Mark Dennis Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Hi, I'm looking to downsize from my old A Class which I've just sold to a Nacra 430. Sailing at the north end of Port Philip Bay when the seabreeze comes in (a southerly) there can be a 1m plus swell at that end of the bay in the summer. I can't really find any youtubes or pictures where anyone's sailing in a decent swell only with a stiff breeze in sheltered water. Does anyone know how the 430 goes with that sort of swell and say 15-20+ knots 1 up? I've seen a couple of videos where the bow has been buried a bit and it looks pretty civilized as it just slows without heading for Davey Jones and pops back up again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickopen Posted February 13, 2016 Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 The recent nationals held at Adelaide had some real big wind, big wave days. Before I went to that I had real trouble bearing away around top marks without nose diving in swell and breeze but I learnt a few things from the other boats and by watching myself on video that really made it no harder than any other cat (sailed a Taipan 4.9 before my 430) 1 rake. Lots of rake. Makes a huge difference. 2 let the mainsheet out and don't worry about the traveller until after you are heading down wind if you are having issues bearing away. 3 downwind, more main = more speed and more nose dives. If you ease it out the boat actually becomes quite docile but you slow down a lot. I made huge gains down wind by being closer to the edge than the other guys (until they started doing it too) 4 you can never be too far back when the wind and waves are big. In one race I had my rear foot on the rear beam when going upwind. 5 just buy one. Overall it's a very rewarding and robust boat. You can push it hard and as you get close to the edge there is plenty of warning so you can just dump sheet and she'll settle down quite quickly. If you buy one, send me a pm and I'll give you my settings. Took me over a year to get on the pace of Rosco and if I hadn't spent so long mucking about with boat setup it would have been quite a bit quicker. (Although I'm still making changes!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Dennis Posted February 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 Ooops I just bought one this evening #431. I couldn't resist once I saw it in real life. Thanks for the info nickopen. Once I've actually set it up and can understand what and where the layout is I'll PM you if that's still OK. When you say rake, you mean mast rake rearward right? Played with that a fair bit on my Impulse dinghy so I'll have a fiddle on the 430 once I get it on the water (hopefully next weekend). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickopen Posted February 19, 2016 Report Share Posted February 19, 2016 Great! You won't regret it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppy Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 Hi all if you are interested at eAster regatta Lake Boga we sailed a couple of 430 nacra with Mark Fergusan would be good to get a few together. Usually a fantastic social weekend and good size classes. we all camp on the lake have a look at lake boga website for who normally turns up only been on my 430 for second season still coming to grips but luv it. Is good fun getting the nose just under water as does not slow down Http://Lcyc.asn.au for photos Guppy nacra 454 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickopen Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 Finally put up a video of sailing the 430 in a bit of swell. learning how to do top mark roundings... I've since gone another hole back for the mast rake and as I said before, since then I've learnt that letting the main out without much attention to traveler makes bear-aways much easier. How are you going Guppy and Mark? Either of you planning on coming up for the Nat's in Qld at the end of the year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Dawson Posted March 19, 2016 Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 Great video nickopen! i had a nice chuckle when you went over. Looks like you were having a blast. ? I would like to see some video of the kite up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted March 19, 2016 Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 Hi Nickopen, I've not sailed a 430 before, though have spent significant time sailing Windrush 14's and sailing any 14ft cat in big waves is always a fun ride, as they just don't have the waterline length to smooth out the ride. A few things I noticed which might make it easier: when bearing away in big wind/swell dropping traveller is good, though also let out more mainsheet as it de-powers the head of the main, in-turn helping you not nose dive ease out the jib, it'll help stop the nose diving also. An easy way of doing this is by adding 15cm of elastic to your trapeze with a ring on the end, thread the jib sheet through the ring on each side and you'll have ready access and control of the jib while on wire without having to bend in/forward. You may need to get a longer jib sheet, depending on how long it is currently. if you plan on staying on wire around the top mark, I'd suggest taking another step back to get the bow out more. Maybe a pair of footstraps or atleast a rear footstrap (if you don't have any already) will help you stay put on wire. Though remember when you are locked into a footstrap, if it's a big nose dive get out of the footstrap as a priority or you'll be seeing the doctor for a broken ankle. while this is not about mark roundings, there is a few points where the luff of the jib is back winding (it's hard to tell your angle to the mark on the layline so you could just be pinching to avoid throwing a few tacks), suggesting you are pointing too high to control how high you fly a hull. Try letting out traveller (1-2inches at first, no more than 6 unless it's blowing your dog Bruiser off his chain) if you are having to point too high to keep the hull down in gusts. This can be easier said than done on a Windrush and I've no idea what the traveller system is like on the 430 (my guess is much better than a design from the 70's). Any way just a few things I've picked up along the way which might help you. Happy Sailing Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickopen Posted March 28, 2016 Report Share Posted March 28, 2016 I don't really have much in the way of good kite-up video, other than bits that are already on you tube. When I get some time I'll put some photos up though. Just saw the call to arms for Nacra 5.0s to come to the nationals and would like to offer the same sentiments to all 430 sailors. The sailors make the class and I'd love to meet some of you. So come on up to the nationals at lake cootharaba. PS, thanks for the tips, already putting some of them into practise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppy Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 On 16 March 2016 at 10:03 PM, nickopen said: Finally put up a video of sailing the 430 in a bit of swell. learning how to do top mark roundings... I've since gone another hole back for the mast rake and as I said before, since then I've learnt that letting the main out without much attention to traveler makes bear-aways much easier. How are you going Guppy and Mark? Either of you planning on coming up for the Nat's in Qld at the end of the year? Hi Nickopen. Would be good to get your ideas on settings still trying to get it right but need to get some consistency in my sailing days. Would like to get up North next year so am planning on it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickopen Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 Great to hear Guppy, would be great to see you there. Accommodation can be a bit tight at the lake, but the nearby towns tend to be OK and there is always camping at boreen or elanda point. Book early if you have the luxury of being able to commit this far out. I'm a bit up in arms at the moment with regards to setup after I was completely thrashed at the state titles by Jim. I think that was more to do with me over sheeting the main, but I'll let you know what I'm doing anyway: Rake - halfway down the transom, or a bit more if it's really blowing. (Sixth hole from the top on the side stays) Rig tension - reasonably tight, about 70kg on the sidestay, could probably go less. Cunningham - nothing until I start trying to depower, but on my older sail that is a bit stretched I use just enough to stop the creases as it looks a mess otherwise. Mainsheet always in the middle hole unless it's absolutely nuking, when I go forward one hole. Jib clew - everyone seems to use the middle hole, or the one below it if it's really windy, but I've just started using the top one as I find it easier to keep the upper telltales flowing without over flattening it. Traveller doesn't really go past the hiking straps downwind, and is in the middle upwind unless it's windy and wavey when I drop it a little bit. I also run separate jib sheets out to the side stays rather than the continuous system so I can adjust it out on the wire. Despite all the above, the big performance things for me have been trimming the main correctly (not over sheeting upwind in the lightstuff and getting it near to stall downwind) and speed through tacks, which I'm still working on. Hope that is helpful, any feedback that anyone else can provide on settings or technique is most welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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