One area where there must be a huge drag and potential performance gain is the vortex under the sail. I have not done the maths but ... we twist the sails and so the grunt comes from low down in strong winds. Sails are nice elliptical profiles on the way up but the bottom is definitely not. We use loads of downhaul to flatten and feather the top like a windsurfer, but that does not help the bottom which is doing all the work. So there must be a huge vortex under the sail and around the boom that is pure drag. Our smart windsurfing friends who have similar sails rake the rig back to close this gap.
So we have a 3.3 meter long boat and 2m wide sail so there should be room to cross the boat International Canoe style with the sail on the deck but we need a radical configuration change. Maybe we can do a tramp that goes between the sail and boom from wing bar to wing bar but then how do you tack....?
Also it is a bloody stupid idea to have the centre of lift in the centre of the boat. Why hike so hard when we could double the effective width of the boat. Once we are up we only need a small foil to stay up and why not put that down to leeward as there is plenty of power in the rig?
So while the corporations are working away on the next generation of Moths that will be faster (and bloody good luck to them), I thought it was time to try to see if it was possible to see if an open community discussion could work to get the boats to the next level. Moth performance has always been boosted by bloody obvious ideas like:
- Why not make the boats lighter by using materials with better structural properties.
- Why not make the boat wider with simple hiking racks.
- Why not make hulls lighter and less drag by making them narrower.
- Why not fly above the water on hydrofoils.
So why not move the centre of lift to leeward and reduce the vortex drag under the sail? The only problem is how and how?
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Real Moth Sailing,
I have not been blogging about sailing a lot recently manly because I have been too busy doing it. I guess that Moth sailing is like sex. When you have not done it for a long time you can not stop talking and think about it, after you have just done it all weekend you are more relaxed about the topic... ;-)
Niki has posted some pictures of one of your training sessions. We did short courses round a windward and leeward mark.
Having done a lot of sailing (most weekend since the worlds) my maneuvers are no longer embarrassing and now I am moving on to other aspects of my sailing like boat speed. Niki is really fast and hi upwind and I am trying to work out why as he has the edge on me. I think it could be to do with the sail. I get out the water first in low winds but he is faster when up. I have pulled the downhaul hard to flatten the sail but I think the Hyde sail is just more powerful than his KA.
The really cool thing is that we are close and so racing and adjustments are critical, and results are clear, and learning curve very steep. If one of us gets away from the other then the guy behind does a shortcut skipping a mark and then it is back on again. This is so much fun.
My boat is now totally trashed from all the sailing and from ramming it into the bottom of the lake... I even split open the bow by hitting the bottom hard, however it was very windy at the time. So winter will be refurbishment time. For now it is a case of keep the thing on (or above) the water as much as possible as sailing time is where it is at.
Getting to this point has taken me since the 2004 Euros in Garda so it was a long trip but now it seams worth it. With growing interest in our fun and games there will hopefully be more Moths joining in next year. So the other winter job to do is get Tomahawk in a sailable and sellable state, because at the moment I own half the boats in the Austrian fleet.
Niki has posted some pictures of one of your training sessions. We did short courses round a windward and leeward mark.
Having done a lot of sailing (most weekend since the worlds) my maneuvers are no longer embarrassing and now I am moving on to other aspects of my sailing like boat speed. Niki is really fast and hi upwind and I am trying to work out why as he has the edge on me. I think it could be to do with the sail. I get out the water first in low winds but he is faster when up. I have pulled the downhaul hard to flatten the sail but I think the Hyde sail is just more powerful than his KA.
The really cool thing is that we are close and so racing and adjustments are critical, and results are clear, and learning curve very steep. If one of us gets away from the other then the guy behind does a shortcut skipping a mark and then it is back on again. This is so much fun.
My boat is now totally trashed from all the sailing and from ramming it into the bottom of the lake... I even split open the bow by hitting the bottom hard, however it was very windy at the time. So winter will be refurbishment time. For now it is a case of keep the thing on (or above) the water as much as possible as sailing time is where it is at.
Getting to this point has taken me since the 2004 Euros in Garda so it was a long trip but now it seams worth it. With growing interest in our fun and games there will hopefully be more Moths joining in next year. So the other winter job to do is get Tomahawk in a sailable and sellable state, because at the moment I own half the boats in the Austrian fleet.
IMCA News RSS Feed fixed (again) and Google Maps
The IMCA News RSS feed is now working properly. I do not know if anyone is using it apart form me and one Google Reader subscriber but at least the news with relative links on the IMCA site will not be always new now.
I have also added links to Google Map in the events list on the IMCA site so you can look up where the event is.
Joe I have not forgotten your updates and I will get round to it, but the google maps was too cool not to do first.
I have also added links to Google Map in the events list on the IMCA site so you can look up where the event is.
Joe I have not forgotten your updates and I will get round to it, but the google maps was too cool not to do first.
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
World Championship Moth Blog: Third and final Blog Judge appointed.
Bloody Check.
Andrew Bloody Brown has no Moth Blog and so I have to post his Blog Championship Press releases.
I better win the prize that is all I can say.
Andrew Bloody Brown has no Moth Blog and so I have to post his Blog Championship Press releases.
I better win the prize that is all I can say.
