A number of FT10 class members are actively working to come up with a replacement for the OEM rudder. There are currently two proposals on the table:

• one is designed by Tim Kernan (originally as a replacement for the Coulmbia 30 rudder cassette system) and built in San Diego, California by Carbon Race Products,
• the other is built by James Betts Enterprise in Anacortes, Washington (design team has not been disclosed yet).

Both rudders are hanged directly at the existing gudgeons, and don't have a cassette system. Construction is stiffened by using carbon fibers and both come with an optional tiller. The goal is to provide a rudder system that is lighter, stiffer and better coupled to the boat than the OEM cassette/rudder/tiller system. 

OEM and Kernan Rudder

The Kernan rudder has been tested on USA #11 in San Diego, and on USA #!15 and USA #41 in San Francisco. It's back in San Diego now for another set of tests on USA #54 and USA #10. All tests so far were ran in moderate winds (less then 15 knots) and have received very positive reviews from all sailors involved. Some concern was raised about performance in heaby airs, given that the Kernan's blade is 1.5 feet shorter than the OEM rudder (and has a shorter chord). Tim Kernan has graciously commented that

"one of the big problems with the original rudder is the E-glass construction makes for a very bendy blade. Talking to Ben about it when we were designing this one he said the stock blade would deflect 3-4 in at the tip. That's a lot of deflection-not good. The new blade is all carbon construction and way stiffer- a built up I-beam is essentially created with carbon unis running down the span tapering toward the tip. It will not appreciably deflect at all. This will make a major difference when the blade is heavily loaded.

The other major issue with the original blade is the geometry of the cassette system- it puts the blade aft of the boat completely and makes it very easy for the blade to ventilate. When the blade pressures up it sucks air down from the surface on the low pressure side and stalls out the blade- this often happens suddenly. The new blade geometry allows us to tuck the leading edge under the transom- only a few inches makes an enormous difference and the threshold for ventilation goes way up. Operating in big breeze and waves this is a major advantage. Also the foil section we used for this blade has demonstrated a great capacity for quickly re-attaching flow when stalled-this is key.

On the issue of span the above two features are most important in heavier air and waves. From a lift perspective the shorter blade would be disadvantaged in light air, not heavy. If the blade provides sufficient lift for the boat in light air, then it will certainly do so as velocity increases- lift goes up with velocity squared. It seems everyone agrees that the blade provides sufficient lift (and a much improved feel) in light to medium- this being the case there would be no need to add more span or planform area- you would only be paying an unnecessary drag penalty in wetted area."

Carbon Race Products has announced the following pricing plan: "The price for the Rudder is as follows. $2900.00 for the rudder only this means you must adapt your existing tiller. $800.00 for the tiller clear coat carbon. $600.00 for tiller in white lp. $3600.00 for rudder and tiller clear coat carbon. These prices are on a one by one basis. For 15+ rudders they are $2700.00 for the rudder and $3400.00 for the rudder and clear carbon tiller. For 30+ rudders $2600.00 for rudder and $3300.00 for the rudder and clear coat carbon tiller. All rudders are carbon skins with uni-directional carbon internal stiffening. They are vaccuum bagged in epoxy resin out of female tooling so each rudder is the same. They are finished in epoxy primer and shipped. The tiller are carbon cloth and Eglass with a foam core. The rudders come with a 1/2"pin and existing gudgeons will have to be drilled out 1 mil in order to accomidate new pin size. This is done because the existing pin will not work and there is slop in most boats in this area. There would be an $800.00 deposit required to start a rudder and they can be shipped at 1 every 8 business days."   

The Jim Betts rudder prototype is in advanced state of construction, and should be tested in the water at the end of November. According to Jim Betts "It is a balanced design that eliminates the cassette is similar to the depth of the factory rudder. It will be all carbon/epoxy construction and offered with an ultra lite carbon tiller system or fit to factory/Phils tillers". The rudder will be tested during the San Diego midwinters, and one specimen will be sent in Albany, Western Australia for testing during their summer sailing season on USA #36.

The Class has not endorsed any of the rudders at this point, but it is possible that after further testing in the water, a proposal could be moved forward to the whole membership to modify the class rules to allow for non OEM rudder systems.  

 

Testing the Kernan Rudder in San Francisco

 

In an effort to attract out of town boats for the midwinters, Fleet #1 has confirmed that it will be racing in South Bay with the Coronado Yacht Club Feb 20-21, 2010. San Diego South Bay is well know for the great sailing in kelp-free protected waters.

