My first Windrush 14

[Ogre0015]

Hi all,

 

Thought I would post a few pics of my Windrush 14 I purchased back in July, just took it out for it's first sail in Adelaide.

 

I had to do a few repairs before I took it out, thankfully I've been able to do most of it on the cheap.

 

1. Rudder repairs (sand, patching, respray)

2. Re-glue the foam in the hulls (terrible job to do)

3. New tramp that came with the boat (no cost)

4. Main sail repair, ($70)

5. Second-hand trailer replacement ($200, think I got that for a steal)

6. Four new inspection ports ($80)

7. Cut and polish ($20)

8. Trapeze stretch cord ($8)

9. Aluminium tiller extension ($8)

9. Carton of beer while doing the work ($45)

 

Now I just got to learn how to trim the sails etc to get some performance out of it, i'm not sure about how to make best use of the traveller with main sheet setting. Any advice for up-wind v reaching v down-wind would be good.

 

Here's a short video from Saturday, my guess is that it was blowing about 8knots. Wasn't able to get on trapeze at the time.

 

http://youtu.be/T-xYLJkL9xU

[Robbieandrew]

Nice one, love the name/paint job. Have you thought about joining a club? Milang and Meningie are amazing clubs that mostly sail cats, there's always heaps of really friendly people who love helping people getting the most out of their boats and the membership value is incredible, well worth the drive. I put off joining any clubs for ages but once I visited these clubs I was hooked. There's usually a good mix of faster and slower cats there, making racing great for everyone and sailing on the flat water is great!

[Ogre0015]

Hey Robbieandrew,

I haven't thought about joining a club yet but after initially buying this boat just to use with the family my competitive nature has kicked in and I'm interested in having a go at racing.

I'm thinking about doing the Milang -Goolwa next year but am keen to come out to one of the clubs you suggested to have a go. I'm also keen to get some tips for how to best utilize the main sheet, traveler and vang set up to improve performance.

What club do you sail out of and are there any clubs in Adelaide that have a cat fleet?

Cheers

[Robbieandrew]

I was exactly the same, started just sailing around seacliff then went to Milang once and was hooked. I only sail at Milang and Meningie now, over summer that makes for a pretty packed calendar. I know Adelaide sailing club at west beach has some cats as well as Somerton park. 

 

Milang to Goolwa was great this year, a good sized race, the Goolwa to Meningie last saturday was too much for me and my crew and we pulled out halfway. If you come out to Milang or Meningie they won't charge you the first few times and you'll learn a lot from experienced people, just make sure you have boat insurance, it's pretty cheap and saved me over $2,000 after an incident the other week.

 

There are Club races at Meningie on december 6th and milang on december 7th, that's a good opportunity to visit both clubs in 1 weekend, saving some of the travel time, I'll be at both.

[Ogre0015]

Thanks for the advice. Good thing you had insurance was there much damage to your boat or the other boat?

What were the conditions like on Saturday there? It was pretty calm in Adelaide at Largs Bay till the front came through at about 3:30pm i was unrigging at that stage

[madboutcats]

Hey Ogre liked your video, that was more than any 8 knots, I love the Windys and donated my Windy 14 to Rivoli Bay sailing club due to me being too fat for it, most people think that joining a club is for racing but if you attended either of the clubs Robbie mentioned there are very good sailors, plenty of instructors and even former National champions that will give you all the advice you need at no charge. When Robbie wanted tips on sailing faster I went on his boat with him and we sorted that but most importantly we deliberately capsized the boat numerous times until Robbie was fine with righting it. If you visited the clubs mentioned in the morning before racing, we would do the same for you with no onus on joining or visiting again just because you are a fellow sailor so don't be shy, also don't be shy about putting out the call for second hand parts for your boat if you break anything as a lot of your boats parts don't suit newer boats and most of us have a bucket of bits that keep older boats going

[Robbieandrew]

No damage to my boat, a large amount to the other, I'll leave it at that. Saturday was a slow upwind crawl through the goolwa channel, about 4 hours, then 20+ knots for the rest of the day, chaos. If you're on facebook there's a page for SA Beach Cat Sailers

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/158973040943409/?fref=ts

 

[SGS83]

Hey Ogre,

I like what you've done with it, looks great! I've actually just finished going thru pretty much exactly the same process also on my first windrush. If I never have to re glue that foam again I will die a happy man. With any luck I'll get out on mine this weekend. Head down south for sure, lots of off the beach cats getting around down here and so many people keen to help out with everything. I'm just about to join up at Victor.

[Robbieandrew]

Hey Steve, can I try coax you into coming down to the lakes too?

