Smooth Sailing
Sailing
News By A Sailor For Sailors!
In
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Today
I am pleased to be able to announce the launch of the New Look Smooth Sailing web site. We
have redesigned the site in order to make it more pleasant on the eye, quicker
to download and simpler to maintain. We have some new advertisers on the site
with more to follow in the next few weeks. Please remember to support out
advertisers as without their support Smooth Sailing wouldn’t exist!
The new format means that some of the old content on the site will no
longer be available. We have done as much as possible to make sure that you
will be able to get back to the new home page should you find yourself on one
of the old pages but if all else fails simply retype www.smoothsailing.co.za in your
browser address bar and you will find yourself back on our home page.
As with anything new there are sure to be a few glitches and hiccups
along the way so please bear with us as we iron there out. If you have any
comments, criticisms or positive input please feel free to e-mail them to smoothsailing@smoothsailing.co.za.
We also have more good news today with news of the launch of another
exciting new local dinghy onto the market. The Rebel
looks set to offer good exciting racing at an extremely affordable price. With
so much debate on the dinghy issue of late it is good to see that there are
some excellent local options coming to the fore. I really believe that for the
sport to grow and be successful in this country we need to focus on ways of
going sailing that are both affordable and competitive. I am afraid to say that
especially when it comes to affordability, international classes simply can’t
compete with local ones. It doesn’t really matter what boats we are out there
sailing in as long as they are reasonably fun to sail and we can afford to own
and maintain them. Most importantly though we need to have lots of them on the
water and if the fun and affordability aspects are in check then there is not
reason why we shouldn’t get the numbers. I will be following the development of
these classes with a great deal of interest. As always if you have any comments
to add mail them to andrew@smoothsailing.co.za.
Durban Keel
Boat Safety Inspections
Rebel
Dinghy Launched - Another New Dinghy On The Market
Junior
Nationals 2004 Venue Announced
Your Weekend
Weather according to the SA Weather Service should be as
follows:
Durban
& Richard’s Bay: Saturday will be 22 degrees and cloudy with a 20%
chance of morning and evening rain. The wind will be a 10 to 18 knot
southwesterly. Sunday will be 28 degrees, sunny and humid with 12 knots of
northeasterly wind expected.
Midmar: Saturday will be
21 degrees and cloudy with drizzle clearing later in the day. The wind will be
from the southeast blowing at around 8 knots. Sunday will be 28 degrees and
partly cloudy with a 30% chance of morning fog. The wind will be a northerly of
around 8 knots.
Vaal
Dam: Saturday will be 29 degrees and partly cloudy with a light
southeasterly wind blowing. Sunday will be 26 degrees and partly cloudy with a
light northwesterly wind blowing.
Cape
Town: Saturday will be 26 degrees and clear with a fresh to strong
southeasterly wind blowing. Sunday will be 24 degrees and cloudy with a fresh
southeasterly wind dying later in the day.
The
most important thing happening in Durban this weekend are the annual Keel Boat Safety Inspections, which take place tomorrow. These are vital in order
to ensure that your boat remains registered with the port and cleared for
sailing offshore Durban. Both the Point and Royal Natal Yacht Club will be
doing their safety inspections tomorrow. RNYC members need to contact the club
to book a time to have their boats inspected while PYC members need to arrive
at the rescue hut on the walk-on from 09:00 onwards to meet up with an
inspector. The relevant inspection and registration forms are available from
either of the yacht clubs. Remember that when your yacht is inspected the
Ship’s Radio Licence, Radio Operators Licence and Liferaft Certificate need to
be on board. For more information about the safety inspections please contact
either the Point Yacht viable locally.
On Saturday afternoon there will be Dinghy
Sailing in Durban Bay with the first round of the RNYC’s second dinghy
series of the season taking place. Racing is set to take place on the deepwater
course with the first of two scheduled races starting at 14:00.
On
Sunday the Point Yacht Club are holding their annual Jonesy Memorial Sprints. This event takes place offshore for
keelers and cats. It is held around the same time every year in memory of the
well-known Durban yachtsman Ian Jones. Ian was lost at sea while diving some
years ago. Two sprint races are planned for the day with the first of these set
to start at 11:00. The racing will be followed by prize giving in Charlie’s Bar
at PYC with a braai on the outside deck so there is no need to go hungry after
sailing.
Smooth Sailing
readers will no doubt have been following the Dinghy Debate
closely and with the junior nationals just around the corner this is something
that is sure to be hotting up again. A short while ago we brought you news of
the Active 15, the prototype of which is currently being built in Cape Town.
