Headsail Trim on a Reach
Photo #1 Dan Newland offers up some ideas on outboard sheeting when reaching. Here are some photos I happened to stumble into when I looked at PTSA racing pictures. The pictures illustrate why you need to go to outboard sheeting when reaching. Modern high aspect, low clewed jibs/genoas work well going to weather but suffer on a reach. When you crack off your headsail on a reach what happens is you twist off the top of the sail reducing power while the clew continues to line up with the inboard track. if you switch the headsail lead to [...]
Round The County Race, 2013
Dan Newland Reports on PEGASUS’s Race in the 2013 Round The County. Photo’s by Sean Trew. PEGASUS at Round The County, 2013. Photo by Sean Trew This years’ RTC was an interesting contrast between what should have been and what was. It should have had decent wind Saturday with light winds Sunday but reality has its own agenda. The County Race (RTC), it is an annual race that races around San Juan County which comprises all the major San Juan Islands like Orcas, San Juan and Lopez Islands plus the nearly countless smaller islands, rocks and reefs of [...]
Get the Crew Out and Practice
The man with the parrot on his head would like to point out it is a sparrow. From Dan Newland We are doing a practice rather than a race since races seldom allow you the luxury of talking through maneuvers and letting everyone become familiar with new positions and new maneuvers. As I said in the past, a common problem with a practice is the lack of focus and having clear goals for what it is about. Going out and hoisting a few beers/spinnakers has limited benefit since it is generally what everyone has done before but stating [...]
Robert the Parrot Goes Sailing
[slideshow id=39] From Dan Newland. Here is a Jim Donovan's Yellow Naped Amazon parrot boating on the scale model of the 6 meter sport boat he is building. This bird LOVES to sail and loves water sports! Here are some more with him sitting on his custom made Harken parrot perch on board our boat, Pegasus XIV during the Wooden Boat Festival. And eating from a spoon, he is pretty amazing with his spoon or fork! Robert is a great bird that loves to talk, especially when sailing. The last picture shows the 6 meter sport boat Jim is finishing [...]
Dan and Mike at The Northern Century
[slideshow id=34] From Dan Newland ... Here are some pictures I took of the "Northern Century Race" Mike and I just did. It's a 100 mile race from Anacortes to Pt Roberts, then Hein Bank and back to Anacortes. We tanked it and finally withdrew Saturday night after 23 hours, 18 miles to go and facing a building ebb against us with no wind. We had already sat 4 hours slating in no wind and 3 knots of current going backwards and sideways between the southern part of San Juan Island and Victoria where the current sounded like a running [...]
Dan Builds Some Models for His Talk, Alden Gets Some Missing Lines
[slideshow id=31] Dan Newland On Boat Design, Basics & Structures NW Maritime Center, March 28th 6:30 PM By Dan Newland Here are some pictures of a project I did to support the 2 classes in boat design I’m giving in the next few weeks. One talk is at the NW School of Wooden Boat building next Tue. the other is for the Port Townsend Sailing Association at the NW Maritime Center March 28, 6:30 PM. I built 3 boat models, all of the same scale and with similar WL length to illustrate the effects of overhang and waterplane area on [...]
Moore-phing Into Another Decade, The Moore 24: Still The Classic
Thanks to Josh Greene for pointing out this history of the Moore 24 that first appeared on the web site Pressure Drop here. Article by Jeremy Leonard of Surf City Racing It’s a bright, sunny afternoon in early October 2010 and a fleet of 30 Moore 24s are sailing their North Americans out of Santa Cruz Yacht Club. I’m in the hills above Santa Cruz and I’m standing in a redwood grove on the spot where the plug for a boat named Grendel, the predecessor to the Moore 24, was almost destroyed. Grendel was designed and built by [...]
Some Thoughts on Building Low Weight Structures
From the always active mind of Dan Newland ….. Hey guys. I was using this table when it occurred to me that perhaps you could also use these figures. Attached are some real, measured weights I’ve kept for when I need to do calculations, (the exception are the foam cores that are calculated). Many came from laminate samples or real wood pieces that I have and commonly use around the shop. It occurred to me that maybe you could use this but if not, I will assume the delete button works well and it can go into the Ether. Anyway, [...]
Swift? Surely not!
[slideshow id=20] Pegasus fighting for a spot on the line Pegasus XIV does the 2010 Swiftsure race The 2010 Swiftsure was many things this year but fast wasn’t one of them. It had a few moments of excitement but the word was “Well, it’s never like this…” Swiftsure normally starts with an upwind leg, the price you pay to have a good, solid downwind finish. Oh that it were so this year. On the other hand, we can’t say we weren’t warned. Our weather briefing Friday started with “It looks like great wind at the start with this high offshore [...]
A New Open 40 Gets Hatched
Dan Newland helps finish a new Open 40. For 5 weeks this spring I was in the Bay area working on the build of a new Open Class 40, “Condor” or more properly “California Condor.” I was originally going to be there for 1-2 weeks to design and build some of the detailed finish composite work but they liked what I was doing and they were far behind schedule so I was invited to stay as long as I could. After 5 weeks of 7 days a week and 10-12 hours a day, (300+ hours in 5 weeks [...]
Pegasus Goes Round the County
A Beginner’s guide to the Round the County race, by Dan Newland Close to Thanksgiving, many boaters love to sail “South of the Border”, however that generally assumes the US border, not the Canadian. But for 21 years, sailboats in the Puget Sound area have participated in a two day event that is more akin to an ocean race than an inland sail at a time of year that often brings storms, snow and freezing rain. Being new to the area, we had not sailed on any of the larger, well attended and competitive races in the area. [...]