Skiff Evaluation Day 3
Today was a beautiful but cold sailing day. There was around 15 knots in the morning with intermittent rain showers. We sailed the Hartley Rebel, and the RS900. We started in the RS900, and it was wicked fast. The mesh was new and fun to try out. The boat was very forgiving and screamed downwind on the reaches. The sail area on the Rebel seems to be the largest, and felt good for us. Then we switched into the RS900. It was nice to be sailing with wings again. The boat felt really great. It is very similar to the 49er hull, and the wings are great. The sail controls are also set further back on the wing, which makes them a bit easier to adjust while sailing. We struggled as the wind came up on the bear aways, but after some quick instruction from one of the manufacturer sailors we figured it out. We hope to sail it again and work more on the maneuvers through the boat, and more on the bear aways.
We stayed in our sailing gear over lunch. We could not bring ourselves to but the cold gear back on after. It was a hot and cold day; the rain made it cold and sailing plus the sun made it warm. We both through on an extra layer for the afternoon.
The afternoon session was much lighter then the morning. We started the afternoon session in the 29er XX. It was nice to be sailing something familiar. The conditions were puffy, and in and out sailing. We were no longer double trapping consistently. We also got some great pointers from Jen Glass! Then we got to sail the ARUP Skiff. It was something new and completely different. It has a t-foil rudder that neither of us new exactly how to operate, but hopefully with some more instruction we will get it going next sail. The boat was very tippy, and responsive to our movements. The hull is the smallest of all the boats as well. We look forward to some more practice in the boat, and with the T-foil.
We are quite tired and sore after the full day of sailing. We spent sometime looking for a place to eat dinner and learned that most restaurants do not start serving dinner until 8 o’clock. That was a bit of a shocker for our starving bellies. We bought some food for tomorrow though, that should last us for lunch and breakfast for the next few days.
We are having a lot of fun, and look forward to sharing more with you in the upcoming days. There will be many more pictures up after the event!
RS900
Hartley Rebel
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