[heymacaulay]

What is the wind like on the other side of the bridge ? It’d be nice to try at least a couple of races over there to give it a try – at least for the variety. The ‘usual course’ on the club side of the bridge gets a bit predictable.

[heymacaulay]

Hi All

Well, it’s not long to go now till Lindisfarne Sailing Club comes alive with a swarm of rairing to go Sabre Sailors.

We have secured more sponsors including another rudder blade from a high profile boat builder.

REMEMBER ENTRIES CLOSE AT THE END OF THIS MONTH, OTHERWISE THEY ATTRACT A LATE ENTRY FEE OF $25.

Cheers

Andrew Bradshaw

[heymacaulay]

Hi Ashley, thanks for that imfo.I will get in touch with Fiona and see what we can organise. Ben(speed demon) probably understated the amount of sabres that will be sailing at our Easter Regatta as I already have 10 indicating they will be sailing. As Ben has mentioned we run a great regatta and it would be good to see some Melbourne boats up here sailing on one of the best stretches of water you can sail on. Cheers, Deckchairs Overboard.

[heymacaulay]

I know Fiona McCulloch (vic presdient and 4th overall Last Nationals) will be in the area aorund the 28th of December.

So it may be possible to have a day of coaching if you are able to fit it in with which ever titles are being run at the time.

Ashley
Tepara 1061

[heymacaulay]

If the book is still available i would love to get a copy

Thanks
ronny_f
Crispy
1201
(SA)

[heymacaulay]

Glenn,

I know the Vic comittee are currently busy getting the states for this year (2006) at Black Rock organised, but would no doubt be interested in considering Gippsland lakes in the future.

It may also be of interest that this year the states are to be run over a normal weekend (not a long weekend) as a test to see if more people attend.

Most of the coaches are probably heading down to Tasmania over Christmas so any trainnig that occurs would probably be some time after the New Year period. I know most of the committee reads the forum and will no doubt have a talk about.

Does the Gippsland club sail over the christmas new year period?

Ashley
Tepara 1061

[heymacaulay]

Most of the sabre towel rail fitting now come as a complete unit with the towel rail and slider fitted.

Have a look at the below link for an example.

http://www.binksonline.com.au/store/prod2853.htm

Mine has the same towel rail but uses two shackles instead of the black slider. Seems to be the old way of setting up your outhaul system.

Ashley
Tepara 1061

[heymacaulay]

Hi Lea,
Leech ribbons/tails are different from other telltales. They will tell you if the wind is staying attached to the sail all the way from the luff to the leech. If your leech ribbons are not flowing, there are usually two causes:
1. you don’t have enough twist in your sail – usually caused by over-sheeting or too much vang. If this is the case, you will usually find the top leeward telltale will be stalled as well.
2. My suspicion, however, is that you were sailing in light(ish) conditions last weekend, because my experience ist that leech ribbons are only ever a problem in light conditions – in medium and heavy conditions it is hard to make them stall! In light winds it is very common in dinghies for the leech ribbons to stall, while the windward and leeward telltales both flow happily. Dinghy sails like on a Sabre are generally too full for light winds and lack the controls (eg. a backstay, or spreaders set so that you can bend the mast using more rig tension) necessary to flatten them to make them the correct (flatter) shape for light winds. However, if you make the sails flatter for light conditions, they are too flat for medium and heavy air sailing! Personally, although I have leech ribbons on my sail, I never look at the silly things. So my advice would be that if you find they frustrate you all the time, take them off! Just use the normal telltales, but particularly note what the top telltale is doing, because if the top leeward telltale is stalled, you can be sure you are oversheeted and the leech is stalled too.

As far as sheeting angle goes, on single handed boats like Sabres, Lasers, Finns etc., the sail needs to be sheeted fairly well off center in all conditions. Have you noticed that all Laser sailors worth their salt have the traveller set as tight as possible to make the boom sheet out as wide as possible, no matter what the conditions are? Sabres are similar, but because the sail area is a bit smaller, I find you don’t need to sheet out quite as wide as for a Laser. In general, for light to medium winds, the boom is usually just to windward of the inside of the leeward bouyancy tank. In heavier winds, you can’t hold it in that far, so just use a lot of vang and pull the sheet in as much as you can handle while still keeping the boat flat.

