KWRW 2012 - Day 3 Racing - Farr 400 Class

9:23 AM 0 Comments

Day 2 report from Emerson Smith sailing on Sled Shelhorse's Farr 400 MERIDIAN X.


No wind today! The race committee waited most of the day for the breeze to fill in, but in the end we stayed on shore. However, lack of racing gives me a chance to talk about the boats a bit.

This is my first event sailing on the Farr 400. I was involved in the design of the boat, and it is always good to see ideas come to life. Along the same lines, seeing what works and what needs to be tweaked or altered in incredibly useful. In general the boats go upwind very well. The full bow alters the motion a bit, but you soon realize the difference is a benefit to boat speed. The 400 mainly goes over the waves instead of through, submerging less into each.

As I've said before, downwind the boat really comes alive. We are able to maintain high average speeds, while many other boats are simply surfing or rocking and rolling through the waves. The large rudder offers plenty of bite and allows us to point the boat where we want.

Outside of the sailing attributes, the pedestal driven primaries and the drop line system are what have really stood out for me. The pedestal allows you to take the power of the crew and put it to use more efficiently; whether it's in a tack, gybe, hoist or take down. Using the drop line, lead to a powered primary winch, makes take downs so much easier. No longer do we need half the crew on the foredeck to gather in the large spinnaker. By using the drop line, we suck the majority of the spinnaker in through the forward hatch. This translates to more options at leeward marks and better roundings.

We are still learning new things about the boats each day, but from what I have seen so far, this is a class with a bright future.

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KWRW 2012 - Day 2 Racing - Farr 400 Class

3:46 PM 0 Comments


Day 2 report from Emerson Smith sailing on Sled Shelhorse's Farr 400 MERIDIAN X...

Seeing the forecast for the remainder of the week, the race committee made the call to begin racing early on Tuesday, in hopes of getting in 3 races. The breeze was a bit lighter today, in the 10-15 knot range, but turned out to be plenty to allow 3 good races.
 
Similar to yesterdays racing, the fleet has remained very tight. RED has started to slowly separate themselves at the front of the fleet. The years they have spent racing together in competitive one-design fleets are coming in handy.

We had a bow, to bow finish with 403 in the first race yesterday, losing by a nose to fall to 4th. Race 2 of the day was marred by a bad spinnaker hoist, which dropped us to 5th. Race 3 of the day, went a bit better as we were leading around the first two marks. RED slowly reeled us in and passed us, while we hung on for 2nd.
 
All in all it was a great day of sailing. Everyone is definitely still on the steep slope of the learning curve. Weather for Wednesday looks light so cross your fingers for some breeze.

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KWRW 2012 - Day 1 Racing - Farr 400 Class

6:12 PM 0 Comments

Day 1 report from Emerson Smith sailing on Sled Shelhorse's Farr 400 MERIDIAN X...

Well the weather forecasters got it right today. They predicted a similar day to yesterday in terms of wind speeds and we got it. Winds were anywhere from 15-20 knots with gusts a bit higher. The key to the day would be avoiding the big mistakes.

The first race of the day for the Farr 400's started just before lunch. It was a clean start with most of the fleet digging into the left. True to one-design form, all 5 boats reached the weather mark within a minute of each other. We had a clean set and the fun really started. Like yesterday, the speedo was camped out around 18 knots with trips into the low 20s. On Meridian X we had a clean race and crossed the line in 2nd.

For race 2 the race committee called for a 5 leg course (finish upwind). On the second downwind, while in 3rd, and having a pretty good run, our big mistake of the day came. We were hit by surprisingly powerful gust which put us into a broach. While recovering we lost the use of our starboard wheel. We proceeded to hookup the back up tiller and steered the rest of the race (1 upwind leg) with that. All in all, our mistake didn't hurt as much as some others and we finished 3rd in the race.
 
Our 2,3 on the day is good for a share of second place with the tie-breaker going against us. Congratulations to RED, who scored a 1,1 today and are 3 points clear of the next boats.

We have our work list for the afternoon but nothing that will prevent us from sailing tomorrow. The forecast calls for a bit less breeze and I'd imagine the racing will tighten up even more.


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Key West Race Week 2012

1:14 PM 0 Comments



A few of the FYD team made their way to KWRW over the weekend to take part in the racing and Farr 400 One Design class support, in particular, Emerson Smith.  Emerson is a Naval Architect and Marine Engineer who has been with the FYD team since 2008.  After a good day of practice, he reports the following:

"Every year hundreds of sailors flock to Key West in the middle of January. This year I am sailing on Sled Shelhorse's, MERIDIAN X, one of our new Farr 400 One Design's. Yesterday, Key West showed why so many sailors make this trip each year. Sunday is the last practice day before racing begins so we arrived to the boat a bit early to complete the last few items on our work list. We quickly ticked off what was needed and left the dock around 10am. Once out from behind the shelter of the island we found a steady 15-20 knots with gusts to 25. It was the first time that we had the entire crew sailing together, although there are a large group of regulars. We managed to put the sails up and down, while doing a few laps. Nothing too exciting, but I did come away with some general thoughts.


It was my first chance to sail the Farr 400 is any kind of substantial wind. Call me a homer, but I was thoroughly impressed. The boat settled into a nice groove upwind and REALLY comes alive downwind. We were able to point the boat where we needed and were rewarded with speeds in the high teens to low 20s.
Conditions tomorrow should be very similar to today. I'm looking forward to the Farr 400's having their own start and getting everyone lined up and sailing together. Check back later for an update. Hopefully the internet here (SLOW!) will allow for some pictures or video."


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