mmiller wrote:
I do have a question Yakass.
With all of the high wind sailing and heavy gear loads you had, you stated that in addition to other improvements over the original AI... steering is improved? I have been getting some grief from Chekika about weather helm in another forum topic... what is your finding?
Matt, with all due respect to him, I don't agree with Chekika about the weather helm topic. Carl and I both felt that the daggerboard improved how responsive the steering is. Neither Carl or I experienced weather helm at all during that week, and we did have some stiff winds, and we sailed them with full expedition loads and without. I've done a lot of testing off shore down south to and no issues there either.
Mind you, we always sail to suit the conditions and if we have to furl the sail a little for optimal performance, we will. I'm sure its quite possible for the rudder to be over-powered in strong enough winds, but we're inclined to furl the sail a little if conditions dictate. We figure that's partly what its for
My take on it is that the new AI steers more responsively, though can be a little more flighty (depending on weight distribution in the boat) if the bow is poking its nose up a little. Thats a different matter entirely and I actually enjoyed that about sailing it - made the experience a little more active. We did find that varying weight distribution of the expedition gear in the boats dictated performance a lot. Whereas we use to pack fairly stern heavy (to keep the bow from submerging) there's no need to do it on the new model, and an even distribution from bow to stern worked best (as it should).
What I do agree with Chekika about is that it can be tricky to uncleat the main sheet in stiff winds. I think this is partly due to the extra distance from seat to xbar. I did round up in the wind at one point when my sheet got stuck in the cleat when I was hit by a big gust with full sheet out, and this happened to Carl (in surf) to. We found a really simple and cheap solution for that at SLH - we just moved the forward block upwards and forward (6" forward, 2" higher) of its default position and this reduced the angle from the block to cleat, making it a heck of a lot easier to operate.