Wet

Boats wet!

Skip Schink of 39 did us a huge favor this weekend and pulled our boat down to the harbor for us, so we were able to get in nice and early. Boats all set up and looks great! Haven't had time for blog or photos unfortunately, but here's a summary of whats new this year.

-new mast
-new boom
-white rubrail
-snazzy blue stripe
-underdeck topping lift
-new cunningham
-tacktick micro compass
-36 grit scratches removed from bottom
-bottom wetsanded

All went well save the fact that our new mast is just a bit longer than the old. I knew about this going in and elected to hold off making new rigging until I was sure exactly how much longer it would be on the water. So now, our rigging all ends in toggles (ugh.) I've checked in with the anyone besides me who would be too offended by this and we're all a go, at least until Nats.

So very good to have the boat in the water; now we just have to go sailing sometime!

Shields 88 Spring Update

Poor 88! I have had barely any time to get things done this spring, and even less to write about it...

But here's whats new since the last update:

Fixed damage from match racing last fall
added rubrail
added blue stripe
added 2:1 jib sheets
underdeck topper exit
wetsanded bottom (at the Shields Boatyard Bash)
new traveler line
new spinnaker

The control upgrades (topper, jib sheets) are kind of a test to see how it works. If it goes well we'll start pushing it to the fleet. New spinnaker will be nice, although our old ones actually pretty good especially running. The bottom is a big deal. While short of a actual fair job, I'm glad we at least surfaced it since it was pretty rough, especially around the waterline. The blue stripe looks neat.

Shields backstay tips

Leaving for vacation real damn soon, but threw this together for a friend:

http://picasaweb.google.com/chicagoyachtrigging88/ShieldsBackstay?authkey=Gv1sRgCOzOv57U1e-ZrgE#

It's parts and rigging info for 8:1 dual led backstay as per 88. Excuse typos and lack of drawering skills. Hope it helps someone, feel free to ask ?

What the hell is an Aluminum Falcon?

We used a loaner dinghy and motor last year; the dinghy was about 6' long, leaked, and had no floor. The motor usually worked on the way out, but wouldn't start when we tried to get in after racing. We got towed a lot, which was embarassing.

This year we're using the dinghy that came with the boat. I think it's a bass boat, I really do! Between the nailed on carpet, the giant dent in the bow and it's general ugliness, this must be the biggest eyesore in Belmont, but I like it! We'll be using oars, which I can usually start.

Fine Tune Mainsheet for Old Boom

For 88 we were able to mount a fine tune internally, as our boom has a redesigned vang attachment and mainsheet headknocker. For older booms, a different solution is required due to the stainless attachment for the vang, and to work with the existing headknocker/trigger cleat that many teams favor.

Gary from 196 wanted to add a system to his boat, so we figured out a pretty simple way to do it all. It adds a small ratchet block to the back of the existing headknocker, and routes the finetune externally. The plusses of this are that it's easy (especially relative to 88's system) to add to current booms, and is lower friction. The downside is you get less travel (but still more than enough) and have some extra line hanging from the boom. I was worried about the extra line, but seeing it in person it doesn't seem like it will be any kind of problem, since the line is kept taught, and by using a tiny carbo block it can even run through existing mainsheet keeper rings on the boom.

Installation is relatively easy: drill and tap a padeye for a block into the back of the boom, and drill out an attachment for the little headknocker on the big one. Then it's just a matter of creatively reeving the lines through the fiddle blocks.
The parts total for this is less than $200 if you keep your old mainsheet, and the install shouldn't take a handy person more than 3 hours. The only tricky bit is drilling out the headknocker, as it's SS plate. Next one I make I'll try using a padeye mounted to the back of the trigger cleat to hold the little ratchet, which will be cleaner, but we'll see if it puts the headknocker too low in the cockpit.

Boom on boat

Kevin (150) showed his boat at the Chicago Strictly Sail show, which is great since he definitely has the prettiest Shields around. His boom was elsewhere, and I wanted to try out our new spec boom, so it made a lot of sense to put it out for the show as well.

Everything seems to be the right length, so I'm going to use this boom with very few mods for our 09 season.

The outhaul is 8:1, and very low friction. The Harken 291 makes a great control terminal, as any of the 3 forward crew can adjust it from the rail. The mainsheet turned out better than expected, and will give our trimmer a lot of power in adjustment in big breeze. Here are some photos of it all:
Heres our boom from the gooseneck to the outhaul control cleat.

We tried this last year, and it works great! It's a Tylaska S3 soft shackle, spliced into a tail of 5/32" New England Endura 12, which has been coated in maxijacket to add some UV protection. The gold colored strap off the back is for hanging the boom off the main halyard.Heres our somewhat unusual mainsheet tackle. Usually the 4:1 dead ends on a fiddle block, but ours jumps up back into the boom, where it joins a hidden 2:1 purchase to make up our fine tune 8:1.

Heres our mainsheet(s) cleat arrangement, and our vang attachment. We chose to do a single line, spliced together and running through 6 holes in the boom. This spreads the load across a larger area of the boom than the single bolt we had last year. The little "headknocker" is a Harken 291, and controls the fine tune. The big one is a 2145, which is nice since it has an adjustable angle cleat and an automatic ratchet. The black fitted attachments are delrin, although I may change that system to fasten to the boom better.