NixonJr Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 No worries man, Were sailing every Sunday expect cup weekend (some of the cobras are going to SA for the Rivoli Bay regatta) Hope to see you soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluid_Drive Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 Can't wait for Fluid Drive to be let loose on the water. Was looking on you tube and seems as though over in europe they had a three day race on F18 cats, is there anything like that here in aus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loose Change Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 Then you would call it a Mosquito. or at the newer end of the scale, a Taipan 4.9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 I suppose. But really the mozzie looks like the Hydra. That is where I was coming from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchlb44 Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 Hey Fluid Drive Couldn't agree with you more!!! I was 21 when I bought my first boat... I went for a Stingray! People did and still do ask why I went for such an old and dying class! It was a simple answer - I was a student and it was the fastest and cheapest boat I could afford! Since getting it I have become completely obsessed with sailing and I am sure I enjoy it more than those with more modern and expensive boats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluid_Drive Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 Had an idea today, it seems we are all wanting a fast, robust 16' cat sailing platform, couldnt we all put our ideas together and come up with a few designs we could all use. But lets get all the mouldy oldie cats on the water, 'hot them up' and we all could have a great time. Is there any interest out there to do this??? It's sad to see so many cats dieing under trees :( alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 Darcy is doing it with the 14's and doing a ripper job. Michael is working hard with the Windy's as well. The Nacra 5.8 has gone from oblivion to being a rather string class again. I sailed them back in the 80's and there were about 20 going around the super series, so they are not too far off that now with a few new ones out as well. Th 4.5 nacra's are popping up all over the joint, Mozzies are very strong down south as is the Paper Tiger. All older boat designs. It is good to see but more access to water is what we need as well. Sydney Harbour is totally crap tp try and sail on. Basically there is Rose Bay, Balmoral and that is about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 Darcy is doing it with the 14's and doing a ripper job. Michael is working hard with the Windy's as well. The Nacra 5.8 has gone from oblivion to being a rather string class again. I sailed them back in the 80's and there were about 20 going around the super series, so they are not too far off that now with a few new ones out as well. Th 4.5 nacra's are popping up all over the joint, Mozzies are very strong down south as is the Paper Tiger. All older boat designs. It is good to see but more access to water is what we need as well. Sydney Harbour is totally crap tp try and sail on. Basically there is Rose Bay, Balmoral and that is about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluid_Drive Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 Good points there Emmessee, once my hydra is going will see how well it goes, then will make a choice of association. The A class looks good but in terms of a more general purpose boat a taipan 4.9 with kite on it might be the way to go. Used to sail at a club that had about 5-10 regularly sailing. They are certainly an impressive piece of kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 Yeah, I like the A-Class but got over having to be so bloody gentle all the time. The Nacra is tough and if I slip, I will not go through the hull. I'd bounce. The A was awesome, but I used to get a tad nervous sailing on the harbour alone thinking if I came off a wave and rolled it and lost the mast I would become very lonely. I used to have a Laser and take it out in any conditions knowing I would be getting back safe and sound. that is what I like about the 14 cats and the 4.5. Basically bulletproof for one bloke to sail in most conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 Yeah, I like the A-Class but got over having to be so bloody gentle all the time. The Nacra is tough and if I slip, I will not go through the hull. I'd bounce. The A was awesome, but I used to get a tad nervous sailing on the harbour alone thinking if I came off a wave and rolled it and lost the mast I would become very lonely. I used to have a Laser and take it out in any conditions knowing I would be getting back safe and sound. that is what I like about the 14 cats and the 4.5. Basically bulletproof for one bloke to sail in most conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluid_Drive Posted October 16, 2010 Report Share Posted October 16, 2010 Ripper this is what i want to hear, its great to get feedback on these cat classes. Is the Cobra classed as a F16 type boat??? alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 16, 2010 Report Share Posted October 16, 2010 Any boat that basically is 16 long and 8'2 or less wide can be an F16 I suppose. Just add a kite. Is there a Box Rule as yet? Again, I wouldn't over do it as there are plenty of T 4.9's around and they do the trick well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 16, 2010 Report Share Posted October 16, 2010 The 4.5 fits only really into its own class as it is in metres and not feet. So it is not 15 foot and not 14 foot. 14.765 to be precise. Maybe one day all classes will be done in Metric. Nacra seems to with all but the F18 now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluid_Drive Posted October 16, 2010 Report Share Posted October 16, 2010 Well Emmessee i can take it the Taipan is the way to go, have been round them a bit, at the last sailing club i was at they used to race a fair few. Even though i was in a sabre and then a laser you can pick up many little tips and tricks. But still open to other options. alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 16, 2010 Report Share Posted October 16, 2010 That or a Mozzie. I have not sailed a mozzie but I hear they are real smooth and there are a few around and the fleet is growing again. I'll stick to the 4.5 for a few years then when the rug rats are older look at something different. Might go stingray or some other class that is a little retro. I love the Shark Class in north America. Very cool indeed. They almost need a stereo in them playing 1960's tracks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluid_Drive Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 Hmmm retro.... i have some old retro trap gear and life jackets and a two piece tramp... Not much good anymore but they are floating around as i clean out all of the