A little props to Chip and Whirlwind

I just wanted to say thanks to Chip and give his business a little plug. My first purchase was 2 custom F18 spins, one was a current Tiger design and the other a code 0 really flat spin. Both are excellent construction. I've so far only flown the current design spin and really like it, both are blue. Recently my crew fell into my Tiger main tearing it apart. I did a lot of research and pricing on a replacement (State Farm insurance is the bomb) and decided on a Whirlwind Pentex Squaretop, white contender cloth with blue batten pockets. Got the wife to take some pics of the rig in and out of the water and thought I would share some with you guys, enjoy!

And I don't want to hear any flack about the life jackets! My crew and I are both former lifeguards and strong swimmers. We are also both surfers, again strong swimmers. I have been sailing cats for 30 yrs now and the only time I wear a jacket is at races, I hate life jackets. They are only of value if you can not swim or get knocked out, otherwise they are in the way. I always carry them on the boom as the pictures show and usually have a cooler tied off on the rotator.

Sailing with your life jacket attached to your boom is like riding a motorcycle with the helmet strapped to the bike.
Good luck getting the jacket off of the boom after you have been knocked off of the boat or knocked out, at least the boom will survive.
I'm sure your widow will enjoy sleeping with the boom.
I'm sure the boom will have lots of good wisdom to share with your children and grandchildren.
and after all I'm SURE you have lots of Life insurance with "the bomb" State Farm.
Her new boyfriend will have lots of fun helping her spend it.

But hey, no flack from ME, Its YOUR life, do as you wish !

_________________
If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it is time to water your own lawn.

Sorry, but I don't share your concern. There is very little chance of being knocked out on my cat. In 30 yrs of sailing, flipping it in every imaginable way, I have never had my head come close to anything solid enough to knock me out. I'm not saying it couldn't be done, just its unlikely! I can appreciate how you feel about this safety issue but..........I also ride motorcycles in SC, where there is no helmet law.


What do you think of the squaretop Chip built?

nice looking sail

_________________
If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it is time to water your own lawn.

The square top design sail intriques me. It seems like it incorporates modern design technology, rather than the age old design of a standard 18 main. The old sails were state of the art when designed, but that was just a few year ago.

My concern is that there are so few battens, will the sail keep its shape in heavy conditions.... Is the draft stable or does is shift too much to the back and dump a ton of wind over 15mph conditions???

I guess if i had a spinaker I wouldn't worry so much about maximizing main and jib power

I think the big difference is in how the cloth is cut and sewn. There are many vertical unions unlike the standard sail which has individual panels between each batten. This sail only has batten pockets on one side, the seams of the sail cloth are continuous top to bottom. I was quite impressed with the craftsmanship and design. I'm still learning the sail but depowering it in anything near 15kts is required. Much like my Tiger main you can oversheet the sail and stall the top. I have much to learn about mast twist, especially in light air. Its a big sail compared to the Tiger but so far I can't really say its faster, but its new and still needs time to stretch in to its final shape. It also came with custom battens which allow the sail to be drawn tight. And, it has a leech tensioning system in case the leech might flutter, I haven't needed to adjust this at all so far.
Plus, turn around time and excellent customer service before and after the sale. If you don't need class legal, Whirlwind is the way to go!

I bought the same sail for my 18SX and last month got a chance to put it to the test in a local regatta. The other three 18 sailors encouraged me to race with the new sail to see for themselves how it compares to my old, delaminating SX main. Since I'd raced two other times against them and came in last this would be a good experiment. The new sail smoked them -- I got two firsts and a second with the class's heaviest crew weight of 440 lbs., and I don't know what I'm doing, as evidenced by my t-boning a 16 while on port tack and sailing in a restricted zone, so I got two DSQs.

Three Tigers joined the 18s at the start and I was able to keep pace with them to the weather mark, but they turned into little dots on the horizon after they put up their spinnakers.

I got a Whirlwind Pentex square top main and dacron jib for the same price as a new Hobie 18SX mylar main. On the jib, Chip sewed in three battens to prevent flapping at the leech. I figured if someone in the class wanted to protest me racing in the Standard 18 class they could do it even if I had a class legal SX main. The 18 sailors in my division are a bunch of fun-loving bon vivants and don't take the races too seriously, except for one guy, and he wasn't at the above mentioned regatta which is why I got away with it.

