anyone else do yachts?

[slartibartfast]

heres mine, it's a racing micromagic sailboat.
my local park has a huge lake and a model boat club, most of the members do electric tugs etc but every other saturday they have races, i'd watched loads of races in summer and really got into it so thought i'd have ago.

on my first 3 rares i got a 1st,1st and 2nd, then last saturday we managed to get 4 races in and i came 1st,3rd,1st and 2nd....i'm chuffed with that! (bearing in mind that i'd never done boats before but 25years of fixed wing and helicopters)

heres some pics, not the easiest to sail a boat and take pics at the sametime but i love a challenge LOL

Edited by slartibartfast on Wednesday 10th December 12:14

[slartibartfast]

i think the mail sail is about 50cm and it has a winch for the sail and jib, the winch is basically a large bar on the servo, i haven't a clue if it's got a special name or whether it's just a winch.
great fun to master the wind and tack upwind (i'm still learning all the gargon)

Paul

[slartibartfast]

[quote=Hard-Drive]Nice one...I've got one too. Pictures taken just after I built it, it's now been pimped a bit with rod steering, and four separate carbon rigs with DIY sails, kit sails are still being used for my A rig though.

I think you might need to tune your rig a little bit, looks like your jib topping lift is slack, your jib boom is fouling your mast on tacks and you might benefit from a bit more mast rake...but I'm no expert!

Where are you based?
quote]

Hi, glad i'm not alone on here with yachts.
i'm still new to this and haven't got round all the gargon so i need your help.
whats an A rig?
i've adjusted the jib since then so it doesn't foul the mast.
and what's mast rake?

i'm in Lincoln, theres about 5 of us with micromagics although another member is about to get one so we'll have some more, we sail on the lake at Hartsholme country park every other saturday, next race due to xmas is sat 27th

any tuning tips will be GLADLY recieved.

thanks

Paul

[slartibartfast]

thanks for the info.
i've joined micromagic.org, yes there is a wealth of info there and i've learned a lot.

i don't think it's possible to lean the mast backwards at all but i might give it a go.
i know what you mean about in highwinds although it still goes but once you get cross wind it sometimes just goes sideways and is hard to get out of although having said that i've made quite a few adjustments since then and apparently i had too much twist on the sails back then.

i've often wondered about making a rig to hold the yacht in to measure thrust by using a fan blower and adjusting to get the most of out it, wonder if anyone else has thought of it?

Paul

[slartibartfast]

yeah i'll probabaly try that in the new year when the season starts again.
regards those black things, one flew off a while back.
i think i still have a couple of the round ones though.

Paul