Fleet #1 is  also actively lobbying Sailing World to race in South Bay the FT10's Sperry Top Sider 2010 National Offshore One-Desing Regattas on March 19-21, 2010.

 

by Alistair Skinner.

Over the last 6 days the 5th annual China Club Challenge Match Regatta organised by Ironrock Sailing Club has been run off Xiamen, China.

The first thing to state is that the standard of the teams has risen quite incredibly from even last year.

The numbers have risen also with 18 teams entered instead of the 10 of last year, sure it is easy to say that that these numbers are small compared to the west but the speed of growth in China is nothing short of exciting.

The regatta is easily the biggest ‘Chinese Regatta’, with all the teams coming from China or sailing clubs in China. China Cup run in Shenzhen at the end of October has a larger number of entries but most of them are ‘invited’ from outside China with so far this year only 11 boats entered from China.

And no less exciting were the events on the water in what can only be described as testing conditions. Umpire boats were called on not only to oversee racing but when a lifeline broke on one of the Flying Tiger 10’s being used for the event they turned into rescue boats also, scooping one crewman from the water and then as conditions freshened plucked two of the event organisers from a swamped and capsized mark boat – all in a days work.

On day one of the match racing around 90 minutes were lost as the wind got close to 30 knots requiring almost survival tactics rather than racing tactics.

The wind did however reduce sufficiently for racing to recommence and 4, by now salt encrusted umpires in two race boats took up position to attempt to get the first days program completed however with the light fading fast beyond maritime lighting up time the day ended with just 1 race from 1 match carried over until the following morning with scores standing at 1-1 between Saimeng Sailing Club from Shanghai and Microlab from Shenzhen

And what a race that turned out to be with the boats never far apart but with final honour going to Microlab.

That set up semi-finals between Microlab and Qingdao Santi and between Shanghai Boat & Yacht Club (SBYC) and Seawolf, also from Shenzhen.

Seawolf had a fairly easy task against SBYC who had unfortunately lost their skipper as he had to go to back to work – sad for work to get in the way of sailing. SBYC’s task was not helped by being in the box early in Race 1 of their Semi and an OCS in Race 2.

In the other semi-final things were not so clear cut with Microlab and Qingdao Santi trading blows in each race of their flight. 1-0, 1-1 then a final race as the sun went down with first one team in the lead then the other, penalties given one way then cancelled by one back and the final result only being placed beyond doubt as the final bottom mark was rounded before theshort beat back to the finish line where the northern team of Qingdao Santi crossed the line a little further ahead than one of their earlier round victories of a matter of seconds.

The final day saw the final between Seawolf and Qingdao Santi and started off with softer breeze but this gradually built through the day and went to the decider.

This match saw the first black flag of the regatta as Santi came off the line with two flags against her. Although opportunity was there to take the turn the team didn’t and so it was game over within 100m.

In the deciding race a dramatic wipe-out by their opposition saw Seawolves make it through to the final in a finish that, although it looked like a big win all hung on that one Santi error – an error, by the way, that saw their keel waving in the air.

So to the best of 5 final. The Seawolves charged into the box from the right in a manner that reflected their name and took the match to the defenders from Wu Yuan Wan Sailing Club. Two races, one with a black flag later the team from Shenzhen stood on the threshold of taking the Challenge Cup away from Xiamen for the first time.

After another pre-start with the southern team totally in control both boats headed up the first beat. Rounding the top mark behind and the wind up around the twenties the defenders launched their kite. A bit too hurried though as the boat wasn’t quite in balance. The power of the large Flying Tiger asymmetric just tipped the balance – the balance on the Wu Yuan Wan boat that is and after a dramatic 100m ‘hanging in there’, the boat rounded up violently and Seawolf won the final 3-0.

The event, certainly the match racing part of the event was champagne sailing with the ‘L’ flag flying most of the week signifying teams must sail with a reef, even then boats were often overpowered. The race management team got in 40 umpired races in the 6 days of the regatta, 16 fleet races and 24 match races – impressive by any standard. Penalties were relatively few, only 2 black flags and 4 contacts in the whole event, non causing injury or damage.

The event was excellently run by Iron Rock Sailing Club with a team led by organiser Rick Qu – this event is really coming of age.

The on the water umpires were Russ Parker and Steve Trebitch ‘on loan’ from North Sails in Hong Kong assisted by Li Li and myself.

As I was a bit busy driving a RIB photos were pinched from ‘Joyce’ from Hong Kong who I think has captured the essence of the event.

