Got a new boat for GB racing!

[svShearwater]

Our new boat, a Schumacher 28, is on it's way to Texas today.  It will spend a few weeks in our driveway in Austin getting a little love and a fixed sprit, then we'll bring her down to Seabrook for the winter.  Looking forward to getting back out on the Bay. 

[Bee]

Cool.  Fixed sprit?  Seems like a good thing to do.

[svShearwater]

Yep. It will only be about 3.5' long. Any longer and chute gets too short and wide.  At that length it doesn't seem necessary to mess with a retractable sprit.

[Keith]

Fixed bow sprits have been tried on many boats because of the easy spinnaker handling.  Unless your boat will get up and go (on a real plane) then you will probably not see the full benefit of having PHRF hit you.  An articulating standard or oversize spinnaker pole will reap huge benefits when going downwind with an Ayso compared to a fix sprit.  Have seen this tried on 1D35's and lot's of other similar boats.

Nice to see a new addition to the Texas sailing though good luck!

[JayZ]

Fixed bow sprits have been tried on many boats because of the easy spinnaker handling.  Unless your boat will get up and go (on a real plane) then you will probably not see the full benefit of having PHRF hit you.  An articulating standard or oversize spinnaker pole will reap huge benefits when going downwind with an Ayso compared to a fix sprit.  Have seen this tried on 1D35's and lot's of other similar boats.

Nice to see a new addition to the Texas sailing though good luck!

The PHRF committee has been wrestling with this for a year or so.  Take a look at March 2014 minutes at the  PHRFGB.com site for current no penalty parameters for converting from symmetrical to sprit.

[Keith]

There is no penalty nor should there be for converting from Sym to Ayso.  But to add a 3 foot bowsprit and extend your SPL length (effectively that is what you are doing) is another story.  Projecting a spinnaker 3 feet (or whatever) further in front of the bow will always, or should always require a penalty.  It you put a bowsprit that matches your existing SPL length then no penalty.  We did that on a Beneteau First 40 to Hawaii and used it for the Code 0, to set the ayso from and also for gybing.  Immediately after we set a spinnaker (4A for example) we articulated the ayso away from the bow. 

2 days out of Hawaii a 1D35 with a large fixed bowsprit and owing us 11 hours crossed our stern pointing towards Tahiti because that is the angle she needed to sail because of her configuration (We beat her boat for boat by 3 hours).  BUT that being said... Bruce Nelson ran the numbers on a 1D35 for a friend of mine who did Transpac double handed and he said that both configurations are close but he gives the advantage to the bowsprit on a long distance race.  It would be hard in my opinion to sail the angles needed with a bowsprit on a W/L race....  Depends on what your desire is.

[Keith]

I have raced against a modified 1D35 a lot.. many times on a Flying Tiger.  Here is Misfit VS us in a San Diego to Ensenada race.

[svShearwater]

Interesting comments. Thanks.

Two points...

The configuration is intended to be optimized for racing to Hawaii. We are consulting with Jim Antrim, who runs the downwind PHRF derived rating that Pac Cup uses. I suspect the sprit will win, but if Jim says no, then we might not go that route.

Regarding ratings though. This is a one-off boat with no previous rating so there aren't really any credits or penalties because there is no base rating.

In the end I really don't care that much about the rating. We are out to have fun on the boat. Winning (or even coming close) is secondary.

[Bee]

Justin and Chris:

Just make sure you two have fun and don't worry about the rest of our comments.  Keith is an old buddy and means well here but he is a full bore all out professional racer.  Like me, has trouble understanding more long distance cruiser oriented types (even though he has done a bunch of these).  Just keep Chris smiling and those of us who keep up with you two will be happy. Still enjoying her Hawaii videos. What a wonderful smile.

[Eric713]

OK Bee!  Only two more to go...

[JayZ]

You bring up a couple of interesting points below and also to confirm, there is no penalty for either converting from sym to aysm or using both.  PHRFGB allows the use of both. 

In trying to address the popularity of these mini-sprits and the production boats offering them as an option (mostly the cruisers).  The committee tried to come up with a no penalty rule for converting to a small sprit (20% of J) and a larger assym.  -in this configuration a conventional symmetrical on a pole is not allowed, nor can the sprit articulate.

You mentioned rotating the assym to windward.  In the PHRF region you were racing were you allowed both assym and sym spinnakers? 

