Warren Matthews Blog

New Sails...

2011-11-29T08:51:14Z

I mentioned a few posts ago that I had some new sails made to help light weather performance. Unfortunately I have been out of the country for the last month and haven't had a chance to test them well. Here are a few more photos and details of the two sails I referred to recently plus a new upwind sail.

Firstly the one for using when the wind is off the aft quarter. The first photo shows the sail attached in the center and the next one shows and alternate position. Both positions worked well.

The next photo shows the new upwind sail which also made quite a difference to performance.

The next photo shows how the spinnaker is fixed.

Later in the month I will be doing some more sea trials so I will be able to share with you the performance in different conditions and sail configurations.

Stowage of Paddleboard...

2011-11-29T08:37:08Z

I've been trying to figure out a good place to stow the paddleboard. I use this a lot as it is more convenient in many situations than assembling the dingy. I wanted somewhere easy to put it out of the way whilst sailing without cluttering up deck space. I was towing it for a while but the slapping of it on the water disturbed the peace. So, we made up a bracket on the aft beam and it fits on there nicely.

Only problem is that it interferes with the fairlead I have fitted for the drogue...so, I will have to figure out somewhere else I can put it in storm conditions in the event of having to tow a drogue.

DIve Compressor...

2011-10-02T06:14:16Z

The new dive compressor is now fitted. I had a bit of an issue where to fit it so it was out of the way when not in use. The solution was to cut out the bottom of the aft seat and lower it by about 100mm. It now fits in there nicely and is easy to lift out when needed for use.

New Sails...

2011-10-02T05:18:12Z

I mentioned a while back that I felt the drifter was too small. Also, you may recollect that Maxim who charters some Tiki's in Thailand made a suggestion concerning a spinnaker which he attaches to the stem of each hull.

I passed this info on to the boat builder Davie Norris and he referred me to Rodney Keenan of Evolution sails in Auckland. I met up with Rodney as he happened to be in Fiji at the same time as me. Rodney designs and makes many of the America's cup yacht sails including Oracles. He also supplies sails for many of the round the world race yachts.

Bottom line...he designed both a spinnaker and another large downwind sail so that I could improve downwind performance a lot more. He flew down to Christchurch last week to spend a day with me on the boat to learn how to get the best out of the sails. I was delighted with the results. The breeze was very light but we got 5 knots in 8 knots of breeze.

I have now commissioned him to build another sail to improve upwind performance. Also, he is redesigning the jib which he confident will improve performance more.

During December I will be doing a lot of testing and documenting the performance of different sails in varying conditions which will be logged into a computer program which will in turn link into the routing/weather software to help improve passage making.

Video...at last.

2011-08-10T09:07:24Z

Finally I have figured out how to upload a video. This is the video that I made back in January. Later that day the wind increased to 35 knots and the boat speed was just under 15 knots.

Tested out Drifter...

2011-05-15T01:15:44Z

Yesterday I had the first sail for sometime and tested out the drifter sail. It worked good but seems to be too small. I will contact Rolly Taskers and have them make a bigger one for me.

Bulbs fitted...

2011-05-14T23:40:02Z

Just prior to the earthquake I arranged to slip 'Natural High' for some further work and fit the bulbs that I have referred to earlier.

If you have been reading previous posts you will be aware that I added some additional buoyancy aft to compensate for the additional decking. I deliberately overcompensated as I wanted to fit these bulbs as I figured that it would improve overall performance with additional waterline length and make it better for running 'downhill'.

The result was excellent. We made the bulbs slightly smaller than originally planned. This is because I made a decision to purchase a dive compressor which will be fitted under the aft seat, also to fit a DC air-con unit for the starboard cabin. In addition I have decided to replace the current genset with another one built in Australia.

All of the above will add some weight aft of the center of buoyancy. The compressor is on hand as is the air-con unit...just waiting for the delivery of the genset.

The trim of the boat is slightly down at the bow but when simulating the weight of the air-con, compressor etc it is perfect...so, I am really happy with it. The waterline is where it should be and I have been able to fit on all my extra 'comforts'.

Back to Normal...

2011-05-14T22:18:09Z

Well sort of. I have had no time to do either anything on the blog and very little on the boat since the end of February when we got hit with a massive earthquake here in Christchurch, New Zealand. This followed on from a 7.2 quake here in Sept. Although the Feb 22nd quake was a smaller one it was apparently the most violent every recorded under a city. The vertical and side g forces were higher than anything every recorded before even in Japan.

Bottom line the devastation was significant with 900 building now being demolished in the CBD and about 10,000 homes. Our factory was significantly damaged and we have had considerable business interruption...but, everything is now under control and I can resume the finishing of the final points for the boat.

If you are interested in this there is a lot of stuff on it on google...'Christchurch earthquake'

As a result of the disruption I have had to delay my departure from New Zealand for a year.

Some performance results...

2011-01-11T13:37:34Z

Over the last few weeks I have been focusing on a multitude of little issues in commisioning the boat. I will expand on the relevant ones over the next few weeks.

However, last Saturday I went out for a sail to test out a few systems. I was also able to get a few interesting results which I am sharing with you now.

The below photos are as we were sailing down the harbor with a breeze around 20 - 25 knots. You will note on the read out of the speed and wind that we were doing 11.2 knots in 22 knots of wind. Later in the day when we were a few miles out at sea we recorded 14.4 knots in 30 knots of wind. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera handy at that point. We had full sail up and it rode beautifully.

I did take some video but I still haven't figured out how to upload it here...soon.

Another point of interest. At 25 knots of wind and 11 knots of speed there was no spray at all, on any angle. At 30 knots it was still dry until we reached over 13 knots and then we got the odd dose of spray...but, at no time did we have a wave 'thump' the underneath of the cockpit.

First sail photos...

2010-11-17T21:51:30Z

Not a particuarly good photo. Will get some more photos and get the video's sorted out as soon as I can. Unfortunately I will be out of the country for a couple of weeks and the end of this week so, not sure if I can do it before then...but this will do in the meantime.