This week we are please to be able to bring you news of another exciting new
boat, the Rebel. Roy Dunster, who is heavily
involved in the project, sent us the following report on the Rebel’s
development. This is the edited version though; you will find the unedited
version on the Smooth Sailing web site.
“Work on the Rebel started
over two years ago yet we have already built three prototype hulls and about 7
production hulls. We have deliberately kept a low profile. We wanted to ensure
that we had a tested product with known costs and the bugs in the systems
ironed out before we began creating expectations.
The objective of the Rebel project was to create a
high performance, low cost dinghy which would grow the market for sailing in
RSA. The point about growing the market is important – although we hope to
attract good sailors to the class, our primary goal is to get people who might
not have sailed before onto boats. This had several implications for the
project:
Costs needed to be actively
controlled.
The boat needed to be very
simple, and could not look intimidating to the novice.
It had to be comfortable to
sail. People new to the sport wont like getting hurt on any boat. Poor layout
often results in damage to skippers
& crews.
We needed to make systems as
hassle free as possible, eg: Rig design has eliminated the possibility of
twisted halyards inside the mast.
A degree of owner assembly
was required. Most sailors aren’t boat builders but can bolt on fittings, make
spars or shape foils.
Ideally the boats should be
available through retail outlets.
These implications guided the
direction of the project.
A key issue in containing
costs was that we already had the moulds of the Regatta dinghy (designed by
Chris Hecker several years ago). We thought that the boat was quick but the
hulls were soft and needed more development. Not having to build a mould
reduced the costs drastically. The boat that has been developed has an
up-to-date rig and an internal hull structure to take rig loads. The boats are
built light (70kg) and the hull weights of all boats produced will be closely
monitored. To make it possible for owners of existing Regattas to join our
class (there were about 17 boats built), we have kept the same basic rig
dimensions. While we anticipate Regatta hulls being quite a lot slower, it does
give the option of getting on the water in this class on a tight bidget.
Costs have been kept in check
by keeping the rig relatively low tech with the spars all aluminum. This is
possible by keeping the spinnaker pole fairly short (which has the other
benefit of keeping the centre of effort of the sailplan fairly consistent so
that lee helm is contained on a reach).
Simplicity seemed absolutely
key. I have a fair amount of experience with very complicated boats (my Sprog
of several years ago was a prime example and the Fireball I sail does seem to
have more systems than we really adjust) and the primary learnings from these
were:
·
Lots of rope is intimating and looks “difficult”.
·
Blocks and rope are expensive and will drive the cost up.
·
Extra systems obviously add to overall weight.
·
We have gone for very good equipment using bearing blocks only where
necessary. There are just four deck
mounted cleats – two for the jib sheet, one for the spinnaker halyard and one
for the asymmetric pole launcher. Cleats for the vang, cunningham and outhaul
are all on the spars. Although the systems are simple they were all well
researched and work well.
Careful attention was paid to
the ergonomics of the boat. We have been able to get pretty much everything
away from where backsides, knees or shins are likely to be. As a result the
boat is very comfortable and, to the best of my knowledge, no one involved in
the testing has left any blood lying around on the boat or been bruised. The
two things that could get in the way of toes are the mainsheet block and the
self bailer but they are both in virtually the same spot and should be able to
be avoided. Also, we recommend wearing sailing boots if you are going to spend
any length of time under a toestrap or on the trapeze.
Making the boat comfortable
also resulted in the mainsheet running from the bridal on the transom, inside
the boom, to the central ratchet block. This makes it impossible to catch
anyone on the head, either with the sheet or a guide saddle on the bottom of
the boom, and also keeps the boat looking extremely clean and uncomplicated.
Our philosophy with
eliminating things that could go wrong involved identifying everything that had
been annoying about sailing other boats, and trying to design them out of the
Rebel. This impacted on several of the systems:
Most dinghies with three
halyards (main, jib and spinnaker) will get twists in them at some point. Our
solution was:
Run the jib halyard, which
also sets rig tension, inside the mast.
Run the main halyard inside
the mainsail track on the back of the mast – the other result of this is that
the top of the mast can be sealed – handy in a capsize situation.
Keep the spinnaker halyard
(which holds the mast up on the hard when the jib has been taken down)
external. Although this does add to windage, it is not an issue because all the
boats are the same. Furthermore, no one can ever make the mistake of having the
halyard disappear inside the mast.
Our experience with other
boats with asymmetrical spinnakers and bowsprits is that it can be difficult to
set the system if the pole launcher, tack and halyard are all on one line. Our
solution was to keep the pole launcher separate and then launch the tack and
the halyard with one string. The technique is to set the pole before the
weather mark and then hoist the spinnaker/set the tackline as soon as you are
round. For the drop, pull the spinnaker down to windward and then pull the pole
back later
We deliberately did not go
for a spinnaker chute. Chutes tend to put a lot of wear on the spinnaker, are
not necessarily faster on the drops or hoists. They also tend to gather water
and we would have had to alter the moulds significantly to accommodate a chute.
