Kestrahl

It would be interesting to compare the AVS keel up and down with other super yachts. Without knowing anything I would have thought these boats would have a AVS > 90deg with keel up and sails down. The alloy mast also has to be a factor compared to having a carbon rig. Sounds like an unsafe design to me. Sad for the captain, wonder if he knew how unsafe his boat was with the keel raised.

One or more of the crew must have been awake, and can give an account of what happened.. Its all very vague. My guess - heavy alloy mast and keel up, it got knocked down and sat on its side filling up with water.

I think as long as you store them on the trailer there is no issues with water ingress into the balsa core. There was one that went to Dubai, and was then kept in the water full time. Apparently it became a "water core" or so I was told by the previous owner.

We sailed out Davidson 35 from NZ to SE Asia, had a stack pack with lazy jacks which was great. Easier to reef and less effort to close up when your tired after a long passage, so less UV on the sail. Only hassle is the the battens going under the lazy jacks when hoisting, but that is the price you pay. After being based here and only racing twice a year, I removed the lazy jacks and went back to the normal cover. With the lazy bag the sail traps water and you need to hoist it often to dry it out, with the regular cover and open bottom its not an issue.

You guys should get some local quotes, they are scratching for work with the Covid situation affecting exports. If you want cheap, there are options like Rick Royden if he is still around. Far East may get it right some of the time, but I've seen a lot of disasters and corner cutting here in Asia, then you annoy the local sailmaker when you ask him to fix it. Actually if you go sailing in Hong Kong, you would notice that UK Sails has the biggest market share locally there. At the end of the day you get what you pay for.

I recall it was NZ on air or one of those websites some time ago, but can't find it with google. I was going to share it with some cruising friends who haven't seen it. I actually have a copy and could upload it to youtube, but then I mite get my account banned for copy write violation!

Is there anywhere online this can be streamed ?

Didn't Icebreaker (Kerr 40) have keel issues in the Noumea race a few years back, where they had to stop at Norfolk Island and get off.

It is expensive... Maybe a little overpriced. Incidence and Elvstrom are the two biggest users and I think get the best deals on it. NZ sailmakers pay more due to the shipping, going though the local dealer etc. Most of the seconds grade hydra-net finds its way to NZ and Aus which makes it more affordable, but more likely your sail is going to lose its shape due to issues in the weaving/finishing.

It is a German invention and they actually sell a lot of these in Europe for exorbitant prices. It just shows you what good marketing can do. Really its just a little more forgiving than a well designed regular spinnaker, if you don't mess the lines up. But doesn't do any greater wind angles, doesn't lift the bow, still needs a spinnaker pole on a mono-hull to be stable etc.

Its an impossible question to answer as it depends on the conditions the sail ends up being used in. I did UV testing on different dacrons which had some interesting results, just from UV alone some dacrons these days would only do around 20,000 miles ( 65% daylight sailing, 35% night sailing ) in the tropics before they tear like tissue, and this is only from UV and not fluttering or actually using the sail sailing, so real life would be less. I suspect some companies are using yarns from China without any UV inhibitors. A good dacron sail should do at least 50,000, and Hydra-Net a lot more

Bavaria 47? Be interesting to know what happened when it comes out.

Raced against and met the owners of Tuxedo Junction a few years ago in Tonga. This one was foam sandwich construction with rod rigging etc and very quick, with a very nice interior. The downside was they didn't have a very comfortable trip to Tonga, but then beat all the 50fters doing the local races - on line.

Could be Alex Cuthbert he has been using the drone filming some of the yacht racing in Lyttelton

Came across this https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1974/custom-bruce-farr-masthead-sloop-3499621/?refSource=standard%20listing Almost giving it away.