Dart 15 Forums

Thanks for posting the new pictures Bob - especially of Il Mostro. I couldn't possibly comment on Tom's shoes, or his apparent hangover but I guess the celebrity he's next to must be the lady who has given much support to the Puma Volvo entry to the event. (Some have been heard to express an interest in her) There is a video on the volvo race site at: http://www.volvooceanrace.tv/page/NewsD ... 97,00.html

Now to more serious matters, if you look at http://www.sprint15.com/pics/new_images ... &imgid=577 it's clear the boat has running backstays to account for the huge head of the mainsail. Gybing with the kite up in strong winds must be fun - especially involuntarily!

Well done, Robert. A link to the pictures as well!
The pictures are not strictly Sprint 15 pictures but Tom still has his Sprint 15 and I thought that our members would like to see what Sprint 15 owners do in their spare time.
Cheers
Bob

Could Tom be that little fly you see hoisted up the mast in the video?

Bob Carter wrote:Well done, Robert. A link to the pictures as well!
The pictures are not strictly Sprint 15 pictures but Tom still has his Sprint 15 and I thought that our members would like to see what Sprint 15 owners do in their spare time.
Cheers
Bob

Hi Bob,

We'll make a computer expert of Robert yet!

I was going to ask who was the dishy brunette girly in the pictures but the video link solved it for me.

Martin S.

The head of Ilmostro's mainsail is around 3 meters wide and is supported by 50mm by 25mm rectangular box section carbon batten's which are made in New Zealand.

The "back stay" on Volvo 70's are referred to as "runners", one each side of the boat that go from the top of the rig to a pad eye at the back of the boat.
These runners can have up to 12 tons of load on them and in a manoeuvre like a tack or gibe a crew member will ease the runner as the boat goes into the wind and depowers (If he eases to fast the rig may be damaged or even be sent falling over the front of the boat!). Another crew member will grind the new windward runner on to the desired amount of load which is displayed on an on deck computer which monitors loads in the boat. The runner winch is made by Harken and has three gears and gives us an 85-1 purchase!

You can also see three other "Wire's" (carbon rigging) that go up from the back of the boat. These are check stays and are controlled by a hydraulic ram. The check stays are for tuning the rig and along with the runners are constantly adjusted to help the performance of the boat.

Some more facts if you want them, The rig weighs 600kg wich is half that of a standard boat of this size, We have 8 halyards which run into locks in the mast so the halyard doesnt take any load (reducing rig compresion). It is made of high modualas carbon (a higher grade carbon than on any F1 car). It stands 32 meters above the deck, and you could probably buy two Ferrari's with it!

Tom