Asymmetric spinnakers often
impair the crews vision downwind with most having very low clews. Considering
that our primary target market was new sailors, we have kept the spinnaker clew
quite high to maintain visibility
Being able to assemble a boat
at home can provide both cost savings (you might already have many of the
fittings) and can make getting on the water more of a family project. We
anticipate that some buyers will order just a hull, mast and sails (and maybe
the foils) and then do the rest themselves. The foils have a fairly adventurous
silhouette but that can easily be copied by just using existing blades as a
template. The section is a parabolic leading edge, a tapered trailing edge and
flat sections in between, specifically kept simple to make it possible to build
them at home. Both the boom and the spinnaker pole are simple round sections
and should be easy to build if you have a hacksaw, a drill and a few files.
While complete boats are available from the builder, we would certainly like to
see people doing there own thing (within the class rules).
Availability, we think, is
one of the key reasons why the Rebel should be a success. Our perception of
other classes in RSA is that they have not had regular builders, no-one knows
exactly how much a new boat will cost, and it is impossible to get one quickly.
It can even be difficult to find out who to contact for a new boat because they
are generally not advertised. Ocean Sailing Academy is a key ingredient of the
project because they have a nationwide presence, international links, and an
existing marketing campaign. We are likely to supplement their network by
appointing agents in places where they have less infrastructure but the
principle is that you should be able to go into a dealer and take delivery of a
boat immediately, or within one to two weeks (depending on the demand at the
time).
The picture on the Smooth
Sailing home page shows pretty much what the Rebel is. A fairly conventional
hull, a semi-fully battened mainsail, a small jib and a large asymmetrical
spinnaker flown from a bowsprit. It has a lifting rudder, a dagger board, a
single trapeze (with the spinnaker version) and very simple systems. Three
versions will be available as follows:
·
Trapeze and spinnaker
·
Main and jib (No trapeze or kite)
·
Mainsail only. (Aimed at the tourism market)
We have deliberately steered clear of having too many
options as these add to costs and, we believe, will dilute any fleet that
starts to grow.
Recent experience while
working on a management-consulting project in Australia suggests to me that we
have taken the right route with the Rebel. While one can spend a lot of time
debating the importance of South Africans sailing international boats, the
experience of Australia seems to indicate that it is less important than one
might think. Australians sail a whole bunch of boats that are not raced
anywhere else and the sport there is in remarkably good health. On any one
weekend, there are probably more boats sailing in Sydney Harbour alone than in
the whole of RSA. The issue in RSA is that there are simply not enough people sailing
and we need to take a first step to change that. Expensive, imported, highly
technical boats are unlikely to be the answer – we need something locally
produced which is preferably not too susceptible to exchange rate fluctuations
– local content or at least limiting the number of counties where components
come from is good. Hopefully we will get to a stage where we have large fleets
of something – I think that our main problem when we travel to overseas
regattas is not whether or not we can steer or trim fast but rather how well we
cope with getting off the start line and finding clear breeze in fleets bigger
than what we are accustomed to.
I am sure that a relatively
conventional boat that is easy to sail and doesn’t fall over too often is what
is needed in RSA. Sailing very high performance boats, like 12 foot skiffs, is
simply too hard. Boats like the 29er are also quite hard to keep upright but
have a good global presence (including in RSA) – any new entrant into the
market needs to offer a compelling reason why someone should not rather buy one
of the established international boats. In the case of the Rebel, the Unique
Selling Proposition is simplicity and cost. People who do get to sail it will
also be rather surprised at its pace – it is stiff, has a modern rig and will
be very competitive against the established classes. While we believe it is
easy to sail, we also think it is hard to sail fast – in this way, it provides
a challenge to good sailors.
Although the project started
over two years ago, most of the development has really happened since July
2002. In that time we have:
Completed three prototype
hulls (and comprehensively broken the first). As part of this process Global
Composites have built several other hulls and decks to experiment with
different resins, cloths and core materials.
Built two sets of foil plugs
and several rudders and centerboards.
Designed and built a new
composite rudderstock.
Altered the mainsail and
redesigned (and built new) the jib and spinnaker (thank-you to Quantum Sails).
Stopped working with the
first builder and developed a good relationship with a second (Global
Composites in Pietermaritzburg).
Global Composites have also
developed a launching dolly and trailer system
Worked with Yacht Masts and
Rigging in Durban to supply the rigs.
