Re: Building Swift Solos in Mid JerseyHi Bob/and all, Its coming up on winter.
Don't wait to start building your Swift. It is a great winter project, not so
hard, and will get you out there next summer. You will be able to use those J24
honed tactics not worry about crew not turning up or being inexperienced and
enjoy a much more exhilarating speed diffential. Us NY/NJ guys would love to
come down to the Severn and sail with you in Annapolis and I bet Christian
would like to come up from Hampton. Its a great location for skiff sailing.
On: Monday, November 14, 2005 7:21 PM Robert Kinsman Wrote:
Subject: Re: Building Swift Solos in Mid Jersey
I do think the dual cleat platform is fantastic, but
wondering if anyone has had experience with the 1 cleat alternative. RF62175
To my mind one of the most interesting and satisfying things about the Swift
(and other classes like the 5o) is that you can tinker with the rig, just as
you have suggested. Most other skiffs dont allow you any choice in the running
rigging or the spars in terms of adapting the rig to your weight and style of
sailing. I think it's critical to be able to match the boats power and
automatic responses to the wind range and make it pleasant and well behaved to
sail. The SwiftSolos design and rules are setup to let you do this.
The first mainsheet block used on a Swift (by B Dally) was the RF62175. Like
the 5o sailors that Christian posted for us, Bram discovered that the range of
for'n'aft positions required on a trap skiff needed the cams to be in a
different position. There is a lot less variation in angle in the vertical
plane so the cams in Brams Swifts are in that plane. Wedges can be used to make
the vertical adjust elemenmtary to suit your trapping height if you use a
platform and fixed cams like Brams.
Just as an observer, the current arrangement requires the mainsheet to be
uncleated during the tack The benefit I could see would be the ability to set
a
"tacking" trim maybe an inch or two eased, fly from wire to wire during a
tack
and accelerate hard, and then commence trimming once hooked up and moving
along.
A lot of thought and effort went into the design of the Swift in terms of
keeping the boat "Tactical". If you have sailed some of the other skiffs you
will know that it pays in some circumstances not to tack. It becomes pretty
uninteresting a lot of the time, IMHO, to be in a lay line boat (a cat for
example). The Swift is fast to tack and looses little ground because of simple
things that no one pays attention or gives credit to, like the run through
design, solid wings and the conservative gunwale width. Lowering the boom to
the heel of the mast might look sexy but is a disaster for the real purpose of
the skiff, fast tactical sailing. Adding racks probably would not make this
boat more stable or faster around the course. Other classes have chosen
different solutions but Bram has shown that if you practice wire to wire
technique the Swift tacks faster and looses less ground than most other skiffs,
single trap or otherwise. This is a tremendous advantage for our class, keeps
the races fast, fun, somewhat unpredictable and "out of the boat cerebral".
Cleating the main is certainly an advantage in tacking a solo skiff, it allows
the main (and Jib) to be close hauled as your course comes higher while you are
entering the cockpit, frees up the skipper to hook up or just launch out on the
handle on the other side. The beauty, accidental or not, of the twin cam cleat
base is that the action of pulling the sheet and flipping to the other side
cleat (something that I found in Florida just happens almost automatically for
me, even if I didn't want it to) eases the main just the right amount to power
up the sail and trim for a slightly fat exit from the tack. We have all been
told by our coaches, don't let the boat wallow in displacement sailing after a
tack, power up to planing speed before you come right up to to the wind and
then trim in your main and jib as you come up. The platform couldn't be set up
better for that ,so I like it. I do think it could be designed to look more
sleek though and I have nightmares of having the top of my head removed one
day. Its a good thing that it doesn't hang down in the corridor like the 62175
would. If you have ever been stuck on a 49er outhaul cleat then you know what I
mean.
If you are looking for an even freer corridor maybe you could think about a
fixed 49er or sliding 29er style top down ram vang. This would affect the mast
bend character, maybe good maybe not have to suck it and see. Alternatively
what about no vang and a more adjustable bridle height. Bram's constant
experimentation on the mainsail and mast rig - e.g. removal of the bottom
spreaders has lead to a great package. We are finding that the cunno is more
important to lead out to the skipper, it having the most control of the stick
shift of the boat. The vang can easily be put at the chainplates in the clam
cleats. Since our masts are so flexible the cunno pulls the draft forward and
bends the mast automatically, easing the vang about the right amount, as you
would when you need to depower. No so much need for acute vang adjustments.
Keep tinkering, but let me (and only me) know the results before the next
regatta.
And stop procrastinating (Oh that was meant for me! just to head off the
avalanche of emails :-).
Greg
Swift Solo - Rose
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