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As briefly mentioned in the CSC WTT write up Ray was seen out on the water with some stylish black (see through) sails with white battens, looking in the low winter sun like a negative of those sails with batten stripes.
He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself with a bit of extra power & pointing well for a 2-sailer, getting out on the wire when Sport mode helms were still sat on the deck.
Steve S jumped aboard to sail back in after the race & take some pics.
I had a quick go in what was rapidly turning into drifting conditions, but could see that the main set nicely & extreemly wing-like. I thought the tack could be a little lower. I agreed with Ray that the jib seemed to need some more tweaking. But when I did catch a zephyr I could feel the boat pick up, it felt a little like sailing with a new sail after using a coloured sail.
So what's it all about?
Ray, over to you.
Charles
1942, Ingrid
Halifax SWC God does not deduct from our allotted life span the time spent sailing(or talking, texting, reading, posting to websites & emailing about it)
I'm sure over the next few months I shall be in print a little more often than usual re subject of "experimental DX rig" and it's development / trials.
Over the past few years a couple of Sprint 15 helms have themselves looked at trying to increase performance by playing around with do-it yourself spinnakers, nothing much came of this as there were issues and consequently no real performance gained.
Those of you who know me know that I prefer to sail Sprint Sport and this is the format we always sail at Carsington, however, many is a Sunday (our race day) that the wind blew a rather disapointing 6 -8 mph making it impossible to trapeze the boat and hence dent our enjoyment.
Tom & I often discussed this problem and what potentially could be done without radical alteration or over pressure of the Sprint 15 rig, to this end Tom produced a set of rig / sail designs that met criteria we had previously set ourselves and from this "Project DX" was born.
What is "Project DX" I here you call?
Flat top sail design with slightly more sail area.
Non furling fully battened jib with slightly more sail area.
Improved / efficient sailcloth.
What additional rig is required?
New longer Forestay.
New lower fitting bridle rig.
New longer jib halyard.
What is removed from Sprint 15?
Short forestay.
Jib Furling drum.
Jib Upper swivel.
Standard bridle rig.
How does DX perform?
The maiden sail of the DX was on Saturday 6th December at the Carsington Winter TT, it was a co-incidence that the proto-type sails became available for this date but became an opportunity to feature the DX and gather some collective feedback on it's design and modern appearence. The DX did not take part in the racing but shadowed the fleet, Charles comments are a fair assessment of the DX maiden sail, I am happy with the intial sail but recognise more development required.
What is planned now are extensive trials in all wind conditions to see how the DX performs, some changes to jib & mainsail have alraedy been identified, this was an expected outcome during the develoment of the DX.
Hi Ray,
This all sounds very interesting, though I do have a few questions.
What is the main sail area?
Is the sail area of the jib increased?
Any idea what its PY rating will be.
Do you have a projected cost of the conversion?
Will it be at Draycote.
When can I have a go !!!
As you know Richard Whitelock & I have recently bought a Hurricane SX with the view of doing a few of the long distance races that the Sprint’s unsuitable for.
The Hurricane has had some major changes over the last few years which has breathed new life into an already great boat. The main one being a chute system spinnaker kit, there is also a new flat top main which is in the final stages of development. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeqbpaQ4OXM
would love to know more about this as well. The wind over here in HK is pretty light most of the year and more sail would definitely be interesting! Are you planning on putting any pics on the site? Also, when do you think a final product would be available?
would love to know more about this as well. The wind over here in HK is pretty light most of the year and more sail would definitely be interesting! Are you planning on putting any pics on the site? Also, when do you think a final product would be available?
Gabriel
Hi Gabriel,
I have just uploaded some pictures of the DX that Ray sent me the other day. Find them here:
Like all projects they require a name and the one chosen for this I hope reflects what is being attempted for the serious Sprint Sport helm, DX "Development eXtreme"
Thanks for the interest expessed to date it's certainly encouraging that others sailing our Sprint 15 are interested in adding a little bit more horse power.
Frank, Jib & Main have a little more sail area overall, the area of sail is not yet set in stone, the jib has has its leech reduced in size to allow the fully battened jib to pass the mast smoothly but sail area added to the tack along with more shape, the main has also had sail area removed from it's leech but increased at the top of the sail and more shape.
Cost, for the moment I'll keep my powder dry as both sails are still under development and changes occur as sailing trials continue, however, I am all too aware of this critical factor, I am a Northerner and do not part easily with my hard earned cash!
DX rig will appear at Draycote but obviously not racing.
Gabriel, like your style, seen it, want it, cheers mate!
Do not want to rush the development of DX, but if all goes well maybe available in months rather than years,.
Caution! nothing to date is proven, i.e. DX significantly more efficient than current sail configurations available to Sprint 15 helms.
Like the look of the DX Ray,('8)') I keep saying I will have a go at this trapezeing lark but never get around to it this may just spur me on a bit because I would like a go on the DX at some point
Wow Frank, I want to try one of those tri's, especially the red & white one, good colours !!
As an alternative the DX demo on a windy day !
Charles
1942, Ingrid
Halifax SWC God does not deduct from our allotted life span the time spent sailing(or talking, texting, reading, posting to websites & emailing about it)
I gather from Kevin that the idea was to try it out on the Sting PY (which I believe is 888).
We were joking that our only way to judge KD with the DX rig is to compare how much more he beats the 18 fleet on the water.
Hopefully in a couple of weeks we will see how it performs at SSC
I have just finished re doing the skegs on our 15s and sorting out why my boat 'toes in' by 12mm at the bows. I thought the rudders were making a lot of water noise even when straight ahead. Now I know.
I recall from my days with a Sting that it was PY860. It cannot have been PY888 as that is slower than the Sprint in Sport format at PY883, and I can assure you it was a much faster boat!
