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Ella has a new home at Bowmoor SC.  She did us proud as a club racer at Chew Valley for the last three years and we'll miss her.  Unfortunately there was little point in me shipping her to Australia so it's going to be an NS14 for us next - nearest Aussie equivalent!


Andy

Yes, my 9 year old has consulted Windguru and informs me that we're not going!  Sorry.  We'll get to an open one day ... 

For what it's worth we're sailing off 1091 at Chew Valley in 3344, a non t-foil Final Chapter.  That seems to work very well for us against good modern Solos, Streakers, etc., but we get thrashed by the high performance machinery in a blow.  That's handicap racing for you I guess.

It appears the very first N12 is to be auctioned ... https://www.sweeney-kincaid.com/Sales/Live/LiveBid2.aspx?SaleID=3112&LotNumber=555&CatMode=1&PageNo=1&strBidStatus=A&DisplayModal=True&index=437&manual=1&auto=0

Yes, it was a last minute decision to come as we still need to pick our days.  As it turns out Sunday was completely devoid of wind here in Bristol so maybe not so great in MK either.


Ella is going well for a slightly tatty 27 year old racing dinghy.  We won our Wednesday evening series race tonight and to the delight of my son we're temporarily leading the series (won't last)!


30th July is possible for us; I'll keep an eye on the forecast 


Andy

Aaaargh!  Had just packed the boat up too!  At least I checked before we left. 

"Swell Party" is now advertised as free on the Facebook Dinghies and Dinghy Bits.  Sadly the photos don't look too promising; not long for this world?

Just a quick note of thanks to all those who gave up their time to man the N12 stand at Ally Pally.  It was great to meet you, join the association and learn some useful things.  Looking forward to some low key outings on the circuit this year.


Andy

Thanks Nigel.


David: sounds like we're twins.  My son has been sailing all winter too.  We operate a 5°C / 15 kts limit, but 15 kts is absolute survival, tacking round at the gybe marks!  I'll really consider Burghfield more seriously.


Andy

Thanks ... and are you the Nigel W that built and owned Ella?  I understand the point about having more buoyancy aft.  How about when you're trying to keep the bow out in a blow downwind?  Doesn't more buoyancy aft hinder you then?  I agree about the oversteering temptation.  I was tacking through about 120 degrees when I stuck the tiller over like I do in my Europe!


I'll have a look at adjusting the auto release.  It is too sensitive.


Burghfield sounds great but might be a bit much for my 8 year old son.  Hoping for warm weather and fair winds for 12 Fest.


Andy

It generates a fair bit of drag with a big rooster tail in the wake, enough drag to defeat the auto-release clamcleat on the rudder hold down line when really planing, with interesting results.  I think going back to a more usual dinghy thickness to chord ratio would definitely help, although I appreciate the thinking behind the original idea of a fat rudder.  Stall angle is governed a lot by section shape and nose radius as well as thickness to chord ratio so I reckon I could get user-friendly performance off a thinner foil.


Learning to stay upright is probably going to have a bigger impact on our performance 


Andy

Thanks John and thanks Smilie for the MK open invite.  MK might be possible.  We're at Chew Valley Lake just south of Bristol.


Membership will happen when we visit the Dinghy Show stand on 4th March.


I have thought about retrofitting a T-foil to Ella but there's no way the current transom arrangement would be strong enough so some serious engineering, expense and added weight would be needed.  I would like to get rid of the original fat buoyant rudder though.  She's a good boat but old even by Final Chapter standards, 26 or 27 years old now.  I need to think whether the conversion would make sense. 


Andy

Thanks all.  Seems like we're not eligible for Admiral's Cup which is what I was trying to determine.  No matter, happy to be in whatever fleet  . 


Like Dave I also wonder if a Chapter can sail at four planker meetings; I doubt it as the boat database uses four planker as a construction category and this is not applied to Chapters.


Andy

Hi - quick query since the 2017 fixture list is out. Our boat is a 1991 built Final Chapter converted to a double bottom but with a normal non-T-foil rudder.  What can we enter?  If it was still single skin we'd be an Admiral's Cup boat, but as it is are we just old?


Realistically we probably only want to do 12 Fest as it's early days for us and heaven knows we could do with the training.


Thanks,


Andy

Hmmm, my pictures have disappeared.  Never mind, here are a few of us sailing in Bart's Bash at Chew Valley.