Sounds like Richmond River has a good fleet of Sabres to race with. I’ve never been there, but river sailing experts will have an advantage if you come down to Hobart for the nationals this year!

Regards,

Alan

[heymacaulay]

Hi Lea,
Are you talking about getting the top telltales to stream when going upwind? There are a couple of things to check. First, where is the top telltale in relation to the mast? If it is too close, it will always be in an area of turbulence caused by the mast and you will never get your telltales streaming happily. I have my top telltale 50% of the way back from the luff. Second, if the leeward telltale is not streaming, it is because the sail is trimmed too hard for the angle you are sailing at. Either (a) you are pointing too low (b) you are using too much mainsheet tension (c) you have too much vang tension or (d) any combination of the above! In general, the leeward telltale is by far the most important of the pair, so always aim to have it streaming, even if the windward one is dancing around a bit. Sometimes you can get the leeward one streaming but can’t get the windward one streaming without stalling the leeward one in the process. This is usually because the sail is too full. If this is happening at the top of the sail and you can’t fix it with your sail controls, you may need a stiffer top batten (but don’t go overboard)!
Hope this helps!

Regards,

Alan

[heymacaulay]

@Phillip Johnson wrote:

The total weight of uncut plywood ie 5 sheets is about 56 to60 lbs. This is based on 3 sheets of 4mm and 2 sheets of 5mm. The plywood is gaboon.
At the present time it is very difficult if not impossible to get 5mm. It is permitted to use 4mm for the bootom panels and bring the thickness to 4.5mm using fibreglass on one or both sides. This does not increase the weight very much and the finished boat should be very close to the minimum weight. Care needs to taken to remove excess resin when doing the fibreglass sheathing.

Phillip Johnson
National Measurer

[heymacaulay]

@Phillip Johnson wrote:

The total weight of uncut plywood ie 5 sheets is about 56 to60 lbs. This is based on 3 sheets of 4mm and 2 sheets of 5mm. The plywood is gaboon.
At the present time it is very difficult if not impossible to get 5mm. It is permitted to use 4mm for the bootom panels and bring the thickness to 4.5mm using fibreglass on one or both sides. This does not increase the weight very much and the finished boat should be very close to the minimum weight. Care needs to taken to remove excess resin when doing the fibreglass sheathing.

Phillip Johnson
National Measurer

[heymacaulay]

Hi Ben

We are currently finalising the Sabre Notice of Race for the 2006 State Titles to be held at Black Rock YC in Melbourne. We will be having a double handed division so please come along

Regards
Fiona

[heymacaulay]

Hi Maree

Pub Crawl is a goer and basically starts with a meal and continues to…
and may involve some drinks on some local yachts at the wharf.

I booked the wind as soon as i returned from Blairgowrie, so this national is two years in the making. I asked for 10 knots plus. Wayno wanted 30 knots and heard a whisper the sleeping giant Russell Bates wanted 40 knots to make the trip with his 100 proof Southern Comfort.

But I think 10-25 knots should be just fine.

We are seriously considering running some races below the bridge this year, weather depending.

Your thoughts???

Cheers

Andrew Bradshaw

[heymacaulay]

I have just insured my sabre with Tudor Insurance. I can confirm the premium quoted. It is insured lfor racing as well as public liability for $180.

Seems like really good value to me!

[heymacaulay]

Hi Lea,
You are better off making adjustments according to the point of sail. An upwind sail shape is too flat for going downwind, with the possible exception of survival conditions!

In medium and windy conditions you need a tight vang when going downwind, otherwise the leech twists off too much. However, it’s a balancing act – too much tension and the sail goes too flat, not enough and you get too much twist. I generally find that the vang need to be eased about 5 cm when coming around the windward mark. Make sure that you let your downhaul off 2-3 cm too, otherwise you are compression bending the mast and unnecessarily stretching the luff of your sail. Similarly, let the outhaul off 3-5 cm to give plenty of power down low.

Regards,

Alan
Sabre 1564.

[Author]

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