rubbish from my boat gear Have still an urge to make a new hydra, but with a kevlar, carbon, honeycomb hull structure with t-foil rudders, an a class big head sail and a huge kite. I think it would be fun just for kicks just to see how fast i could actually get the thing to go. But still make within the F16 rules so can have fun racing with lots of other people too. hope the weekend is going well cheers alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 I like the way you think. I would like to see a Hydra like that. A reborn class from the 80's. It is about time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluid_Drive Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 Well looking at the build quality so far as im rebuilding, its quite frankly complete rubbish, the foils are full of pin holes, which due to poor attention to detail during their casting, hate to think what the hulls will be like :( They used only chop fiber in them so, very dissapointing, once i have a bit more experience will definately make a new set of foils. The rudder mounts are built strong enough for the Tirpitz, so will eventually get rid of them, and make a much simpler and lighter set. Main beams need to be refined as front is too big and back is too small. This is why i keep asking what the hydra was like to sail, as if the hull design is ok then there is no need to change it . These are really only minor modifications will sort of look like a hydra but with new rig on top, and much much lighter, stiffer and hopefully faster. Got to get back into the garage to finish off the trailer and work on the next rudder cheerio alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loose Change Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 What was it like to sail? firstly it was very wet boat and with its portly weight it was slow to respond in a seaway, in other words it was not at all what I would call bouyant, when the wave was going up, the boat was still going down and vice versa. The whole platform had incredible twist and flex and the mast stood there like a stick of wet spaghetti. Apart from all of those little shortcomings it wasn't a bad boat. As Matt has said, a mozzie is probably the closest you are going to get to a Hydra in terms of looks. If you really want to recreate the Hydra there was someone here on the forum that had a Boyer mozzie mould for sail, now that laid up in carbon kevlar would be nice. Harry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lick the Knife Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 Hi Guy's, don't mean to rain on your parade, but what you are talking about for a Hydra, has been already done to Mossies, carbon kevlar foam sandwich hulls with more bouyancy started over 15 years ago, so if you want a high performance retro looking cat, the Mossie is already there. As for spinnakers, Mossies started over 6years ago experimenting with spinnakers, before F16's arrived in OZ. By the way they started with big spinnakers and gradualy got smaller, until they settled on current size for class rules. The smaller spinnakers are faster than the larger ones first used. The Mossie makes a great flexible sailing package, my boat is over 15 years old, is carbon, kevlar and foam sandwich, light weight and robust. With the latest cut sails performs very well. Mossies can be sailed two or one up, I have fitted mine with spinnaker including carbon pole, so can be raced in spinnaker class as well. Can also be raced in F16, but don't think that you can race at the front of F16, the F16's built to the rule, kill the Mossie in 5-10knots, you just can not put that much sail power on old shaped hulls. But it is fun to chase them and beat the ones that make a mistake. If you want to race F16 on the cheap, a Taipan is the best way to do it, they are competitive, specialy one up. Just enjoy your Hydra, for what it is, but after a while if you have the need for more speed, and don't have the wallett for a full blown F16, sell it and get a second hand Taipan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 We agree Gary. Earlier it was asked what would be the result if we lightened a Hydra did a new sail blah blah blah and the answer was a Mozzie. We have also said that retro is great and should be encouraged as much as possible. I am restoring the old 4.5 and may not keep up with a new one, my enjoyment is as much in the garage as on the water. I would think that if a fellow sailer would like to take an old class and do his best to make a modern version for the love of it....... brilliant. To do it to race he is wasting his time as the 4.9 is there. BUT..... I would like to see anyone wanting to try something new encouraged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluid_Drive Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 This is brilliant!!!! thankyou all for your comments, i'm starting to get a pretty good feel on where the hydra sits within the classes. It's also given me a great idea of what classes are what. Been sailing for a while and never could get any really good conversation about the different classes. The only reason im suggesting the hot ups is because i love tinkering in the shed. Being also and engineering student it is good to have a play and see what the modifications will do. And just asking is there a market to sell a completely rebuilt hydra and trailer with all the gear, or is it a throw away??? thanks again alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 There is always a market for a good secondhand boat. I know of a few people who have put different sails and rigs on one design boats (maricat is one that comes to mind) and even though it looked awesome, I am not sure it was faster. Since the new foam mari has come out maybe a rig updat would be great so the boat looks cool and kids want to sail it. my 4.5 will have a squre top Mylar sail. It will be interesting how that performs against the dacron sails. My original main is a pencil top. Then they had the multicoloured square top dacron with built in floatation and now the Mylar. Nice to see upgrades in all classes when they are old and out of date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluid_Drive Posted October 18, 2010 Report Share Posted October 18, 2010 So how much work is required to get a taipan 4.9 to proper sailing standard for the f 16 class??? Looking at the website it seems that i can get a 4.9 a lot cheaper than i thought. Will still have a toy with the hydra but seems its better off i sail the rudders off it this year then get a taipan. I can see why the mosquito and the hydra won't handle the more powerful rig, with the tapered hulls in the front the buoyancy will not be great enough to stop it from nose diving. Is there many taipans sailing as F16's out there??? and where are the most active fleets? Do taipans get sailed up in qld at all? cheers alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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