1 2 3 4 5 << Elementarry
- 7.5 m x 4 m folding sports,
daysailing, or camping proa (Australia) Report 6
In May last year we towed Elementarry to Perth from Coffs Harbour behind our 1800 cc family car. 5,000 kms which was remarkably trouble free. I then set about learning to sail Elementarry properly. Because most of my sailing was done during school hours, I could never find crew. Because Perth is a windy city sailing solo was very hard work. Not just because the boat was generally overpowered, but because holding onto 2 sheets and two rudders took more hands than I had. Invariably, whichever sheet I cleated needed to be eased, occasionally with wet consequences.
The schooner rig worked well, but was a handful solo. The trick was to ease the foresail sheet to give a sheeting angle similar to a jib, then sheet the aft sail to the centreline. The sheet loads on the aft sail were always a lot lower. Before leaving Sydney, I visited the sailmaker who recut the sails to suit the mast bend characteristics. He told me to use heaps of downhaul. I built a 16:1 mini winch and cranked it on and broke a mast. Did the same to the other and broke that as well. I fixed both of them, but the bulge from the repair and the extra local stiffness meant they have never looked right since.
The pocket luffs on the sails were not good. They took too long to rig as the battens had to be fitted then tensioned. Worse, they filled with water when the boat capsized, thus requiring outside assistance to right it. My tolerance of stink boaters has increased a lot!
The trailer set up also worked well, although the time spent lacing
on the trampoline was a pain. To get around this I locked the hulls at
2.5m wide and built a temporary 2m wide rack which hinged up and over
the ww hull for trailering. This made launching much quicker but was
very strange to sail, mostly because the boat at rest heeled to leeward.
Once the hull lifted up a bit, it was great. It died when I got a bit
enthusiastic with my hiking while going over a ferry wake. A big crack
and I was swimming. The boat kept a straight course for 20 metres, then
fortunately capsized. The downside of a rack is that the boat has to
heel further before the ww hull lifts. This is closer to a capsize plus
the down force from the sail is higher. I do not think the quicker rigging
time compensates.
One rudder on the beach: The timber tracks between the hulls terminate in substantial brackets on the beams. The case can be seen on the aft beam, the rudder blade is sitting on the fore beam. The number of control lines diminished with experience.
Performance wise, I was able to foot as fast as Tornados upwind in a breeze, and hold on to them downwind when they had their spinnakers up. Exceeding windspeed in 15 knots breeze was easy, with a top speed of 16.8 knots by gps. Shunting upwind was a little slower than tacking, downwind, much slower. Both of these were killers on a course with 2 mile legs. I was also able to capsize at will, both sideways and fore and aft. These were mostly caused by foul ups. When sailing, you get plenty of warning and easing the sheet or luffing (upwind) or bearing away (down) brings it back to normal very quickly. 4m is a long way to fall, especially if you land on a mast or a boom. I had some glorious runs down the river in 20 knots of breeze bearing away in the puffs to just keep the ww hull flying, to the point that I was sailing quite close to dead down wind, with the sails set for a tight reach.
The single rig and rudder were indeed a delight. I could be sailing 20 minutes after arriving at the ramp, and with the help of a 3m righting stick, could right it single handed. Remove the sail from the mast (almost the same as removing the pocket luff full of water) and it is easy to right by holding onto the tramp and leaning back. The single rudder is great except 1) at low speeds when it causes the boat to move bodily sideways in the opposite direction to which you are steering. ie bear away to miss a moored boat and you are likely to hit it with the side of the ww hull and 2) if I am careless shunting.
Sailing in 10 knots, 1 rudder, 11 sq m sail: Pretty effortless and on this day, quicker than a Nacra 18 sq m
Moving weight forward to depress the bow and give the boat something to rotate around fixes the former, as does boat speed of more than a couple of knots. The latter requires a second attempt at the shunt and some or all of a higher heading pre shunt, slower sheeting in of the main or more care with the rudder. Moving the rudder location a couple of hundred mms aft would fix it as well. Steering with only one of the original rudders was never a problem. They were about 500mm aft of the beam mounted ones. I do not think a single rudder set up is the answer for the cruising boats. Moving weight is not possible and there are many times where the maneuverability from 2 rudders is a handy attribute.
Performance and ease of sailing improved markedly. Top speed was 18.5 knots and it points as high as the Tornados, although we it is not as quick upwind. Not a surprise as it has half their sail area. Downwind in 20 knots we were still holding them. Shunting was much quicker, but still slower. A highlight was reaching in 20 knots and catching a Nacra 6.0. They tacked, got in irons and eventually had a rather hairy gybe to get around. I did my usual low effort 20 second shunt. The biggest surprise was sailing upwind against a 49er (Olympic skiff dinghy) in 8-10 knots. They were twin trapezing, lots of spray and looking very quick, I was almost asleep, sitting well inboard and wishing for more breeze or sail. They started ahead and to windward and I figured the race was over, but after a couple of hundred metres I was ahead and to windward. Surprised, I waited and repeated the exercise, twice. They then hoisted their spinnaker and left me for dead. I also got to join a race with the local very hot Hobie 16 fleet. I started well to leeward of their line and a long way back. By the first tack, I was mid fleet, going a little slower, but pointing much higher and making less leeway with far less effort than the Hobie guys who were double trapped and working hard. Then I broke the rudder track and sailed home sitting aft on the lee hull. This allowed me to sail 90 degrees either side of the breeze.
The next change is to make the mast into a
wing mast, which will make rigging and righting much easier and should
also improve performance somewhat. At some stage in the next few months
I am going to run out of money for the Transpac boat. At that time, my
El will be for sale. Anyone interested, please let me know.
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