Boatworks 23 Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Blackfun is off to the UK, to sail in a series of events leading up to the 2011 Quarter Ton Cup. It was a big day today packing the boat up and getting her into the container at HMB. Quite an exercise. It didn't quite go as the boys had planned but we got there. Lots of interested onlookers including Laurie Davidson. The container leaves next week. I am sure Brett [aka Twitchy] will keep us updated. Best of luck over there guys. Quite sad to see her go - she won't be back to NZ. Photos on http://www.Facebook.com/boatspray . Link to post Share on other sites
Scotty3934 5 Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Where's she gona be racing. Might see the boys out on the water I think I'm racing a few events coming up all going well, just don't know which ones yet. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Thanks Simon, working on getting it on the home page. Sad to hear she's leaving for good. Next question - what's with the license plate? Link to post Share on other sites
Boatworks 23 Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 Thanks Simon, working on getting it on the home page. Sad to hear she's leaving for good. Next question - what's with the license plate? Ha, yes I did notice that. The car belongs to Russ, one of our customers, he is the American Crew importer (hair products I believe). Cheers Link to post Share on other sites
Richard2249 5 Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 Update re Blackfun on the UK Quarter Ton website (I see their first event, the Sovereigns Cup in Ireland kicks off 22 June): Black Fun has landed... I am very pleased to be able to report that Black Fun has arrived in the UK having been shipped from New Zealand in a container. This represents a huge commitment on behalf of the owners Brett Linton and Jamie McDowell into the Quarter Ton Class. They first observed what we were doing with our Quarter Tonners from down under, came over to the UK and chartered Diamond for Cowes Week in 2009, came again and were lent Enigma in 2010 and now this year having purchased their own Quarter Tonner, Black Fun, have refitted it in NZ, and shipped it over here to join in the summer sailing programme, including trailing it to Ireland for the Sovereigns Cup. One cannot underestimate the effort these guys have put into their programme. Bear in mind a QT doesn't fit into a container without having to be tilted onto its side. Welcome my friends........ I think it deserves a bottle of Mount Gay (minus lid) at the first opportunity...... Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 She now sits, on her new trailer, in the yard at Hamble Yacht Services. She will be towed to Swansea and go on the Ferry to Ireland on about the 13th June. The first regatta is the Irish IRC Nationals, which starts on the 17th June. Sovereigns Cup is a 3 days after the first regatta and is about 20 miles down the coast. The business end of the program is about to begin. http://www.royalcork.com for the first regatta http://www.sovereignscup.com Link to post Share on other sites
wal 27 Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Time for a couple of warm pints at The Ship in Hamble Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 Blackfun leaving is a loss to some kiwi 1/4 ton history. She was the fasted Davidson built in the 1/4 ton class. Eventhough I never got a proper match when I owned Hi Flyer (sistership without the transom modifications - plus bear in mind Neil Pride raced Hi Flyer in the Panmure 1/4 ton world nationals (sometime in the 90's I believe) for HongKong and came 5th - it just did not happen between BF and HF- and it was not my fault I might add!! - BF always had an exciting edge to her. seeing her leaving NZ is sad in some respect but great overall' cause someone will still love her over there - go the mighty Blackfun. CA Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 The rubber hits the road today. Raining and light here. We lined up against a local boat, Tiger last night. 16 to 24 knots. Pleased with the pace, but they rate lower than us. Not many boats at this regatta. More coming to Sovereigns cup. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Rocket Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Blackfun raced in the 81 Worlds at Panmure - by then she was superceded by boats with keels. Still a weapon in the light - but we didn't get any of that in the regatta (I know cos I was on her). We had no funds for fresh fruit and lost our rig not long before the Worlds - but had loads of fun. We rerigged her on the deck of Digby Taylor's partially built Outward Bound in a boatshed in Herne Bay - I think we did it in a night from memory. We did make it round the long race - which was a credit to the youth of the crew (and the lack of righting moment destressing the rig)- many more illustrious sailors didn't step aboard their rides for the start or get past Waiheke on the first run from A bouy to Channel Island... She is now a proper boat with the bustle filled in (I think) and a keel. She looks mint but probably rates 1/2 ton under the old IOR rules. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Based on racing alongside her recently- She's no longer even in the same class as the local 1/4 toner even the Hot-rodded 1/4 tonners (like Smokey Joe). Black Fun is a weapon...and it's being sailed well. Brett and Jamie are running a HUGE project- and I hope they do well from their efforts. Their efforts to date have produced an incredible new boat that I'm sure is going to provide a great reward for the effort. I'm excited by what your doing! I'd been quietly hoping back in March that we had perhaps a chance of keeping up with them...which was expelled from mind very quickly! Cheers, Toles Link to post Share on other sites
Boatworks 23 Posted June 18, 2011 Author Share Posted June 18, 2011 the first event: http://royalcork.com/index.php?option=c ... atid=1:=84 and http://royalcork.com/icra2011. Best of luck guys for this week and onwards. http://www.sovereignscup.com/ starts 24 June. I see Espada is racing (as is Anchor Challenge under new ownership) so those will be a good benchmark. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Blackfun is giving time to another yacht Tiger that is beating them on the water. There is a commment in the text of the roundup so far that mentions local knowledge as a potential factor for Tiger. Unfortunately tides and current will be a problem for them wherever they race in the UK won't it? They are racing on IRC against other yachts that have had time to be optimised fully as well. Link to post Share on other sites