Boy...that was a long trip.

The four of us on Abacus were having a fun time at the start knowing that all we had to do was stay close to Scot since Anarchy owed us time. So we just followed him in the beginning. Saw him pop his code 0, we put up our AP kite and kept our jib up for tight reaching. It worked well in about 8-9 kt TWS, let us keep speed and height. Then we stumbled a bit and #54 got over us and we got dropped a bit as Anarchy took off clearly in the lead with the Cheetah way outside struggling a bit with the very tight angles. #54 then went low (smart move) while we stayed on Anarchy's tracks. Not long after, near TJ, the wind started to go nuts ~50-60 degree shift that rotated the course over to #54's advantage. They were in a great position and was immediately about half an hour ahead of us. The big shift was followed by a big drop in windspeed near the shore as a bit of local rain cloud activity offset the offshore winds. I saw Anarchy tack to the outside, with #54 also heading out not long after to cover them.

Our strategy was if the winds started to go away, we would stay inside in anticipation of the offshore winds that come after sundown. (But this was like 3pm at the time......were we nuts????) So we ended up floating around near Rosarito (north of the tankers) going at ~1 kt for an hour. We kept telling ourselves that the boats outside will park soon and they will have zero pressure until Sat noon. And guess what, first we see #54 pack it in as they just stopped completely in the deadly "middle zone" (where we got stuck in the 2006 race). Another half hour later we see a bunch of TP52s who were outside start motoring back. We never saw Scot head in, so in our minds, we were still battling with them. We had to press on -- we probably did not have enough gas to make it back at that point, we had a birthday bash in Ensenada planned for Zoomie and I already told my crew to throw me overboard if I mentioned quitting.

We picked up decent off shore air pretty early (5pm) and just kept playing the surfline off Rosarito and further south making 3-4 kts in any direction that kept us going. Then after sun down, we kept getting lifted closer to rhumbline and very soon we were able to see the Todos Santos lighthouse (but from 30nm out!!). Had persistent 5 to 9 kts of air all night and the FT sail plan allow us to beat our way down, out pointing almost any boat we came across. We ended up in the now famous Bahia Todos Santos crazy wind zone where the wind switches 180 and think we passed Trippin' (Trip 41) right there after pacing them for hours. We got in a bit before 5am just seconds behind Snapper who was sailing on the well sailed all girl boat Seamaiden (I'm pretty sure he sailed with a wig on...).

We were so tired that we left the boat at the Coral fuel dock and went to bed on the lounge chairs by the hotel pool after they told us they had no rooms. Did not really know we had actually won the thing until we made it down to the San Nicholas for the paella party. We don't get to win much (except for rums), so this one was particularly sweet since the class 2 trophy is the Hussong's cup.

Tim Chin, USA 008 - Abacus

RESULTS FOR CLASS PHRF-2
START DATE: 10/02/2009 START TIME: 12:40:00 DISTANCE: 62.00
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLC HCAP SAIL# BOAT SKIPPER TYPE CLUB FINISH ELAPSED CORRECTED MARGIN
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 42.00 8 ABACUS TIMOTHY CHIN FT10 SGYC 03/05:01:03 16:21:03 15:37:39 LEAD
2 51.00 56603 UNCONTROLLABLE UR JAMES GILMORE SPRT30 SGYC 03/10:25:41 21:45:41 20:52:59 5:15:20
DNF 45.00 46830 SUPER FLY ERIK ROGERS CHE30 SDYC
DNF 33.00 11 ANARCHY TEMPESTA/RICKARD FT10 SDYC
DNF 42.00 54 NIUHI J & P MC PHERSON FT10M SDYC
6 POINTS AWARDED FOR DNC, DND, DNS, PMS, DSQ, DNF, RET.
=======================================================================================================================

 

The spring is bringing back the Super 30 Sport Boat fleet in Sydney, with the SASC Sports Boat Short Series. Flying Tigers are back to the Harbor with the 15 boats strong Fleet #3, New South Wales. Enjoy a few pictures of FT10s taken from the skipper of s/v Youngstar.

FT10s are off to a good start: AUS-82, Tigger took the first race of the series with Balmain Tiger and Hello Tiger finishing 3rd and 4th.

 

Xiamen is getting ready for the 5th annual China Club Challenge Match Regatta on October 1-7.  The regatta is organized by the Chinese Yachting Association and managed by the Ironrock Sailing Club, in Xiamen exclusively on FT10s. The entrants are all teams from various yacht clubs all over China.

