Carbon

The neverending use of carbon is allways astounding... from planes to boats to just about anything these days, you name it you can have it carbon... if you have the dollars... hell ive even seen it applied to concrete

Notice the weight on the scales... 2.76kg

Maybe something the mega buck guys from the League will be getting next for there super fast trailers to match there super fast skiffs... more toys for the boys... whats next, maybe carbon trailers and carbon cradles

Where it started-- Part 2

More pics from my first 18... 1992-93 summer
The dinosaur as it was known... above pic using reef in No.3 rig in super fresh classic Sydney Harbour N/E... some experts mite say we look like "high trapping" but with the old flip flop wings this is how you had to do it... otherwise the wings would flip up under your legs and your head would end up on the side of the hull, happened a few times and was super painfull

Nice pic of leaving Double Bay beach... and me and big Cam sailing off before Tony could climb on... notice twin hydraulics on foredeck for adjusting main stays and D2s, made for perfect rig tuning to suit conditions, but when they leaked lovely red hydraulic oil down thru the back deck and mixed with the wet stuff... well slip slide tacks where what we called it

Noticeable also are the super long boom and huge rudder outrigger... everything on these older skiffs was huge and heavy, but she was a nice fast ride, and we could still carry her to the water!!!!... also notice the tiny "wings" near the water line at bow, apparently someone very cleaver added these over the years to try to stop nose dives... wasnt too affective so we cut them off, and we think improved speed overall cause they where not dragging thru the water all the time... they may have even helped nosedive better!!!!!!!!!

When we took over the dinosaur she was nearly 10 years old and looking very tired... with the hydros giving massive rig tensions the hull was very soft under rig load and had a full concave deck all the way to the bow... so we decided to rebuild before summer racing started... off with the foredeck and all main bulkheads where found to be broken under mast step, this hull was one of the early carbon prepreg and nomex mega bucks 1980s boats and with its age most of the fittings where attached using alloy plates, but those alloy plates near carbon for 10 years meant they where now just white dust...we repaired and fitted new bulkheads and new "flat" foredeck to give the hull some structural strenght again... fordeck was so big it looked like a runway... then we added new paint and some big diagonal stripes across full deck... the mast now sat up on top of foredeck instead of low down near centreboard, giving the hull much more strenght under rig loads, and mast had to be cut down to suit... the big rig was nearly 100mm diameter and all rigs had alloy "Goldspar" tips

After a massive pre season rebuid we where ready to race... and with me and Tony being in our first year on a big old skiff, we where both happy to have big Cam to show us the ropes as he had sailed the WestCoast for the 2 previous seasons... made for a great maiden season at the League

This one shows super big rig... massive rig height over 1 meter higher than todays No1, and very quick in the lite stuff for a big old heavy boat... and with no self tacker, the giant overlapping jib really helped

Great old boat and plenty of fun... and big thanks to Cam Ivers for asking me to come aboard the West Coast Cooler

Comments all welcome... if anyones reading this!!!!!!!!

Not really sailing-- Part 2

Finally part 2 of the massive Australian Red Cedar robe is complete and installed opposite its matching partner... and the client is extremely happy as its matches in perfectly with the 130 year old original cedar joinery throughout the house... a rare and unique house to work in and a pleasure to work with such perfect timber... but most thanks goes to my girl Leslie, as she toiled away with all the sanding and varnish work to make this timber come to life

Not everyday that solid timber is used like this... but client instructions of no chipboard or MDF or any other crap materials to be used and their appreciation of the rareness and qualities of Australian Cedar makes for one unique peice of furniture... and over 3 months hard work

Also goes a long way in telling the story of our short but sweet sailing season... as many hours, late nites and weekends spent working with this project instead of going sailing

More sailing

More pics from the last SFS race... as we enter the Double Bay Laser fleet... ah the fun of Laser hunting, and makes for good boat handling practice for young Sam and Bendo as we try to maintain max boat speed and stay safe without leaving a trail of flattened Lasers in our wake... fun, but maybe a little scary for the Laser guys... but no problemo as we duck and weave our way thru... oh the joy of Sydney Harbour on a sunny satday afternoon

This pic also shows our rather sad and sorry big rig kite... its best racing days sadly are gone, and for next summer hopefully we will have something a little faster with some top secret sail development in the planning... more info soon

Thanks to Owen and his missus for nice pics from SFS ferry

Last SFS race

Finally some sailing pics

The teams last race at SFS for the summer ended a short but sweet summer season... and we finished well in front of our main Squaddy rival, Flipper to win comfortably by several minutes... and in the lite conditions that the team had struggled with for most of last season... but not now thanks to our super big black square top sails

Pictured above is one other SFS skiff... Owen on Blue Mountains Grammer... a lap behind... Owen and his new young crew floated around bravely with the small rig, as they broke a spreader when rigging there big rig in the park, but decided to go sailing anyway and hence there late start... and thanks to Owen for his wives pics from the Squaddy spectator ferry... well done mate

Where it started

Yep, the good old days as they say
With not much happening sailing wise, I thought a look back at all my 18s over the past years would be interesting... or maybe not... some great old boats and some great old crew mates
More pics and 18 history to follow soon
1992-93 season... my first at the League... West Coast Cooler... ex mid 80s Fosters, 3 rigs with hydraulics and 16ft flip flop wings... Full carbon prepreg and nomex hull...Tony Landers and Cam Ivers crew... Ist Handicap JJ Worlds
93-94 season... 2KY Radio...Ex RAK... My one and only B18... Tony Landers and Cam Ivers crew

94-95 season... Lexmark Computer Printers... Ex Oz E-mail... Mk.1 Murray... Alan Mansfield and Jeff Gilham crew