General Lee

[w44vi 17]

you are allowed to make the hull and mast out of carbon but not the stanchions! doesn't make sense to me

[Brett Bakewell-White 0]

Then you have never seen anything made out of carbon fibre break! GRP stanchions are incredibly flexible and forgiving, alloy or s/s will bend, but carbon ones will explode in flying chards of carbon that is very nasty when it stabs you.

[rigger 47]

http://www.generalleeracing.com.au/

[k88 7]

Hmm, did I spot a retractable prop-shaft system of some sort!

[Guest]

Dave and the lads even made the wheels, that's pretty cool. Well done lads, nice work indeed.

[tuffyluffy 76]

Ermmm, twin wheels on the 36fter?!?!

 

Is there a good performance/handling reason for this over a tiller, or was it simply what the owner wanted.

 

To my uneducated eye, I would have thought a tiller would be a lot lighter and less complicated.

[Murky 1]

If you get the opportunity to try them Tuffy, you will feel your coolness factor leap up by at least a factor of 10. Great visibility and control from either side (without needing an overlength tiller extension to get tangled); downwind the boys can stampede through the gap to get aft without tripping over everything and poking you in the eye.

 

By the same token I think the TP52s have gone through all combinations so clearly there is a divergence in opinion.

[Brett Bakewell-White 0]

If I ever won lotto and could afford a boat I would certainly have a tiller on a boat this size - lighter and cheaper, but there is the image thing. Like I said these guys are stepping off a much bigger boat to do this.

 

Yes retracting drive unit.

[muttley 0]

The Reaso for Wheels in this case is driven by the amount of offshore sailing planned for the boat. You simply can not push a boat this size through a seaway as hard as you would like to with a tiller because you keep getting washed off the tiller.

 

We had a windy downwind race in the Beau Geste R/P 45 no one could remain on the helm with the amount of water over the deck at full pace.

 

Also much better for the back in heavy weather!

 

Not the lightest or cheapest option and I would not do it for the average harbour racer but these guys have MANY miles planned including the Fremantle-Bali race.

 

The first boat is the sistership to G-L we topped 28 this day, Sitting down was not an option at the bottom of many waves!

 

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieJl72FLkBw

[Guest]

this is the real reason a wheel is better than a tiller, anything else is just a bonus..

[wal 27]

Did you bring enough for everybody?

[Murky 1]

This is turning into a great argument, can't wait for someone to wade in with the equivalent case in favour of a tiller.

 

Really I'd settle for any equivalent...

[Guest]

this is the real reason a wheel is better than a tiller, anything else is just a bonus..

 

One question Gnasher...does twin wheels equate to twin hotties too?

[Guest]

Then you have never seen anything made out of carbon fibre break! GRP stanchions are incredibly flexible and forgiving, alloy or s/s will bend, but carbon ones will explode in flying chards of carbon that is very nasty when it stabs you.

 

Indeed. Same reason that they didn't allow carbon wheels for offshore racing down under for a while.

[BelowPAR 0]

 

Then you have never seen anything made out of carbon fibre break! GRP stanchions are incredibly flexible and forgiving, alloy or s/s will bend, but carbon ones will explode in flying chards of carbon that is very nasty when it stabs you.

 

Indeed. Same reason that they didn't allow carbon wheels for offshore racing down under for a while.

 

Hmm i did some work on this a while back and then a uni proj on this - there is a very easy material that can be used to "sheath" (not quite the right word) CF. it doesnt stop it shattering, but does prevent the shatters coming lose. think safety glass. Catch is it seemed to lower the resistance to tension, so no good for anything stuctural.

 

If anyone gets the rules changed for me, il tell ya what it is and go 50/50 in the patent slash profit

[SloopJohnB 322]

Back to the tropic.

FPSA

 

 

 

generally good

 

The boys from Evolution Sails give us the skinny on the first distance race on the new Bakewell-White 36', the General.

 

We have all seen the brochure before – a downwind sleigh ride in the trade winds, shirts off, surfing waves, grins from ear to ear and ending up in a tropical paradise. Perfect! Auckland to Fiji race here we come! With the boat launched only weeks prior to the race we set about clocking as many miles up as possible to learn as much as we could about the boat and to give time for tuning. We did 200 miles in the weekend the boat was launched in some testing conditions, then Scott Beavis (project manager) set about the task of race preparing the boat including provisioning, spares and safety. He did a fantastic job and the boat hit the start line immaculately prepared. His Volvo Ocean Race experience really shone through here. The team for the Fiji Race was Scott Disley, Paul Eldrid, Rodney Keenan, Scott Beavis, Simon Minoprio, Martin Hannon, and Hayden Goodrick. Being a small boat with a small team, there was always a cross pollination of roles to be filled on the boat. We all just did what was required to keep it rumbling. Scott Disley had the hardest task as dedicated navigator– such a big race in a little boat is a big task. All of us have been involved in many programs in the past with the latest being Limit. Through many of these programs we have all become very good friends over the last 10 years or so, and when the opportunity came up to sail together for the Fiji race everyone jumped at it.

