Midwinters aftermath

Two weeks have passed so it's time for a brief report. The weekend of the huge east coast blizzard brought wind and cold to south Florida as well. Saturday proved too breezy for racing, but did tempt me to try out Aftermath's foiling set-up. While there were some creaks and groans from the gantry area, nothing broke in the 25-30 knots so I suppose the engineering was sufficient. Unfortunately, the mainfoil AoA was just too small to create lift off. Returning to the ramp area in the lee of the shore I managed a bit of air time by moving aft and cranking the rudderfoil down. The pics included in this post were taken by Ed Salva and show an attempted take off and the final splash down, just before I ran aground. So the dolphin was creased by the trailing edge of the strut, causing even a smaller AoA. The experiment will have to wait for spring when I can rebuild the mainfoil well exit dolphin and find some warmer temps. I just cannot comprehend how those crazy Brits manage to sail in freezing (litterally) temperatures.

I think the experiment will eventually be successful but doubt that the foiling classic will be competitive. I just can't see effectively going to weather with foils given the inefficient rig.  Stay tuned 'til spring. My plan is to next race Aftermath at the Portsmouth regatta over Memorial Day weekend.  Hopefully the week or two before I can attempt a couple of test sails in Willoughby Bay.

Oh yeah, the midwinters racing. Mike Parsons won in his Mistral. I ended up 4th sailing Jeff Linton's borrowed Mousetrap, primarily due to not reading the sailing instructions. Who would have thought the start line would be restricted on a two lap race with a single class and only ten boats? Those first 2 DSQs are hard to swallow, but live and learn.  Susan decided that a vacation doesn't mean donning a wetsuit and sailing in 40 degree air temp (the conditions Sunday morning) and went shopping instead.

Mike Parsons 1 1 1 3 3 (4) 2 = 11

John Zseleczky 3 2 2 1 (4) 3 1 = 12

Mark Saunders 2 3 4 (5) 1 2 3 = 15

Joe Bousquet  DSQ (DSQ) 3 2 2 1 7 = 26

Walt Collins 5 5 6 6  (6) 5 4 = 31

Rod Mincher 4 4 5 4 5 10 (10) = 32

Ray Hutchins 6 6 7 7 (9) 6 5 = 37

George Albaugh 7 7 9 8 8 (11) 6 = 45

Erik Albaugh 8 8 8 (9) 7 7 8 = 46