Hobart

I was in Hobart for a conference a few weeks ago and while sitting down for breakfast at 8am, noticed a lone rider carving up and down the Derwent.


Upon checking the BOM website the following was revealed...

17-31 knots in the hour or so on the water
11.3 deg lowest real temp
3.1 deg lowest apparent temp

Very keen...

housekeeping

a couple of pictures i have been sitting on from the worlds, first courtesy of Thierry and the second from Ben Rankine.

UPDATE: 

Karl, 

I purchased a 2 piece mail foil off a friend at the worlds and spent most evenings adapting it to suit the boat. Only got it ready for the final day of racing. On the way to the start line, after 20 seconds of foiling it failed thru the socket, pushrod tearing open the TE of the vertical. 

Once the lifter had departed, the rapid descent must have overloaded the bottom leg of the gantry, it bucking under compression. I have a Dave Lister style articulating gantry which saved the rest of the gantry, but it rotated up and snapped the tiller off on the hull. 

I was able to recover the lifter vertical, gantry and rudder were still attached, but the tiller/worm drive/extension goned. 

Windward Heel

Could've sworn I posted this ages ago.

I was wondering why 15 degrees seemed to be about the right windward heel for best performance upwind. Also wondered how much lift was actually required by the foil at such a heel angle and the transverse force balance of a moth at such a heel angle. Was fairly convinced this was all related so I developed a spreadsheet to find the heel angle that balances the vertical and transverse forces determined from the righting moments.



If anyone wants a copy to play with, let me know and I'll email it to you.

China and New Boat

Quick update, Markla is in China and I've finally bought a boat. All going to plan will pick it up Friday morning.

Clarke and Dawe

something to correct for narkla's recent left leaning posts...

[Scene: A car yard. BRYAN is perusing the stock. He is approached by JOHN]

John: Morning! Looking for a new car?

Bryan: Nope. New Prime Minister, actually.

John: You’re the third one this morning. Anything in mind?

Bryan: You know....... nothing fancy, reliable, economical family model. Something to get the country from A to B.

John: You mean like a Howard?

Bryan: Yeah....a little Johnny. Nothing flash, does the job. Low maintenance, economical, sensible. Runs for years, no troubles.

John: So.... you used to have one?

Bryan: Yeah. About 10 years. Great little model – don’t know why I got rid of him -- biggest mistake I’ve ever made…

John: What happened?

Bryan: Traded him in for a Kevin 07.

John: Big mistake…

Bryan: Lot of people bought it. Good political mileage.

John: How was the Kevin 07?

Bryan: Came with a $900 factory rebate – that was good.

John: Anything else?

Bryan: Not much. Sounded nice but nothing under the bonnet. It was a lemon.

John: Didn’t stick around for long did it?

Bryan: Nah – had a factory recall. Shipped overseas and was never seen again.

John: What was the problem?

Bryan: Lots. But the final straw was the navigation system. Plug it in and it automatically loses its own way.

John: Whatcha got now?

Bryan: It’s a Gillard-Brown.

John: The hybrid?

Bryan: Yeah. The Eco-drive system – not a good idea. An engine that can’t deliver hooked up to a transmission stuck in permanent reverse…

John: Green paintwork with a red interior. And steering that always lurches to the left for no apparent reason – that’s the one?

Bryan: The Fustercluck model.

John: The only one they made, Bryan. Not the vehicle of choice for the road to recovery – but did they finish up fixing the navigation system?

Bryan: Made it worse. Turn it on and it does a press release, heads off in all directions and goes nowhere.

John: So that’s why you’re here?

Bryan: That’s right. I’m stuck with a government that's wasteful, expensive, ineffective and past its use by date. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of the “Cash for Clunkers” scheme?

John: Join the queue brother.

will get back into moths soon, just waiting for it to warm up. 

and finish getting married.

and finish cresta #1.