RH36 scoop
Cool-
Here are some thoughts:
1). Lose the baby stay hydraulics-I would move the cylinder inside the boom and use it for an outhaul/flattener, or just get rid of the cylinder all together, and plug that "channel" of the hyd. system.. I would make up a quick connect babystay for use when cruising, but forget it while racing.
2). Carbon spinn pole-YES
3). The trend is certainly to work with fewer winches and more stoppers, but put some real thought into the layout-it can be great or a disaster-I'll be glad to help when the time comes.
4). Running backs-when cruising, you don't need 'em unless you are out in the Gulf Stream, and in this mode I would keep the babystay slightly loaded up.. When racing, lose the babystay and use the runners aggressively-they are like a "gas" pedal-they can make HUGE changes in speed when used in conjunction with the backstay and vang. Tacking is much faster without the baby stay. It is a royal pain when doing a lot of tacking-and beats up the sail as well.
5). A new max girth main and an AP #1 are of course CRITICAL if you want to race-and if you want to do this on a budget-get an AP asymmetrical spinnaker-full sized-this will cover you from .5 oz. conditions until you don't want to carry a kite anymore, and you will be closer to optimal performance than you would by having a conventional .75 oz up in .5 oz .conditions.
The only "hole" you will have (at least until your crew is sailing at Grand Prix level) will be for windy, tight reaching conditions, where you would need a smaller flatter kite(hopefully an A-kite)-this will double as a heavy runner, too. You will find these sails help a LOT in those heavy rolly-poly IOR terror conditions. They will reduce the inertia of rolling back and forth, and hence be faster (also a better shaped sail).
6). SOME PHRF regions DO give a 3-6 second credit for a furler-but may have some limitations on what headsails you can fly-need to check your local PHRF board.
7). Speedy furled #1? That depends on what your definition of "is" is. But seriously...Compared to other boats doing the same thing-yes- a well built genoa with a foam luff insert will have a reasonably good shape when furled-even down to 50% or more of the unfurled size. The real problem is not that it is a furler-and this is an important concept: The shape and fabric weight of a sail designed to be fast in conditions where a #1 would be flown,
say 0-15 knots TWS (or 12 ish if you are light in rail meat) will NOT be very happy in 18-20 or more. There will be too much draft and the sail will be loaded beyond what the fabric should have to deal with. The solution is to overbuild the sail structurally, and go a bit heavier on the base weight. The result will be a sail much better suited for use when partially furled, but won't be very fast in the conditions where it should be at its' best-this is the dilemma.
I like the idea of a furling 130-142 (ish)% Genoa-this is a sail that "kicks in" at about 10 knots TWS-where the loads get bigger in a hurry, and are quite a bit flatter than a real #1-so this sail is going to be much better when used furled to even 80% of LP (a #4). If you sail in a breezy area, you might get credit for the furler, or the smaller LP sail, or maybe both, and accept you will be off the pace in really light air.
Any furling sail-even a racing furler, will never be as fast as a purpose built sail for the conditions, and I would not try and race with any seriousness with a furling #1 against boats with non-furling #1's, who can then downshift to a #2 or #3. But I would try it with a furling #2...make any sense?
As far as the leak goes, though, seems like you would not be taking on water if the hoses did not have a failure at some point. From what you describe, it might be where the hoses attach with hose clamps to the "tube" on the inside of the boat where the transom cutouts are. The fiberglass could have cracked(I suspect this is the case), or the hoses may just have become brittle and cracked (we hope so)-either way, with new hoses properly attached, nothing should go in the bilges or interior, and on that boat I doubt anything should siphon back into the cockpit when heeled or "settled" when near top speed-I actually remember doing those hoses myself to meet ORC draining time specs for Transpac-Are you sure you can't get at them through the cockpit locker? ( I think I recall having to go down there to set the prop when racing, too).
TOO cool about the keel!!!! This elliptical keel was the rage in the late 80's-early 90's-they were much thinner and faster-don't tell PHRF
Speaking of Brit Chance, does anyone remember what Ted Turner said to him when he first saw the 12 Meter "Mariner" out of the water? Please post your answers, E-gang!
Sorry to be so long-winded!
Seth Morrell
813 S. Euclid Ave.
Oak Park, IL 60304
