is noticeable. If you trimmed the b'ballast a bit forward, and only shifted aft in the gusts, I suspect you'd have been planing for most of that. I've had mine out in 20 - 25 (enough to snap the leeboard), and that was my experience. Need to be quick, though, to keep from rooting.

[David G]

up,

I guess you're not familiar with this nifty developmental class of small affordable sailboats. As Dave mentions... it's a refinement of the Bolger Brick. The overall size and the bottom 10" of the hull have to conform to class standard dimensions.

It's a boat that was conceived in order to promote small boat racing on a very affordable level. Almost all are home built, and they're so simple it's easy to do so. Sails can be home built, kits, or professional. The rig is up to the owner. Mine is a 86 sq. ft. balanced lug rig. The boats are so stable that young children can skipper... and so quick that even experience skippers can have a blast. 9 mph is the fastest recorded time to date. They are responsive (think go-kart vs. nascar) and feel fast because you're so close to the water.

It's turned into quite a successful class of boats. I think there are currently near 650 worldwide. There are about 20 here in Oregon, alone. That means that we can have races and fun events with similar boats - for very little money. This has meant that a lot of new skippers, and a lot of families, have gotten a chance to try sailing who never would have. And what they find when they sail a PDR is an accessible, comfortable, fast, fun, simple boat. It's not daunting, nor overwhelmingly complex. It is huge amounts of fun.

So... no... they don't need a pointy bow. It would only add complication and bollix the whole point of these little waterbugs.

[sailnstink]

You don't cut any corners with a PDRacer.

[upchurchmr]

You know I am not sure how good Gentry is with a sailboat.
But when I see a boat changing direction 60 degrees at a moments inattention, I do wonder about the boat. It was obvious directional control took real concentration. Not a good quality in my estimation. Waterbug is a good description. You ever watched them change direction in an instant?

I really wouldn't get too excited about a boat that "roots" if you make a minor mistake, after all I basically learned to sail on a Hobie 14. That was probably about the same for that one characteristic.

This doesn't look like a well behaved training boat.

Enjoy your races.

up,

I guess you're not familiar with this nifty developmental class of small affordable sailboats. As Dave mentions... it's a refinement of the Bolger Brick. The overall size and the bottom 10" of the hull have to conform to class standard dimensions.

It's a boat that was conceived in order to promote small boat racing on a very affordable level. Almost all are home built, and they're so simple it's easy to do so. Sails can be home built, kits, or professional. The rig is up to the owner. Mine is a 86 sq. ft. balanced lug rig. The boats are so stable that young children can skipper... and so quick that even experience skippers can have a blast. 9 mph is the fastest recorded time to date. They are responsive (think go-kart vs. nascar) and feel fast because you're so close to the water.

It's turned into quite a successful class of boats. I think there are currently near 650 worldwide. There are about 20 here in Oregon, alone. That means that we can have races and fun events with similar boats - for very little money. This has meant that a lot of new skippers, and a lot of families, have gotten a chance to try sailing who never would have. And what they find when they sail a PDR is an accessible, comfortable, fast, fun, simple boat. It's not daunting, nor overwhelmingly complex. It is huge amounts of fun.

So... no... they don't need a pointy bow. It would only add complication and bollix the whole point of these little waterbugs.

[James McMullen]

Oh, Dave's a good sailor. It's that boat that is skittery. It's only 8 feet long, for goodness sakes. A Laser in the same conditions would show you the difference.

[DGentry]

Thanks, James!
The directional shifts had to do with the massive and sudden directional shifts of the wind . . . err, at least for the most part!
As I say, the wind was pretty gusty, and yes, the rooting at a moment's inattention was my main concern. In fact, I've never almost pitchpoled anything but Hobies before! Saving the PDR was much easier . . . .
But I've sailed PDR's in calmer conditions (while sitting further forward, David!) and rooting was not an issue at all.

A Laser in those conditions is a screaming downwind machine - but I would have been working much harder in a Laser, both upwind and down.

For learning to sail (in moderate conditions, of course), the PDR would be pretty darn good, IMO. Certainly one of the best you could build for the time and money. It's stable and forgiving, while still being responsive and providing you with instant feedback.

[JimD]

Nice!

[Joe Dupere]

When I saw the video at first, I thought, "Why in the world does he have that balance lug rigged backwards?", but then I finally figured out it was the camera angle!! I would not have expected a boat shaped like that to sail that fast.