There is no penalty nor should there be for converting from Sym to Ayso.  But to add a 3 foot bowsprit and extend your SPL length (effectively that is what you are doing) is another story.  Projecting a spinnaker 3 feet (or whatever) further in front of the bow will always, or should always require a penalty.  It you put a bowsprit that matches your existing SPL length then no penalty.  We did that on a Beneteau First 40 to Hawaii and used it for the Code 0, to set the ayso from and also for gybing.  Immediately after we set a spinnaker (4A for example) we articulated the ayso away from the bow. 

2 days out of Hawaii a 1D35 with a large fixed bowsprit and owing us 11 hours crossed our stern pointing towards Tahiti because that is the angle she needed to sail because of her configuration (We beat her boat for boat by 3 hours).  BUT that being said... Bruce Nelson ran the numbers on a 1D35 for a friend of mine who did Transpac double handed and he said that both configurations are close but he gives the advantage to the bowsprit on a long distance race.  It would be hard in my opinion to sail the angles needed with a bowsprit on a W/L race....  Depends on what your desire is.

[Keith]

Assuming you are going double handed again?  Using a Pole will be safer for short handed sailing.  You will get the spinnaker away from the main and have less opportunities to collapse the spinnaker especially when surfing down waves and you get really deep.

My co-worker has down a few double handed Transpacs and we have a lot of info for the 1D35, J92 and now the possibility of double handed J-125 to Hawaii!

Interesting comments. Thanks.

Two points...

The configuration is intended to be optimized for racing to Hawaii. We are consulting with Jim Antrim, who runs the downwind PHRF derived rating that Pac Cup uses. I suspect the sprit will win, but if Jim says no, then we might not go that route.

Regarding ratings though. This is a one-off boat with no previous rating so there aren't really any credits or penalties because there is no base rating.

In the end I really don't care that much about the rating. We are out to have fun on the boat. Winning (or even coming close) is secondary.

[Keith]

I have always admired how GBCA get's the most out of rating and boats to ensure the biggest turnout.  After doing the HMR a few times I decided to bring some of the practices to the Newport To Ensenada Race and everyone has been receptive.

In PHRF Southern California there is no penalty to switch between Ayso and Symmetrical.  SOme boats us Symmetrical for W/L here and ayso for reaching. 

You bring up a couple of interesting points below and also to confirm, there is no penalty for either converting from sym to aysm or using both.  PHRFGB allows the use of both. 

In trying to address the popularity of these mini-sprits and the production boats offering them as an option (mostly the cruisers).  The committee tried to come up with a no penalty rule for converting to a small sprit (20% of J) and a larger assym.  -in this configuration a conventional symmetrical on a pole is not allowed, nor can the sprit articulate.

You mentioned rotating the assym to windward.  In the PHRF region you were racing were you allowed both assym and sym spinnakers? 

There is no penalty nor should there be for converting from Sym to Ayso.  But to add a 3 foot bowsprit and extend your SPL length (effectively that is what you are doing) is another story.  Projecting a spinnaker 3 feet (or whatever) further in front of the bow will always, or should always require a penalty.  It you put a bowsprit that matches your existing SPL length then no penalty.  We did that on a Beneteau First 40 to Hawaii and used it for the Code 0, to set the ayso from and also for gybing.  Immediately after we set a spinnaker (4A for example) we articulated the ayso away from the bow. 

2 days out of Hawaii a 1D35 with a large fixed bowsprit and owing us 11 hours crossed our stern pointing towards Tahiti because that is the angle she needed to sail because of her configuration (We beat her boat for boat by 3 hours).  BUT that being said... Bruce Nelson ran the numbers on a 1D35 for a friend of mine who did Transpac double handed and he said that both configurations are close but he gives the advantage to the bowsprit on a long distance race.  It would be hard in my opinion to sail the angles needed with a bowsprit on a W/L race....  Depends on what your desire is.

[Bee]

Cool.  A NO penalty rule. So,  if I set up Stinger to fly a sym (very easy to do) I won't be penalized, but I bet I will hear a lot of bitching.

OK, Ed. Solo uno mas.

[JayZ]

not quite in the spirit of the rule.  ...actually not really close at all.

Cool.  A NO penalty rule. So,  if I set up Stinger to fly a sym (very easy to do) I won't be penalized, but I bet I will hear a lot of bitching.

OK, Ed. Solo uno mas.