Italian Nationas Cancelled
marco wrote:
"
Hi Doug,
I feel obliged to write a few words in defence of Peter and Umberto, the Class Secretary. In good faith they took on their shoulders the burden of the tedious and unrewarding chore of talking, discussing, trading E-mails back and forth, contacting the Torbole Sail Club,spending time and money of their own to organize the Italian Nationals only to discover that only three Italian competitors would have raced. This would have been a shame indeed.
They simply were compelled to accept a verdict that came from the lack of interest in the Class that the Italian Moth owners show. I told this already ( as I could ) at the AGM in Torbole: the boat is perceived here as a play tool not a racing machine. The boats that were sold in Italy did not automatically translate in an increase of subscribers to the Class. And this doesnt depend on Peter or on Umberto.
All the best,
Marco.
"
I am disappointed that the Nationals are Cancelled but not upset with individuals. I know it is hard unrewarding work to organise stuff for the IMCA but I was hoping to travel to Garda to do this event. One because there would be a fleet of other Moths and 2 because Garda is the best place I have sailed and I am in Love with the place.
I hope we can get some (South East Europe) Moth events off the ground in future but to do this I think CRO, AUT, SUI, Southern DER and ITA my need to team together to start with.
So the next event on the Calendar is the Swiss Cup in Geneva. A bloody long drive for the weekend but if you win you get the Americas Cup to take home.
"
Hi Doug,
I feel obliged to write a few words in defence of Peter and Umberto, the Class Secretary. In good faith they took on their shoulders the burden of the tedious and unrewarding chore of talking, discussing, trading E-mails back and forth, contacting the Torbole Sail Club,spending time and money of their own to organize the Italian Nationals only to discover that only three Italian competitors would have raced. This would have been a shame indeed.
They simply were compelled to accept a verdict that came from the lack of interest in the Class that the Italian Moth owners show. I told this already ( as I could ) at the AGM in Torbole: the boat is perceived here as a play tool not a racing machine. The boats that were sold in Italy did not automatically translate in an increase of subscribers to the Class. And this doesnt depend on Peter or on Umberto.
All the best,
Marco.
"
I am disappointed that the Nationals are Cancelled but not upset with individuals. I know it is hard unrewarding work to organise stuff for the IMCA but I was hoping to travel to Garda to do this event. One because there would be a fleet of other Moths and 2 because Garda is the best place I have sailed and I am in Love with the place.
I hope we can get some (South East Europe) Moth events off the ground in future but to do this I think CRO, AUT, SUI, Southern DER and ITA my need to team together to start with.
So the next event on the Calendar is the Swiss Cup in Geneva. A bloody long drive for the weekend but if you win you get the Americas Cup to take home.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Releasing StatSCM 1.2.0 is just too easy.
> mvn release:prepare
> mvn release:perform
2 commands and StatSCM 1.2.0 is tested, packaged and distributed to all its users. They automatically get the new version, the source code repository is tagged and the project website it updated.
What does StatSCM do? It makes source code statistic reports like this. It does it by wrapping up 2 other projects (StatCVS and StatSVN) and extending org.apache.maven.reporting.AbstractMavenReport. Bloody easy and nearly a no brainier to manage.
Maven is such a great bit of software and gets the coveted Doug Culnane bloody elegant well designed software award. It is an inspiring example of how to take complex problem (like project management) and reduce them to a simple intuitive transparent easy to use model. If you do Java check out Maven.
Thursday, 21 August 2008
IMCA Events get HI Tech.
OK I have a lot to catch up on the IMCA site thanks to Joe and his history update and Russ digging out the 1995 worlds result sheet. However I had to do this first because it is cool.
There is a new events listing page here:
http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/events.jsp
These come out of our on-line database. The ical logo has a link behind it containing the list of each table in ical format. So you can import them into your favorite Calendar software. If you have good Calendar Software (not SM LookOut) then it probably supports ical files on the network. This means it is updated automatically for you. There are all sorts of other public calendars you can have added to your calendar eg: School Holiday, Public Holiday, Vienna Touch Rugby Calendar etc....
If you do not have a cool bit of Calendar software like the above plug in for Thunderbird the use Google Calendar.
On the Event Page there are links to ical files of the Worlds, the Euros, and All Events. There are also ical files for country events on the National pages eg: UK events
So you can import you can import the events for your local countries into you calendar. Cool or what?
Does it work? Not sure about that so tell me if you have problems.
OK assuming it works the problem will be to maintain the data in the database.... this will be done by the national committees and me if I get round to it. For now it is done by me but I will add links to the "Committee Menu" so national Committee members can do this in the future.
There is a new events listing page here:
http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/events.jsp
These come out of our on-line database. The ical logo has a link behind it containing the list of each table in ical format. So you can import them into your favorite Calendar software. If you have good Calendar Software (not SM LookOut) then it probably supports ical files on the network. This means it is updated automatically for you. There are all sorts of other public calendars you can have added to your calendar eg: School Holiday, Public Holiday, Vienna Touch Rugby Calendar etc....
If you do not have a cool bit of Calendar software like the above plug in for Thunderbird the use Google Calendar.
On the Event Page there are links to ical files of the Worlds, the Euros, and All Events. There are also ical files for country events on the National pages eg: UK events
So you can import you can import the events for your local countries into you calendar. Cool or what?
Does it work? Not sure about that so tell me if you have problems.
OK assuming it works the problem will be to maintain the data in the database.... this will be done by the national committees and me if I get round to it. For now it is done by me but I will add links to the "Committee Menu" so national Committee members can do this in the future.
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