The forecast was all doom and gloom initially. It really looked like a carbon copy from the Auckland to Noumea Race last year which we did on Limit. With this still fresh in our minds we were apprehensive about taking on such an intense low in a small boat. Especially as we had minimal break in time, which is why we proceeded with caution. The forecast was for winds up to 55 knots with 20+ seas, backing west after the low and blowing up to 45+. Again, even though we would be downwind, 45+ knots in huge seas in a little boat is dangerous. After 3 days the forecast had the breeze easing up, and eventually dying to nothing, before filling from the North and backing again to the west as two Highs approached Fiji. Still the question remained – could we survive the Low?

 

The morning of the race the forecast had eased a little to a 45 knot maximum. Our plan was to start the race and re-asses the low as we raced north. We figured we could monitor the system and make a better decision in this time, as forecasts were changing so dramatically. If it looked like it would sustain over 40 on the nose for over 24 hours we would pull into the Bay of Islands and consolidate from there. If it looked better, we would take it on. The key was risk management and always having an exit plan without jeopardising the safety of the team or the boat. We ended up running out of Auckland in a gentle southerly. At about out exit strategy point just past the Bay of Islands the breeze had gone to the North and increased. The latest GRIB files showed a maximum of 35 – 40 knots. At this point the seas were choppy but not rough and the wind was 25 - 30. With not as much West as anticipated we were making pretty good VMG on Fiji, and the boat was relishing the conditions with 1 reef and a J4. We decided to press on.

 

As the conditions deteriorated and the seas got to 4– 6m we re-configured the boat to two reefs and the J4, then the Storm Jib when it got to 35 gusting 40. Still the boat behaved well and kept chugging along. With each position schedule we were buoyed by just how well we were hanging in there. The boat exceeded our expectations. Knowing we were going into a pretty intense low pressure system at the worst possible time we were concerned at being such a small, light boat. To our amazement the boat hung in with much larger rivals and extended on the 40 footers – all whilst sailing upwind in 30+. Davey Norris Boat builders did a fantastic job– this boat is solid and between Brett Bakewell White and Davie Norris, the boat is very well thought out and one of the driest offshore boats we have raced. After the breeze backed on the other side of the low it was obvious the fleet would not see extreme running conditions and that the system would not be with us for long. We pushed hard here utilising the 20 – 25 knots we had and from 6am to 6pm that day covered over 200 miles, then the following 12 hours another 130 miles or so as the breeze started to back off....then eventually shut completely down.

 

From here the race got totally weird and nearly every forecast and grib file was completely wrong. Sensing this, we tried to keep the boat on the making board as much as possible while looking for telltale signs of the real time breeze and forecast breeze aligning. We spend considerable time flip/ flopping with a wind-seeker, then on the wind with a jib, then Code Zero and back and forth for days. We did eventually get the not forecasted SE Trades as they tried to re-establish in the aftermath of the low. Still the Grib files and forecasts called for breeze from the West. As it became apparent they were in to stay, then they magically appeared on the grib files some 6 hours later! The upside to this was knowing that we could keep our corrected time on the boats in front of us, some of whom had already finished. The down side was knowing that the boats behind would have been in this breeze for a while and would continue to “point and shoot” at the finish faster and faster as it built from behind. We raced extremely hard through the last night knowing that every minute counted....and in the end it did, just not in our favour by just minutes, after 8 days at sea! Kudos to Bird on a Wing – they sailed a great race and a deserved win on IRC.

 

06/08/10

[Guest]

Go the mighty General, you sailed a great race from the start to the finish.

 

Your performance for the 36 hours of heavy upwind sailing was brilliant. Your vmg's were very similar to ours and Starlights and I think the three of us did the most miles to course over that time...thanks for the 15' advantage!

 

This years race was a yacht race, rather than a soldiers course, with the fleet racing hard for 8 days trying to find a lane north, we, like you, just tried to find the making board and keep the boat going as fast as we could to the mark.

 

We were fortunate to hook into the trades for the last 150nm (initially light) and came in fast with building pressure. Over the last two hours we went from spinnaker to JT to J3 to 1 reef to full main to gene to #3 to lay the finish after 8 days of hard racing, I was lucky to have a crew that worked the Bird to the end otherwise that 11 minutes would have been lost on the run into the reef and we would have been second.

 

To take your boat to sea on the limited time you had to tune her up and sort out your systems on that forecast showed a lot of guts and seamanship, to see her at the dock in fiji looking as good as when she left is a great credit to you, Scott Beavis, Dave Norris and Brett...Hats off to you!!

[Atom Ant 0]

I see the GL made the front page of SA. Good stuff!

[Brett Bakewell-White 0]

And the 13th page of Seahorse magazine

[Guest]

But we were first.