 

With 11 boats on the line the FT10 will be the largest fleet at the first International Sportboat Anarchy Festival, organized by Sailing Anarchy Yacht Club and the Coronado Yacht Club on September 26-27, 2009 in San Diego's best racing venue, the South Bay.

 

SD ModelWorks can make a precise hand-sculpted 18" model of your Flying Tiger. By painstakingly recreating every detail, from the spectra around the boom, to the name and home port on your transom, SD ModelWorks creates one-of-a-kind replica of your Tiger that you'll be proud to display at your home or office.

If you want a custom replica of your Tiger request a quote and don't forget to ask the 10% discount reserved to FT10 Class Members.

 

Sailing Anarchy published this nice report of Susan and Scott Burbank cruising (yes, cruising!) the US Pacific Northwest with USA 14 "Rock On!".

Taking a sport boat cruising may be some peoples idea of stupidity, even torture. But when you have a Flying Tiger, a couple weeks off in Aug and the San Juan Islands about 85 miles away- why not give it a try?! That is what my wife Susan and I did this year and we had a blast!

Cruising the Tiger is pretty easy. Especially if you have any experience hiking (as in walking not hanging over the edge of a boat) and sleeping in a backpacking tent. The v-birth on the Tiger is plenty long for a 6’8” person to sleep and there is still enough room for my 5’9” wife. The Tiger is easy to sail double handed yet it keeps you on your toes. We are somewhat addicted to speed and the Tiger feeds that addiction well – even in cruise mode. We love flying the chute double handed and have had it up in 20knots. It is a thrill catching and passing every boat in front of you – even the big family trawlers.

Memorable Day
On one memorable day going from Friday Harbor to Sucia Island via San Juan Channel and Boundary Pass. We left in the morning on a light breeze. The FT10 is so good in light air we often entice our bigger cruising brethren to put up their sails as we sail past them while they are motoring. They then look puzzled as they sit with flogging sails and we continue to move at hull speed away from them in 7 knots of wind. On this day we continued north on a wind that freshened to about 15 knots. (kite picture) We came upon a nice Grand Banks trawler doing about 8 or 9 knots. The look on their face was surprise then pure joy as we surged past them at close quarters doing 10 and 11 knots. They came on deck and gave us a thumbs up we waived as we past them. There is something about sailing in incredibly beautiful islands, on a sunny day and going fast while relaxing that makes for great memories.

One of our biggest surprises with cruising the Tiger was getting to our destinations so fast. It works great when you want to cover ground fast. Our delivery from Shilshole Bay to Friday Harbor is a good example of the value of a Tiger. The delivery is over 80 miles and we like to do it without stopping. On our Aug cruise we left with the tide from Shilshole Bay marina before 6AM and we were in Friday Harbor for a late lunch at 2PM. We had the wind and tide at our back and the sailing was perfect.

In our first four days of cruising inside the islands we reached our daily destination ahead of schedule every day. It took us a while to adjust to covering so much ground so quickly. The problem in getting to a destination early is that we didn’t get our daily fix of sailing. So, we would set out for another location or sail around the island rather than just go straight into the anchorage.

Anchoring
The FT10 is so easily driven and so maneuverable that we can easily sail up to the spot we want to anchor. Even in a busy bay. We have a light Fortress anchor with about 12 feet of chain and 200 feet of line in a light weight plastic milk crate. I secure the create and bitter end of the anchor rode to the deck, drop the main, Susan steers us to the spot and I drop the hook. We backwind the jib, set the hook, put the sails away and prep for going ashore. It is even easier with the motor down.

Food and Prep
We have three large plastic tubs with tops that we load up with food, utensils and cooking gear. They stow nicely in the quarter berth area. We use a jet boil stove for our cooking. Susan preps everything to just need hot water and the jet boil produces hot water boiling water in less than 2 minutes. We eat on deck when we can as the cabin is a little tight. But, if it is too wet to be in the cockpit, we hang the stove from the hatch above the keel and use the little chart table to prep the food.

Dinghy

We have an 11’ fold-bote. We store it folded on deck for big water crossings. We can assemble it in the cockpit and launch it out the transom without much hassle. We then tow the boat behind when we are doing our day sails between anchorages. The boat weighs about 30 lbs and tows okay. It did take us a while to get the towing bridle set up initially. But all is easy now. The only major issue is with following seas. The dinghy tends to catch the boat but it is so light and built of plastic so it bounces off nicely.