[SGS83]

Hi Robbieandrew, I cant see why not, its just down the road from me after all...sounds like I'd better get onto some insurance too! I'm only new to sailing but loving it so far, did a learn to sail course at VHYC last year after getting a taste for sailing on hamilton island.

[Robbieandrew]

That would be great! Next club racing is the 6th at Meningie and 7th at Milang, not that there's any pressure to race, a year ago I was just burning around the lake while the others raced, they really are a great place to learn and sail competitively!

[Ogre0015]

You got some photos of your Windy Steve

[Ogre0015]

You got some photos of your Windy Steve

[korwich]

I dont sail a Windy but I do sail a Mari, if it was me, ditch the vang not really needed on a cat, especially sloop rigged.  The other thing is your jib seems a bit high off the deck, have a look at Dave and Wozza's jib height in these photos attached, particularly the distance from the peak of their jib to the hound fitting, then compare to yours, the lower you can have your jib to the deck the better.  You could out in some kind of strop at the top to lower the jib height, but you may hae to shorten your bridle wires.  If you have a look in the Mari section there is a sticky tuning guide at the top of the forum, there is a bit in there about traveller positions for different wind strengths.

[korwich]

Saved you looking for it.  Here it is, yes you can thank the Maricats when you feel up to it.

 

Sail settings – cat rig Upwind Light breeze Downhaul just sufficient to take wrinkles out of sail Outhaul 50 to 100mm depth measured at centre of boom Vang – light tension only Mainsheet light tension. In light breezes the wind speed at the top of the mast is significantly higher than at the boom thus your apparent wind at deck level may be 40o but at masthead it is 50o therefore pay close attention to the tell tales on your sail. It is very easy to oversheet and stall the leeward telltales on the upper sail. Make sure you have just enough twist. If I feel I am not moving well I generally ease sheet and gradually sheet back on. Traveller – down about 50mm Position yourself well forward to keep the transoms out of the water but still keep the bows out from burying. Medium breeze Hiking strongly but not overpowered. You will be between the sidestay and rear beam.P Pull on downhaul sufficiently till boat is sailing with the windward hull just above and occasionally kissing the water. For upwind trim, keep the boat as flat as possible, with the windward hull only just in the air. A lot of people in all forms of catamaran sail with their windward hull too far out of the water Outhaul no more than 50mm Vang – Tight Mainsheet hard Traveller down 100 to 200mm. Your traveller is your key power control. The boat becomes a lot freer as you drop traveller and does not kick up and down in the gusts but accelerates. However dropping traveller looses in pointing so experiment and play it in the gusts. Point only when necessary, footing off for speed frequently looses little in height but gets you there fast – and that is the objective. Heavy breeze you are overpowered Hiking from a position getting close to the rear beam to keep the bows from burying, Pull on downhaul till you feel your fingers about to break and give it another 50mm Outhaul hard on Vang – Tight Mainsheet hard on – very – note that when you release the mainsheet in a gust it allows the mast to straighten and therefore the sail gets fuller and gives you more power just when you don’t want it. So use the traveller in gusts and the mainsheet as a last resort. Traveller down to foot strap maybe even more if it is really strong. Depends on your weight and wind strength. You let it out to a point where you are hiking hard, going fast and not flicking up and down and being blown sideways. Rotation. When it is really honking allowing the mast to derotate causes the whole top of the sail to fall away and depower the rig big time. Looks horrible but mast have rarely broken. If you do this bring the traveller back to about 100mm or you will lose too much height.

 

Cheers

 

Phil

[SGS83]

Don't have any on my computer of the finished product rigged up but I'll get some off my phone and put some up tomorrow. Only things left to do is sort out the issues with the trap wires (which I'm working on) and re do the name on the side of the hulls but its not like that'll make it sail any better so I'll get around to it one of these days.

[SGS83]

Finally got around to finding some pics. Still using the multi colour dacron main but like you I'm on the hunt some mylars....I'm half thinking about getting a square top main from Brett at Windrush but not sure if its worth the $$$ or not. I was talking to a guy during the week who's involved at Normanville and apparently they've got a few windrush out most weekends if you want to see some in action.

[Ogre0015]

Nice one Steve, I like the colour, particularly the matching rudders.

 

I'm having trouble finding a decent main and jib, I'm hoping Darcy can come through for me. From what I have been told a lot of sails get handed down within clubs.

 

One thing i noticed on your set up though is that you have the two forestays as well as the bridle/ jib forestay. My understanding is you can do away with the two forestays when setting up with jib and bridle. I sailed mine that way and all the videos I have seen do the same. Not sure if it actually makes a difference though.

 

I'll be taking my boat out on Saturday again (3rd sail), will probably sail off Largs Bay again though. Will try to take a few more pics and a better video while I'm out.

[Robbieandrew]

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