During the process of putting together tips, it has occurred to me that
there is as much to learn from failed experiments as from successful ones.
While
designing the Swift, I paid a lot of attention to the failed
experiments/R&D that Frank Bethwaite outlined in his book. For that reason,
I'll include
some of those failed experiments with these tips.
Failed tip #1 Recently I moved my spin sheet blocks well aft and inboard
to try to soften the leech of my kite. While it accomplished that, it has
made gybing very difficult. With the old system, the spin sheet block was
just
forward of my forward foot when I'd stand during the early stage of the gybe.
It was easy to bend a bit and pick up the new sheet with my forward hand
and take it across the boat with me. Not so with the new system. This makes
gybing far slower and less graceful. I did cut 4" off my tiller and that has
moved me a bit aft but not far enough. It does occur to me that had I moved
the blocks only 4 to 6" aft and cut off my tiller 4" that it might have been
OK.
Good tip: Those who are using shroud levers on their caps have undoubtedly
noticed that the levers often open unexpectedly. Just put a small wire tie
on them and slid it down when you want to open the lever. Because the lever
is tapered, you simply slide it back up as far as it will go to secure the
lever.
Bram
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