The San Juan Is are known for light winds in the Summer. It didn’t impact our fun at all. We sailed everywhere at 5 – 9 knots.

 

Scott Burbank
03/26/09  

 

Very tight racing for the   Sailing World San Diego NOOD Regatta 2009: Philip and Payson Infelise USA 33 "Mile High Klub" wins after a tie-break with USA 24 "Elusive". The windier races on sunday were cancelled due to a dragging mark, and the Regatta was decided on friday and saturday's 5 light air races.  
 

Place	#	Boat Name	Owner	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Total
1	33	Mile High Klub	Phillip & Payson Infelise	1	7	1	1	2	12
2	24	Elusive	John Paquin	4	1	4	2	1	12
3	19	Occam's Razor	Neil Senturia	3	6	2	3	6	20
4	8	Abacus	Timothy Chin	8	2	3	6	5	24
5	11	Anarchy	Scot Tempesta	6	4	6	4	4	24
6	10	Harbor Sailboats Racing	Tom Hirsh	7	3	9 ocs	9 ocs	3	31
7	54	Niuhi	Paul McPherson	5	5	9 ocs	5	7	31
8	62	Jelani	Clive Daem	2	8	5	9 ocs	8	32

 

 

8 Tigers on the line for the Sailing World San Diego NOOD Regatta 2009, and after the first day of light air racing John Paquin USA 24 "Elusive" leads the pack trailed by 2008 West Coast Champions Philip and Payson Infelise USA 33 "Mile High Klub". 6 more races are in the schedule in the next two days, with forecasts calling wind for Sunday.

 

 

  

From the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta Website

Grrrrrrreat racing on the Flying Tigers at Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta

Photo Credit Andrea Francolini/Audi

8th March, 2009  -  Andrew and Gae Bristow have made a spectacular return to racing following a 12 year break. At the Flying Tiger 10 metre state championships last month they placed second and today they finished their debut Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta with a perfect scorecard – six wins from six races.

Heavy campaigners with their previous boat Cape Fear, the pair took time out to rest and reorganise their life, and their five acre garden at Dural that had “gone to rack and ruin” before launching Hello Tiger in December last year.

Tiger’s stunning pointscore win was a family affair with the Bristows joined by their two sons, son in law and thirteen year old grandson, plus one ring in, an old family friend.

“The courses were good and we had plenty of wind. It was a bit like ocean racing surfing down waves at Sydney Heads but without having to go offshore,” grinned Andrew Bristow, the winning skipper.

Photo Credit Andrea Francolini/Audi

Of the 20 divisions racing at Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta, conducted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club, the Flying Tiger 10 metre class probably boasts the best boat names - Balmain Tiger, Hello Tiger, Sabre, Shere Khan and Tiga just some of the clever derivatives of the class name.

Nine of the fifteen one design Flying Tigers based in Sydney are sailing as part of this weekend’s record fleet, including Australian class president Neil Hamilton, skipper of Balmain Tiger which sports the Balmain Sailing Club burgee.

“This international class was developed in conjunction with a lot of enthusiasts who provided feedback to the Sailing Anarchy website on what they’d like to see in a sports boat,” said Hamilton.

“The result is a lightweight boat with a lifting keel that comes in a 40 foot container and takes two weeks to assemble. It’s fast, reasonably priced and it’s trailerable,” Hamilton added - not that he’s made plans to hit the road anytime soon given the racing in Sydney is top notch.

The first of the Australian ex-pat Rob Perry designed owner/driver class arrived in Australia in October 2007 with this weekend’s Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta their second class hit out following the NSW Championship hosted by RANSA in Rushcutters Bay last month.

Semi retired accident and emergency doctor and cancer specialist Rod Gibbs, skipper of Shere Khan - named after the tiger in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book - is having a blast with his Flying Tiger, and he’s impacting the results sheet.

“When people see how much fun we are having, and when we roll over the top of them they become interested in the class. It’s great having a level playing field,” Gibbs said of the one design competition.

In their class debut at Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta, now in its fourth year, the Flying Tigers along with the Adams 10m and Farr 30s, enjoyed the best of the conditions, their course area capturing the best of the sou’easter as it funnelled in though Sydney Heads.

Andrew Bristow is one of 20 divisional winners eligible for the Audi Final Challenge on Monday at Oran Park Raceway, the final stage that will decide the winner of the major prize, the brand new Audi Q5 mid-size SUV.

