Videos of GIS sailing at speed - planing on the Mooloola River

We have been learning how to edit videos.

So here are some shots of Peter Hyndman's GIS "Gruff" at speed with me at the helm.

They were taken last year at Mooloolaba, Queensland.

The wind was a little strong for one person, but it did allow for good speed on a reach.

If I had been cruising I would have taken someone else with me to quieten down the boat or put a reef in the sail to reduce its size.

This video is dedicated to all the people who think that a boat has to have $3000 of ball bearing blocks to go fast. This boat has a total of 5. And none have ball bearings!!!!

This is why small boat sailing is dying as a pastime - the "powers that be" don't think of the entry level - even a little kids boat like an Australian "Manly Junior" is almost $8000 because they think that winning should be at all costs - rather than keeping entry level boats simple and accessible as they were intended to be originally.

A Manly Junior following the original intent would cost little more than around $1300 to get in the water. This is true of almost ALL the other boat classes that were intended to be simple and cheap in the '60s.

The Goat is a 16ft boat that costs a third of the amount to get a little 8ft racing boat on the water. Go figure!?

If the water had been a bit more open ... we would have gone faster still.

PDRacer Sailing Video.- reaching running tacking gybing

This clip demonstrates the lovely manners of the boat, (to replace our aging "doing donuts" movie).

Note that Michael does a gybe or two while standing, this is as much a reflection of the stability of the boat as it is of his cat-like agility!

If ever there were any doubt about the ability of these boats to sail well, surely this movie should end them!

PDRacer Sailboat Capsize and Recovery Video

We've been busy playing with all sorts of things, but have now completed the new PDRacer capsize drill video.

Please check this post later in the week, as Michael will provide a full written description of how best to achieve a safe recovery.

New Boat Launch. Duckworks Chuck in OZ

I am currently in Queensland staying at Mooloolaba.

It is a part of my Christmas break - or at least a sort of break as I have to keep working on my trusty laptop to catch up on my current backlog of work.

One of the more pleasurable aspects of being in Queensland this time was to meet Chuck and Sandra Leinweber - the proprieter's of Duckworks - one of the largest internet sites for the building of wooden boats.The three people inspecting the OZ PDR rudder on the right are Chuck Leinweber, Steve and Peter Hyndman

Chuck and Sandra also happen to be my agents in the USA and are in Australia on what they call their "ONCE IN A LIFETIME AUSTRALIAN TOUR".

They came and stayed a couple of nights at Mooloolaba too - in the house on the banks of the Mooloola River.

On Saturday Chuck and Sandra were present for a boat launching and a day of sailing some of my designs on the river.

Steve Wagstaff launched his "Two Dogs" another Australian PDRacer.

We had a look over his orange boat and noted a number of cool changes from the plans.

1/ He had shaped the centreboard aperture to match thecentreboard shape. This will reduce drag. I was a little annoyed (in a good way) as I wanted to be the one to introduce that to the PDRacer class. A bit less drag is a bit more speed.

2/ He also had created a nice transition between the coaming and the side tank face by working the change in profile neatly to recess the plywood into the coaming. I think it is a little beyond most builders and it is not essential either - but it is great he has tried it.

Steve is a old hand at racing Lasers - so the PDRacer is nicely rigged as well.

In general the boat was much more nicely built than I can do.

Perhaps that is why I am a designer and not a builder any more ...

Steve took his orange OZ Duck out and Chuck and I chased him for photos in the larger and faster Goat Island Skiff. I was a bit concerned until Chuck pointed out his camera was waterproof.

Peter joined us with the yellow PDR and we took some nice pics of the two Ducks sailing South.

I then took Steve's boat out for a sail after lunch and capsized it while he was sailing the yellow PDR so he could see how easy it is to right.

Simply lie down in the water and pull down on the tip of the centreboard - that light hollow timber mast makes all the difference.

Steve is a naturally cheery type of person - but he seemed to be grinning extra broadly in many of the photos.

A full collection of photos is here.