Maiden voyage of 1140

Bay and Nick make their maiden voyage. Not sure who is helming but it looks fun!

Another 800 hits the decks

Another 800 has just hit the decks and its going to be quick. Unknown to the old 4000 gang some keelboat sailors have decided to try and show us dinghy sailors how to sail a skiff!

A few tips on rigging (and a few missing parts to be found) another 800 is ready to race!

RS are now on the look out for another demo boat (as this was it) and as soon its ready ISC will be making use of it for anyone wanting to try before they buy!

Please email Adrain@woods.co.uk or rbarnes@vailwilliams.com / call 07818 452 597 for a trial.

May bank holiday – 7 days to first race

Saturday the 3rd May brought gusts of 22 knots so it wasn’t an ideal day for finding the boundaries of a new boat. The concensus appeared to be head for the beach by RIB!

Don’t forget it is seven days until the first 800 race and a new highly competitive season. Will Adrian  Mat and Oli Woods win the season again or will someone bring the racing to them? – Watch this space…..

Anyone after some race training let me know and we can sort out a coach to raise everyone’s level!

taken by rob@officeoverload.com 07818 452 597

Johns Feedback

Neil and I got out on Saturday and despite not making it to the start of the Pursuit Race (much fettling around with rigging beforehand) we had a great first sail.

Immediate impressions:

-much more forgiving than the 4000

-obviously quicker and lighter

-deck area just looks and feels simpler and better laid out

-self tacking jib eases crew’s task considerably

-inner shroud set at just the right height to scrape the skin off a tall man’s forehead if not concentrating when going forward to fix pole rigging!

-only capsized once (with me at the helm) but she came up very easily despite larger sail area – actually, Neil stayed on & dry and easily scooped me up

The biggest issue for me (since I’ve never done it before) was getting out on the wire from the helming position. I found it about 10 times easier than I was fearing, given Bay & Nick’s description last week about needing 3 hands to do it (one for the hook/wire, one for the mainsheet, one for the tiller). On the basis that those with experience and an eye for perfection should look away now, here’s how I did it (on a port tack):

-from a position seated on the rail, with tiller and cleated main-sheet in right hand, adjust trapeze eye to lowest point with your left hand so you can hook-on with some tension when seated

-then uncleat the main-sheet and hold it in your left hand, with the tiller (obviously) still in your right hand – ie DON’T hold on to the wire at all

-then gradually push all the way out out with your legs alone, using the main-sheet and tiller as handholds since they are providing some resistance

-when things have settled down, cleat the main-sheet, transfer it briefly to your right hand, and then adjust yourself up the wire

-from then on, everything can (and according to the DVD should) be done standing up – but I’m going to practice my method for getting started

-in other words – and thanks to Rob Barnes for teaching me this – the idea is to never need to be holding onto the wire since it wastes the use of a hand

Admittedly we were only doing this in a F2-3 (an ideal training wind I might say) and we did need Neil counterbalancing on the leeward side during this little experiment (and certainly didn’t manage any jibes with kite or anything) but as I first go – I found it much simpler than I had anticipated.

I love this boat.

Regards

John A

Maiden voyage of 1140 « RS800 ISC Blog

Maiden voyage of 1140 « RS800 ISC Blog

Welcome!

Hi!

This is the new page for the Itchenor RS 800’s.

Itchenor have confirmed that the RS 800 is to replace the Laser 4000 at Itchenor from the start of 2008.

We will be keeping you up to date on the 2008 season with events such as a Tuning day, the race programme and results as they happen.

Please see the linked information tabs for further information on the RS 800 and the resons for the change.

….background to changes www.itchenorsc.co.uk/pdf_files/rs800atitchenor_dec07.pdf

…RS Page RS800 – Details and Spec – RS Racing

….Class Association Page RS Class Association – RS800 Owners Club

If you want to know more about RS 800’s at Itchenor please contact:

Adrian Woods

adrian@woods.co.uk

www.itchenorsc.co.uk