Settled on a fitting manufacturer and supplier
(Ronstan and Texwise respectively).
The initial owners of the
project – Dudley Isaac, then Mike Dann
and Roy Dunster, have been joined by Ocean Sailing Academy
The boat has been sailed in
Durban, Gauteng and now (or soon to be) Cape Town.”
For more
information on the Rebel contact Roy Dunster at rdunster@bigfoot.com.
With the 2003 Junior Nationals, to be
held at Wriggleswade in the Border region, just around the corner the Venue
for the 2004 Junior Nationals was announced this week. The event,
which moves from region to region each year, is due to be held in the Western
Cape but a decision on the host club wasn’t quite that simple. In a process
resembling that of the America’s Cup, Olympic Games and Soccer World Cup, bids
from prospective hosts were submitted to a panel for their respective merits to
be discussed. After much debate Hermanus Yacht Club emerged as the winner by
majority decision. The basic details of the championship will be available by
the time the 2003 Nationals take place on the 13th of December and
the Notice of Race will be available early in 2004.
Our Notices of Race page on the Smooth Sailing has all the NOR’s available to us. If you
have a regatta coming up and would like to make the NOR available online then
e-mail it to hethcot@iafrica.com and it will be posted and
listed in this newsletter. To get your copy simply click on the name of the
regatta you are interested in below:
|
Regatta |
Venue |
Dates |
|
Hout Bay to St Helena Island |
29 November 2003 |
|
|
Victoria Lake Club |
29 & 30 November 2003 |
|
|
Point, Royal Natal & Zululand
Yacht Clubs and Club Naval, Maputo |
December 2003 to July 2004 |
|
|
Spionkop Boating Club |
6 & 7 December |
|
|
Royal Natal Yacht Club Christmas Regatta - Flying
Fifteen Nationals & Hobie KZN Champs |
Royal Natal Yacht Club |
13 to 16 December |
|
Stillbaai Yacht Club |
13 to 16 December |
|
|
Royal Cape Yacht Club |
13 to 17 December |
|
|
Stutterheim Aquatic Club |
13 to 20 December |
|
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
13 to 16 December |
|
|
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
27 to 30 December |
|
|
Theewaters Sports Club |
27 to 31 December |
|
|
Lake Denys Yacht Club |
30 January to 1 February 2004 |
|
|
Glendee Yacht Club |
1 & 2 February |
|
|
HMYC 9-Hour Endurance Race |
Henley Midmar Yacht Club |
21 February |
|
Point Yacht Club |
20 to 22 March |
|
|
Hoedjiesbaai Beach, Saldahna Bay |
9 to 12 April |
The Classifieds has been updated on the Smooth Sailing web site. Take a surf past to see what is for sale or sought after in the wanted column. To place an ad, e-mail the details to andrew@smoothsailing.co.za.
FOR SALE
3282
Supreme
racing condition, excellent racing record
Very recently
re-decked and refurbished
Custom made
brand new main and jib (Hyde Sails) together
Custom
engineered foils
Paul Green
mast, new dolly & top cover
Outstanding
racing deck layout.
R 12 000
Contact Peter
Funke
Cell: 072 245
0154
Home: 012-344
2438
E-mail: pfunke@xsinet.co.za
Sail No 735.
Lying at
Manten Marina.
Full set of
sails including spinnaker and pole.
Interior in
mint condition,
3.9 HP Volvo
Penta outboard sail motor included (Good running condition).
All sheets
new. Various safety equipment.
R19 000-00
Cell: 082 876
8366
Phone: 01-
868 5355
E-mail : markc@mdm-eng.co.za
Laser
Barely used
R15 000-00
Contact: Neil Burnett
Cell: 082 552 6436
E-Mail: neil@speakersofnote.co.za
WANTED
Contact:
Wilhelm Herbst
Phone: 011-324
0850
E-Mail: wherbst@msq.co.za
Preferably
diesel & 2nd hand
8 to 12 hp
Contact: Andrew
Heathcote
E-Mail: andrew@smoothsailing.co.za
Any Condition.
Preferably well used.
(To keep the price down.)
Contact: Trevor Emmett
Cell: 082-555 0162
Mail: trevor@test-a-relay.co.za
Hull
with/without trailer and sails
In the
Gauteng area
Graham Danney
073 236 0495
Andrew Heathcote
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 783 8805
This newsletter is
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subject matter contained herein is entirely of a yachting orientated nature or
that which may be of interest to yachtsmen.
Please note that the views
contained in this newsletter are those of the authors concerned and in no way
reflect the view or policies of any of Smooth Sailings associate clubs,
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