Hydrofoil Project Notes January 2010
Leander 2010 NOR
Leander 2010 - NPCL, Lyttelton Harbour
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Extreme performance, light weight, skiff style, development dinghy class
- Hydrofoiling
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The idea to put an R Class on hydrofoils has been floating around for some time now but only in the last year has some substantial progress been made towards making this idea a reality.
One of the important parts of the project was to make hydrofoiling an affordable and practical part of R sailing for anyone in the fleet no matter what boat they have and how old it may be.
We now have a specially built oven and foil moulds for squadron members to easily build their own set of foils. There are also people who have already built foils who are happy to help those who are new to this and let them know how it's done. If you don't want to build foils yourself then you can hire someone within the squadron to build them for you.
The first set of foils were built in 2008 and proved to be a huge success with the builder Sean Milner and the designer Dan Leech taking out the 2009 Leander competing in some of these races on the new foils. After this success others decided to follow, with the first two sets of prepreg foils being easily built in under a month. There have been some slight variations on the original set of foils to cater for individual boats.
There are now 4 boats in Canterbury and 1 in Auckland on foils. 3 more sets of foils are under construction in Canterbury and more will be built when we get materials.
The development of the foils has proved to be a huge success but there is always more progress to be made. People are still coming up with new and interesting ideas on how to make their boats faster and easier to sail. This progress comes with a lot of trial and error but the result in the end is always worth it.
- read the lastest project observations in January 2010 hydrofoil notes
- other articles and pictures are available in the hydrofoil development area
- All hydrofoil articles, news and videos
- Leander / Nationals
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The 60th Leander R Class National Championship is being held at Naval Point Club Lyttelton from the 11th-14th February 2010.
We welcome all R Class competitors to this event as Lyttelton is a great place to sail and the bigger the turnout the better the contest will be. This will be an interesting contest with some boats on hydrofoils who are still trying to master the art and those who are not on hydrofoils and know how to handle their boats a bit better! Get your entries in now so you can come along and see how you measure up against other R sailors in New Zealand.
A Sprint Series will be held out in front of the Costguard after the National Championship racing on Sunday the 14th. This is something not to miss whether you are a competitor or a spectator you are guaranteed to be entertained!
The Notice of Race is now available.
- Gallery
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You can view our full gallery of photos from over the years here.
- Humour
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A Beginner's guide to sailing an R Class
Rigging the boatThe most important thing to remember when rigging your R is to allow no more than 25 minutes between arriving at the club and the firing of the starting gun. Bring absolutely no tools, as these are much more conveniently borrowed from other yachties just as they are heading for the water with the tools safely locked away inside the car. This shouldn't cause too many problems though, as the the keys will be tucked away in the rear bumper, just under the left tail-light (isn't that where you leave yours?). Step the mast and ensure that the rigging tension is just high enough that the jib doesn't quite reach the forestay tag with the crew amputating his fingers on the trapeze wires out the front of the boat. Take a good crack just under the right eye-brow from the flailing jib clew while you thread both jib sheets around the same side of the mast. Ensure that at least one kite sheet runs underneath the prod side stay, and that the spinnaker halyard and prod out-haul go around opposite sides of the jib sheets.
Jump into your wet-suit, which should either be:
a. Unwashed, wet and clammy from last week, smelling like the cat's been in it, or
b. Neatly washed and dried so that you spend 10 minutes hopping about on one leg trying to get the other leg in - whoops, that was the arm hole, pull it all off, try again.
As you forgot your sailing jersey, just wear the one your mother knitted for you for Christmas. One more day's sailing shouldn't hurt it. Pull on your harness and wind up the tension on the shoulder straps until you walk like E.T. (and speak like him too). Leave the centre-board securely locked inside the car (keys just inside the rear bumper etc.), forget to take off the antique watch you inherited from your grandfather and it's time to hit the water........
To read the rest of this article check out our Humour section.
- Contact Us
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If you require any more information on the R Class then don't hesitate to contact us.There are many experienced and knowledgeable R Class sailors who would be happy to tallk to you.
If you want to have a go on an R Class to experience the thrill or you are looking to sail with someone for the season then get in touch and we may be able to find someone who is looking for a crew or a skipper.
If you already have a boat and you want to join the NZ R Class Squadron then fill out our form on the site and we will be in touch as soon as possible.
Leander 2010 - R Class Nationals