PROVISIONAL RESULTS SUBJECT TO AUDIT
Updated:  8/03/2009  19:50:02

Series Results [Flying Tigers] up to Race 6 (Drops = 0)

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		91	HELLO TIGER	Andrew Bristow	BSC	6.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
2		56	OPHIR	Bruce/Neil Tavener	DSC/MHYC	22.00	2.00	4.00	2.00	10.00Q	2.00	2.00
3		66	BALMAIN TIGER	Neil Hamilton	BSC	24.00	10.00Q	2.00	4.00	2.00	3.00	3.00
4		90	TIGA	James Hill	RMYC	25.00	5.00	3.00	3.00	4.00	5.00	5.00
5		92	SOPHIA	Philip Mellor	RANSA	26.00	4.00	6.00	5.00	3.00	4.00	4.00
6		77	SHERE KHAN	Rod Gibbs	RANSA	35.00	3.00	5.00	10.00C	5.00	6.00	6.00
7		64	FORTUNE OF WAR	Adrian Gruzman	RANSA	42.00	6.00	7.00	7.00	7.00	7.00	8.00
8		74	SABRE	Stuart Birdsall	RANSA	45.00	10.00C	8.00	6.00	6.00	8.00	7.00
9		79	FLYING BRANDY	Marco Tapia	SASC	53.00	7.00	10.00F	10.00C	8.00	9.00	9.00

 

(Ties: S=Score R=Race B= Bettered. Penalties: A=ARB B=BFD C=DNC D=DNE E=ESP F=DNF G=RDG L=Late Entrant M=DGM N=ENP O=OCS P=Protest Q=DSQ R=RAF S=DNS U=DUT V=AVG X=EXC Z=ZFP Y=SCP #=NoData [x.y]=Discarded)

Results by : TopYacht Software

Further information: www.audisydneyharbourregatta.com

By Lisa Ratcliff/Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta media

Event Pictures:

• Andrea Francolini

• Day 1: Audi Website

• Day 2: Audi Website

• James Garnier (Print quality)

 

Great Sunny Day for Round 1 of the Australian Championships. 9 Boats on the line all with a good chance ...

After some very close racing the picture is as follows with 3 races to go. Certainly Hello Tiger and Ophir look the most likely but as I go to print , Hello Tiger had a protest against Ophir regarding the start of race 3.

Course Area E

Hosted By Middle Harbour Yacht Club

PROVISIONAL RESULTS SUBJECT TO AUDIT

Updated:  7/03/2009  22:17:35

Series Results [Flying Tigers] up to Race 3 (Drops = 0)

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		91	HELLO TIGER	Andrew Bristow	BSC	3.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
2		66	BALMAIN TIGER	Neil Hamilton	BSC	8.00	2.00	3.00	3.00
3		92	SOPHIA	Philip Mellor	RANSA	11.00	3.00	4.00	4.00
4	2.0S	56	OPHIR	Bruce/Neil Tavener	DSC/MHYC	14.00	10.00Q	2.00	2.00
5		90	TIGA	James Hill	RMYC	14.00	4.00	5.00	5.00
6		77	SHERE KHAN	Rod Gibbs	RANSA	17.00	5.00	6.00	6.00
7		74	SABRE	Stuart Birdsall	RANSA	21.00	6.00	8.00	7.00
8		64	FORTUNE OF WAR	Adrian Gruzman	RANSA	22.00	7.00	7.00	8.00
9		79	FLYING BRANDY	Marco Tapia	SASC	26.00	8.00	9.00	9.00

 

(Ties: S=Score R=Race B= Bettered. Penalties: A=ARB B=BFD C=DNC D=DNE E=ESP F=DNF G=RDG L=Late Entrant M=DGM N=ENP O=OCS P=Protest Q=DSQ R=RAF S=DNS U=DUT V=AVG X=EXC Z=ZFP Y=SCP #=NoData [x.y]=Discarded)

Race 1... 2 Laps 10-12 Knots angle 140 degrees. ... James Hill in Tiga had a great start but could not hold off Hello Tiger who lead to the first mark from Tiga , Ophir , Balmain Tiger and Shere Khan. Down hill sailing sorted out the fleet with sail handling and riding the lumpy waves sorted out the results .. Hello Tiger, Ophir and Balmain Tiger.