To be sure, Chip's sails are great!! the craftmanship and materials used are superb. I've bought two 17 sport sail suits from him and an 18 SX suit also.

And sorry about the flak, I must take Stephen's side on this issue. I know you may be a great lifeguard and swimmer--I was also a good swimmer in high school and college BUT, as a lifeguard you must know a knock out will incapacitate you!! of course no one wears a jacket if there is a guarantee you will not get knocked. Enough lecturing. Let me just tell you what happened here recently. A person from the U.S. flew in one morning early, was taken to the lake Coatepeque by his buddy, and at noon he was riding a jetski with no PFD. The jetski was found, he was not. Massive searches were conducted, it is not that big a lake, measuring about 10 miles in perimeter. Don't ask me how or why. This has happened many times at the lake here, it is documented, don't believe for a second I am lying to you or telling fairy tales. The worse part is this lake (a volcanic lake with colder water temperatures under) has a history of not returning dead bodies afloat once they go down, so this particular person along with many others was never found dead or alive.
So if I am knocked out for some reason I definitely want to float, if for no other reason than to have a body for my wife to bury!!

That's what I was thinking. Of all people, I would expect a lifeguard to encourage as well as set an example of safety. How many supposedly "strong swimmers" have you had to rescue during your career?

I wear a lifejacket 99.9% of the time when on the Hobie and I require anyone on the boat to do the same. Besides the obvious safety factor, one major reason I wear it is that it is such a PITA to have to deal with lifejackets clipped to the tramp or boom or anywhere else on the boat. It's much more convenient to just wear it.

Oh well. Nice looking rig by the way.

sm

Mike,
not wanting to create a dogpile with this, here is another story.

last week we raced in the NOODS up on Long Island Sound. Saturday was windy, 15-20 and lumpy seas 2-3 ft. Our J109 had just finished race 1 when we had an accidental gybe where the boom hit our bowman on the side of the head and launched him clean off the boat. he was face down in the water for close to 10 seconds and not moving. thank God he had a life jacket on. finally he started moving as we got the LifeSling to him.

I am a very strong swimmer, but I also have a family to look after. I wear a jacket.

_________________
Chris
'88 H18SE Arís

Yanno, we can share stories till the cows come home, he will change his mind, or not.
But it will have to be HIS choice.
By trying to convince him to change his mind we are only annoying him, he made that clear in his second post.

I would encourage anyone that questions the collective wisdom of the poeple on these forum's to go to http://www.thebeachcats.com and read the saga of Sven.

Long story short, he scoffed .... and died.

There is a REASON sailing instructions require PFD's be worn.

All that having been said, I'll share a personal story.

I used to drive a safety boat @ some of our local regatta's. One of our most competent sailors flipped and got trapped under the boat. Fortunatly we had a knife on board and were able to cut her loose and save her life.

She said what went thru her mind as she was trapped under the boat was that the very thing she had loved so much for all of her adult life was about to kill her.

She further said, "The idea of dying while doing something you love is over rated. You are still dead."

I NEVER step on my boat without a knife. I've never needed it, hope that I never will, but I still carry it in the pocket of my LIFEJACKET

Stephen

_________________
If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it is time to water your own lawn.

Stephen, would yu care to elaborate on how she got trapped, was it with lines ? under the tramp or sail ? I´ve contemplated that scenario many times.

She was trapped under the tramp as the boat had gone turtle.
The hook on her harness had hooked on something
(my memory fails as to exactly what it was hooked on)
I also don't remember whether they cut her harness or something else.

I do remember how stunned I was at WHO had gotten trapped, one of the most experienced and competent people on the water that day.

_________________
If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it is time to water your own lawn.

Again, I respect how each of you feel. I have never felt concerned about it. I've been trapped in wires under the sail, had my hand stuck in the trap wires and shroud. I didn't have a jacket on and can't see how it would of helped, it would have pulled me up toward the sail tightening the wires. Since I was loose and free swimming I was able to pull the wires away and get my hand out. There are many examples to back either side, my experience has been the jacket is of no value. Knowing your limit and understanding the risk you are willing to take is an individual choice, I don't expect any of you to change your opinion. I've stated mine.