TimW

Here's a couple of nice shots taken by Rob Webb from Phil Hart's plane. Just before this we were cruising at 27 knots, still not 30 but nevertheless pretty fast for a small tri. The waves don't show up in the photos but they still needed respect and at high speed when the foils let go over a wave it can slow down pretty quickly. We soon found a safer speed was between 21 and 23 knots especially in the shorter waves (the longer swells are less of a problem.

Actually Jordan is very good on the boat. He would keep the boat tracking nicely when he's on the helm and quickly got the jist of tacking and gybing. Enthusiasm can take you a long way ! That is a great course we did as well. It wouldn't matter which way the breeze is blowing its always going to be interesting. I think its a shame there weren't a few more boats out to play especially two notably absent trimarans.

WOW last night what an absolutely awesome Send that was. Just a stunning night for it and the breeze (all 16-18 knots of it) had a bit of South in it. On the boat were Russell and Matt Stuart both of whom had major parts to play in the production of the curved foils. Matt Stuart designed the foils them selves, working out what area they needed to be, how much lift they would generate, what laminate they needed to be. Russell made the UHWMPE bearings. No one who has sailed on Timberwolf can believe how easily the foils go up and down under full load. These guys picked the

When you first raised sailing the Javelin on your own this was pointed out to you and lets face it , it was a near flat calm. It just seems to be an unnecessary accident waiting to happen !

James it is great you are getting something out of this thread and thanks for your kind words. Good luck with your own tri project, I hope it works out well for you.

I liked this photo taken by Jonathon weston as it shows the Mast rotated, canted, and a good slot between jib and main. Plus the foreground has the angry wolf. Thanks for all the photos, both Russell and Jonathon.

Nice photo approaching the finish line of the Simrad taken from the Finish Boat. Many thanks SSANZ !

Gonna keep an eye on the weather and if all good we are planning on doing the Winter race at Weiti on Sunday.

Yes well it was a case of too many Cowboys and not enough Indians. Our Youth Scheme guys did Mainsheet or Helm (versatile eh?) and so that meant One race I did Bow and the other Matt did bow. Despite assurances from Josh that we would get the photos when I was steering we only have these ones. And I was steering when we set the new record speed. Anyway I had remembered how to put up the kite, put it back down and Pack and repack a kite. So am definitely not a one trick Pony like some people I could mention ! And actually it was fun, but just don't let Matt know that, its already

26.08 knots is the fastest its ever gone, and set in 18 knots of wind on Sunday.

Last items to paint today. Tiller link bar was substantially reinforced to reduce flex and repainted. The foreground is the VHF and GPS aerial mounting bracket. The Instrument bracket for two Nexus displays has to rotate. The Boom inboard end needed some additional clearance to prevent it hitting the Gooseneck when the Boom End is raised. Boom is topcoated but no real effort to Fair the boom in order to save weight. The Boom is very stiff compared to the old one but still only weighs 12 kg. Next weekend we should have everything ready including the Canting Rig (we

Wahoo ! Cheers for that.

*ahem* and maybe one for the creator? Or maybe rather than Rum you might like to come for a sail, Jordan.

We had a terrific day on Saturday. The changes have completely transformed Timberwolf. Great acceleration, no nosediving tendency at all, much higher top speed, and very light on the helm and well balanced. We are all just so stoked with it all ! Thank you very much to all of the guys who have helped us get Timberwolf sailing again.

First Sail tomorrow, then Windward Leewards on Saturday. Should be very interesting.

No one has yet commented on the mast rake. It kind of looks like quite a lot of rake, especially seen as the Rig Tension that goes on the Sidestays is not on in that photo. When Matty did up the stays we put on about 180mm on the Sidestays to get the forestay tighter. It also looks like the mast is too short!

Thanks to Marshy for his rigging help[ today. Also many thanks to Rigger, Knot Me and Especially jamie and Tony. It was great to get the rig in. Special thanks to Matty. Who has spent hours and hours on the boat, has worked to a very high standard. The foils are truly awesome and the bright orange tips look super cool. Without Matts help none of this would have happened. Wolfy is very happy !

Rig going in tomorrow morning first thing, thanks to Jamie for organising the AC45 crane, and Marshy who will be honourary rigger for the morning. Unfortunately have everything ready except a boom, so still not sailing. But we can motor around with the foils down to see how much drag they are!

A lot of the minor details can take a long time to get right. What a shocker of a weekend, if it could go wrong, it did. Still have to make the Stays, finish paint the Curved foils and finish the boom.

New Mast, or repainted old mast? Unfortunately can't afford to upgrade the mast at the moment. The mast got a bit banged up where it was scraping on the bottom and I really hated the old smurf blue. Time for a change of colour!