stevemcd 0 Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Blackfun is giving time to another yacht Tiger that is beating them on the water. There is a commment in the text of the roundup so far that mentions local knowledge as a potential factor for Tiger. Unfortunately tides and current will be a problem for them wherever they race in the UK won't it? They are racing on IRC against other yachts that have had time to be optimised fully as well. Tiger is lower but were talking what 20 seconds per hour? it was never going to be easy the boats there are well sorted and well sailed, I think its easy for us down here to think that the level in Europe is low and they are not up to our standard but the opposite is true, its us who are behind the times these days! Anyway thats the fun of it isnt it? test your self against the best every now and then? Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 First regatta Good things and bad things have come to the surface during our first regatta. Before the regatta started, we lined up against Tiger and were well satisfied that we were on pace, or even ahead. We had height and speed on the wind in 16 -20 knots. Hard to tell downwind, but we seemed ok. Problems at the corners. Race day 1 comes along and we have 10 knots with a 1.5m swell running at 90 degrees to the wind. We had trouble getting going in the swell and our picking of the shifts put us miles behind. On the first reach, the other two boats put a lot of distance on us. This was a technique issue and we didn't lose anything downwind. Day 2 was the windy one. What later became apparent was that we were choking the rig too much. We were very high, but had no punch. On the last beat of the day, we eased the jib and that allowed the main to work better and we were hitting really good numbers without fighting the boat. We took 20 seconds out of the other 2 boats on a 500m beat and were kicking ourselves that this didn't happen earlier. Downwind in the breeze, when we were topping out at 12 knots, so too was Tiger. They sail the boat hard and pumping the main more effectively will up our game there. One wipeout. Too eager in the gybe and over we went. Sorted that and had no handling problems downwind. We always ran deeper that the other boats, which I was pleased about. We still got passed upwind by being on the wrong side of big shifts. Even when we thought we were going the right way and had the options, the swing to the right had us buggered. Didn't see it coming. Day 3 was light. 8 -10 knots and we came off the line fine. The breeze was very steady and we weren't as pwered up us the other boats. Once they got past us they, we struggled to stay with them. One thing that has become apparent is the time it takesfor us to get up to speed after the bottom mark. We have lost significant amounts there and have to concentrate on that this week. Sailing here is exactly what we need to find our areas to work on. Information and assesment on board is an area to be improved. This week will see the game go up a level, and we have talked about how we can improve. Link to post Share on other sites
Marshy 30 Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Nice run down Twitchy. Good to hear you boys have pinpointed what needs to be worked on and your moving forward with it. Was never going to be an easy feat to head over there never lining up against them. Good stuff and still not a bad result! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 The second of our regattas was the Sovereigns Cup, held at Kinsale in Ireland. There were several boats that had come over from the UK for the event and the level of competition had risen a notch from the first event. At the first event , we had found ourselves on the wrong side of the results. We had things to work on and Kinsale was a chance to put some of our lessons into practice. During the regatta there were several more lessons that we learnt. All valuable stuff, if we can put it into practice in the future. Day one was supposed to be a coastal race. In the past they had done a 25 mile, up and back course. This year, they sent us around a series of marks in the bay. The third mark was missing and the race was abandoned. We learnt not to get stuck under a slower boat on the run as we lost a lot of time sailing a he same speed as them. On the second running of the race, we put a minute on the same boat in a 3 mile run. We past Tiger on a beat and extended during the reach to the finish. This was the first time that we beat her over the line, but not by enough to hold her out on time. Small steps. Day 2 was all over the place. 12 knots at the start. 25 on the run with driving rain. 5 knots up the next beat. Complete drop off on the next run. We went from well placed, to dog tucker, to 3rd on the water. The first 2 boats finished several minutes ahead. The next race had a 180 degree shift on the first lap. We were too heads in the boat to take advantage and lost out. We came ashore not too happy with how we went. Day 3 was 25 knots and we had to put in place some of what we had learned in the previous event. Free leeches and high numbers get us to the top mark quicker than the high mode. Crew weight is an area where we are certainly lightweights. Aguila would have about 80kg on us and they fly upwind. As the breeze got to 28 knots, the 4 boats were still racing properly, and the downwinds were a case of who would dare to go the deepest. Aguila chineesed and Anchor Challenge ran without a kite for a third of the leg. On the last day, the top 3 boats were all in with a shot. We were back on points and there were some big arguments on the water between the Irish. It took a while after the race, but they all shook hands and made up. We know that if either of them has the chance to tack on each other, or us, we will be fine! Overall, although we finished 4th, our performance was much better. Several things will change for the QTC. There will be 30-35 boats on the line, which adds a dimension. The way the ratings stack up, we are basically racing over the line. We know where we ae finishing without having to cck results. We have had several one second margin finishes and have been stacked up 4 wide at the bottom mark regularly. We have got a few days of training this week before the event starts next Monday. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 QTC start tomorrow. Very light forecast for day 1. Had a good session today lining up against several other boats. Not much in it. 31 boats entered. More wind forecast for later in the week. We have been out several times and it has been mostly in 20-30 knots. Pulled out the No.4 yesterday for the first time. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Go Black Fun, go. Looking forward to the results. ah the Number four, the old (almost brand new) 3 that was deemed too small for the new configuration... Good Luck guys. The former owner of Black Fun. Link to post Share on other sites
Richard2249 5 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Yeah, good luck Twitchy and the Black Fun team, will be watching the results with great interest. Link to post Share on other sites
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