Steve

The theme ones are fun. Like all the Ross 40's with cowboy derivatives. We had one going in the Etchells fleet with Blackadder, Baldrick and Cunning Plan. But I guess the Stewarts win.

New words, love it. Maybe this is just a design problem waiting to be solved.

See below Pulling the keel up drops the stern like putting a All Black tight five on the back of the boat.

I use a fishing float

Starting to sound like Mercury Bay’s the place to be for good racing.

Pics please.

SSANZ NOR 2.1 Racing rules shall be changed as follows. 2.2 Yachts with lifting keels shall have keels locked in the down position and not moved whilst racing. This changes RRS 51. 2.3 Yachts with movable ballast, in the form of a canting keel or water ballast, may move that ballast to increase or decrease weight, or to change trim or stability. This changes rule 51. 2.4 Movement of sails not in use while racing is allowed; however, sails not being flown must remain within the boat’s lifelines. This modifies RRS 51 only as to the movement of sails. 2.5 Rule 52 s

Bit of a fine line between movable ballast and a lifting keel I guess. I think it's probably a bit of a hangover from the trailer yacht days when pulling the board up off the wind on your 780 was an advantage but also bloody scary at times. Now, in most SI's you will see that all keels must be in the locked down position for the duration of the race. Canters have a separate rule. Bit of a pity as I see an advantage there waiting to be exploited.

It would be great if that was legal while racing. The weight would shift aft nicely. If only we could then push the keel forward for light airs as well and get those big bums out of the water. (and make it legal of course)

Yes. And it was blowing. I think if you had the depth, keel down might be easier. But not that bad really.

I believe they a sort of blow off valve which allows the keel to pivot backwards if grounded hard enough.

I backed her into the berth yesterday. 4.5 m at the stern so a little bit nervous. Not my boat and all that.

Yes, Hydrogen is just one of many gases that BOC will do 'swap a bottle' for. https://www.fuelcellstore.com/protium-50 This is a fuel cell, pretty small scale but its a start.

So given that the hydrogen fuel cells are becoming quite commonplace, why not just pop along to BOC and get a bottle of hydrogen, mount it and turn it on?

https://www.conrad.com/p/efoy-comfort-210i-fuel-cell-88-a-12-v-1487820 A bit like this. Hell of a price. And only 12V