Race 2... 2 Laps 12-14 knots angle 140 degrees.... Sophia pulled off the master stroke of the day , going right at the Boat while the rest of the fleet went left. Next time we saw them was when they returned to the top mark well in front. Tiga was well in the mix half way up the second work when they made a bad call to go left after tiring of hanging off Balmain Tigers windward side. They never really recovered from that and came home fifth , behind Hell Tiger, Ophir , Balmain Tiger and Sophia who gave up a lot of ground down hill after such a great first leg.

Race 3... 2 Laps 12-14 knots, angle 140 degrees.... The smart money was on being right, with most of the fleet going there, those that went left had to find their way back once the lanes became free. Once again Sophia had a great first leg, rounding the top mark just behind Hello Tiger and just in front of Ophir and Balmain Tiger. Great down hill running with some wild drops at the end of down hill leg 1 saw Sabre and Balmain Tiger close behind Hello Tiger and Ophir. Sabre went too early as we approached the South Head reef... Balmain Tiger hung on and got the break to the top mark but could not pull in Hello Tiger and Sophia down hill. Hello Tiger looked to have their 3 rd bullet under control when the did a poor gybe with all the unwanted results when heading back to the last run to the finish. Ophir took advantage of their misfortune and got the bullet ahead of Hello Tiger and Balmain Tiger.

Sailing Anarchist "Kelly"

Results
  

 

FT10 Australian Championships - Sydney March 7 and 8

These Championships will be sailed within the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta .
FT10's will have their own start , up to 6 Windward Leward Races , max 4 races per day , no drops.

For the FT10's we will compete for both an Audi Regatta trophy and more importantly the FT10 Australian Championship. A perpetual trophy has been cast at great expense to the Australian FT10 Class Association and its members. Plaques will be awarded to First Second and Third place.
Results will be available from http://www.sydneyharbourregatta.com/racing-index.cfm

There will be 9 Tigers racing for the privalage of getting their name on the Cup first. A great fleet with some very competitive teams being put together for this event. Entry List.

Ophir
Hello Tiger
Balmain Tiger
Sophia
Tiga
Flying Brandy
Fortune of War
Sabre
Shere Khan

Anyone want to try and pick the trifecta.... a tough ask as every team has a real chance, particularly those who have been brave enough to get into the water and clean their hulls with all the Sharks that have been visiting Sydney Harbour in recent times.

Unfortunately Tiger Shark, SIGURD and Feral will remain tied up for the weekend. Tojo Tiger ( working name ) has not quite made it into the water yet and Tigger will be racing in another non one design class, "owner driver not available". So although 9 starters is great , we will look for even more in 2010. Hopefully some interstate teams will join us in 2010 .

I know that all the crews have been preparing their boats for the event, best of luck to everyone, weather looks great with consistent 10 to 15 knot breezes and clear blue skies. Should have lots of photos and some inside reports by Saturday evening if can keep my eyes open after a full day on the water."

Sailing Anarchist "Kelly"  

Marc Crutcher is a good friend of the FT10 class. He sails and takes pictures on most of the FT10 regattas in the US East Coast. Check out his website "Unbridled Sailing" and the great shots of FT10s in his pictures gallery.  

 

Sailing Anarchist "Kelly" reports from the first FT10 OD Regatta in Australia, with 6 FT10 on the line:

"Great weekend of one Design racing, it certainly does find out your weaknesses. It also found who had the best boat set up and crew.

Saturday we had a fleet of 6 Tigers for 3 Windward Lewards, wind was not favourable to the organisers who chased the wind all over the harbour trying to set up some reasonable courses. First two races were only 1 lap so did not favour the teams who rely on their team work and sail handling. Last race was 3 laps so that really sorted out the fleet.

On Sunday we had 8 entries for a 3 hour passage race around the harbour. Wind was light and shifting, but it made for some interesting strategy decisions, knowledge of the Harbour was very useful.

Bruce and Neil Tavener's AUS 56 "Ophir" was the boat and team of the weekend with 4 wins from 4 races... 4 bullets Great effort. Hello Tiger and Balmain Tiger fought closely all weekend for 2nd place, Hello Tiger got the nod bye a point. Fortune of War and Sophia finished tied for 4th place. Flying Brandy got 6th place and some great experience.

Tigger and SIGURD joined the fleet on Sunday for the passage race, they got 6th and 7 th places respectively.

Ophir has now set the bar, the rest of the teams need to work out how to meet the challenge at the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta 09 in two weeks time to see who is the National Champion. We expect to have Shere Khan, Sabre and Tiga join us for the Audi that will be 11 boats on the line. Feral would make 12. Then there is the Tojo crew , will they make it in time?"

AUS 56 Ophir's crew celebrating their victory

 

Samson Vasquez sent this report after the 2009 Saint Petersburg NOOD, where he crewed aboard "Tin Man". USA 52 "TADpole" of Tom Tatum and Dave Irwin, out of Rush Creek Yacht Club, won the regatta with an impressive 1-2-1-2-1-2.

"Rig, Hike, Drive,
The boats are very easy to sail and make go fast. They are sportboats not beercan racers. Rig neeeds to be set every race. Talk about it and do it if you need to, don't be lazy. Have your own guide that changes every 3-4 kts of breeze, It really helps keep the main undercontrol in the upper range and makes you able to really hold and stay in the groove. Set for the lulls. Light air nothing tighter then 35 anywhere. Hike! Hike! It is a sport boat. Quicken your tacks. Jib should take no longer then 1.25 seconds! Sit foward downwind, and back upwind (May feel weird but fast & helps helm). Work the boat downwind (6+kts). Work the boat! Communicate downwind! trimmer call the steering of the boat. Get your rest hiking your ass off upwind. it is importants to have a lose rig in the lighter stuff to keep the boat powerd up and a tight rig in the big breeze to keep the main from shredding. Set for Lulls & hike harder in the puffs ( skipper will love you). You can sail looser or tighter when needed if you are more aggressive with rig tune. Ask Dave Ullman how often they adjust their rig. Do that & notice how much less people lift off of you & shot from under you! Someone other than the skipper watch speed. It is ok to explore different rig settings, you can always tell when you do someting wrong the speed goes down! Play around every boat, rig & sails are different!

Driving these boats are evertything. Skipper needs to stay in the groove. He can't do that if the jib trimmer does not ease and/or the cars are in the right place, or the crew does not sit in before the lulls! or trim in & hike out before puffs! Do not ease main, Hike. It controlls your luff tension! Shift gears. Boat will only get that last little bit of point up when the boat is at max speed if not you will never get to max speed. No pinch! They have no momentum because they are a sport boat. If your rig is to tight you can't get the gear anyways. Power will = Point. Also if your skipper is good at staying in that extra gear you can set you leads for for it!

Crew work (including hiking)& starts are win that regattas. Basics like the winners show. Go fast toward the wind, once again think for yourself, can't pass a faster boat by following them to the finish. One more shift can win the race. Get fit crew that will stay out longer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or just mandate light beer & sit-ups if muinty doesn't happen! It is better to have 80%crew weight out for the whole leg then 100% for only half the leg. Talk about every mark rounding! out loud before so the whole crew is on the same page. You will suprised how many times you go into a take down and the starts taking it down on the wrong side.

Nothing I said is towards anyone, crew, or boat! Just a few pointers that I noticed from a sailing on and against them.
Great boats and class hope to see them grow!

Finally a Regatta where there was no fights on the water or after smack on the forum. What happened"

Photo Credit: Marc Crutcher, Unbridled Sailing

More Pictures (Marc Crutcher, Unbridled Sailing)

David Turnton and AUS 53 - "Likatiger" surfed first in the Offshore Monohull PHRF division of the Tracertrak
Surf to City race hosted by the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club on January 17th 2009.

The Surf to City Yacht Race is held with the cooperation of the Southport Yacht Club. The race from Southport to  the historical Brisbane bayside village of Shorncliffe is usually a day race for the inshore fleet and a day/night race for the offshore fleet. The race attracts competitors normally from Queensland and northern New South Wales.

 

The Executive Committee of the Flying Tiger Class Association was convened on January 15, 2009 to address several administrative issues regarding the owner/driver rules added in the 2009 Class Rules in Section C2.1c. The Executive Committee rendered the following decision:

1. Exemptions, when and if requested, will be granted to non-Category 1 owners (as defined by ISAF) who purchased their hulls prior to January 1, 2009 as well as to Category 1 owners whose classification changed after their hull purchase. As the Executive Committee understands the circumstances today, this will apply to hulls #35, #39 and potentially #9 & #10 among others.
2. A limited exemption was granted to hull #22 in view of very unique circumstances. Chris Winnard a Category 3 sailor is granted the exemption to helm #22 in any Class event while the circumstances persist.

Susan and Scott Burbanks' USA 14 "Rock On" qualified for the "Top 25 Sailboats - 2008" award issued by Harken and 48th North. The prestigious award is a recognition of the high level of racing in the Pacific Northwest and West Coast of Canada.

From the 48th North Press Release: