Total
amount of lead 22.5 Kg (+ appr. 4.5 Kg in excess weight from over dimensioned fittings
etc.)
Only the wet area of the hull is gelcoated, the rest of the
hull and deck only has a thin transparent barrier coat to reduce weight.
Johan's note includes a list of further alterations from
the standard Rondar., including a mast gate extending further aft, different CB trunk
supports, adjustable forestay, a jib sheet system which allows the crew to move the lead
out, without altering jib sheet tension, forward spinnaker tweakers, and the Rondar
spinnaker sheeting tracks moved from aft to the center of the boat, making them easier to
adjust.
Johan writes...
"The Carbonara idea is basically the the result of
a discussion between me and Krister Bergstrom on a 12 hour flight back to Europe from the
'94 Worlds in Durban. I asked Krister - How would you order a boat today if you could
order it any way you liked? We were still discussing 12 hours later. The rest has been
another long discussion between myself and Rondar (Paul Young) who has had great patience
with me (and Kalle) and made a great job. The idea is simply to reduce the weight in the
ends of the hull to reduce the moment of inertia (it could be really effective in
combination with a carbon rig and Technora sails, these we will use from now on - saving
another 1.5Kg on sail weight).
Unfortunately it seems like we built the crew area a
little bit too thin - with "bumps" in the skin created by the returning
spinnaker pole (spiro). This has now been solved by adding one extra layer of Kevlar on
top of the carbon in the crew area of the side tanks - adding approximately 2.0 Kg of
weight (that we can take out of the glassed lead). We have also reinforced the bow with
some extra Carbon after the accident during the '95 Worlds... Heat has never been a
problem since the carbon surface rapidly cools off from both the wind, shadow and
water....Carbonara feels different to all other boats (including both the standard and
Bergstrom's Rondar).
Kalle also had some problems to get used to it and
describes the difference to the Lindsay as Carbonara is sailing "on top" of the
water and "over the waves" instead of through them as the Lindsay. We have
noticed - we believe - that Carbonara does not go as close (high) to the wind as the
Lindsay (even if we went higher than most of our competitors in the worlds - except maybe
for some of you Americans), but she compensates that with higher speed.
Carbonara is a totally different boat downwind -
definitely faster on reaches and all downwind angles - and sails as "on a
railtrack" compared to the Lindsay which has a more "sideways" feeling.
Kalle mentioned that when you move the tiller on the Lindsay it feels like the bow
"answers" and moves - in Carbonara its totally opposite and the feeling is that
the aft moves. We still haven't found the optimum speed in light conditions - which we
don't really know the reason for. I can't really say if it's us, the boat, the tuning or
sails - I hope I will find out soon! But we were very happy with our 4th and 6th placings
in the British and Worlds - better than we expected after such a short time learning this
totally new concept - and almost equalling Kalle's best ever results (he was 5th twice -
in less competetive fleets) after 25 years in the 505.
I hope that proves we are on the right t(r)ack...
(we'll see in Townsville...)...(To anyone interested Carbonara will be for sale after the
'96 Worlds in Townsville. A good package deal - appr. USD 13,000 export price (no VAT) -
includingf.x. 3 Rebell (racing) wardrobes + Pinnell & Bax Spin, extra foils, trolley
and trailer etc."
Bergstrom's Aft Rig
Four time world champion Krister Bergstrom was back, very
narrowly missing his fifth worlds title. He currently sails a very customized Rondar. The
key differences were:
-
Lowering the mast step such that the rig sets up well aft of
other rigs when he rakes to a normal sailing setting.
-
Moving the back of the mast gate aft to allow the mast to be
raked
-
Moving the CB bolt aft to compensate for the aft rig
-
Moving the jib tack forward into the launcher as much as
possible
-
He has not used a main halyard for years, slightly reducing
the weight of the rig.
Krister is threatening to return to the race course with
his famous pink Parker of years ago.
Bergstrom's Feelings About Weight
Krister sanded half of the gelcoat off the foredeck and
forward hull. The boat was rigged with very light fittings, and very light line.
Deck Stepped Mast
I noticed one boat with a deck stepped mast.
Aft spinnaker sheet lead block on Track
Many of the Rondars are rigged with the aft most spinnaker
sheet lead block mounted on a track on top of the seat tanks, near the stern. Rather than
moving the stopper knot on the sheets as conditions change, you simply move the block to
compensate.
Forward Jib Tack Positions
Bergstrom's and many of the other Rondars had the forestay
and jib tack mounted on an aluminium tube going across the bow. This tube steals a little
space from the launcher, but results in the jib being tacked further forward. I believe
this rig is necessary to get the adjustable forestay option. The winners,
Robinson/Masterman used a Rondar with this system.
Jib Sheeting Systems
A wide variety of jib sheeting systems were in use. In
general, just about everyone except some of the US boats has a means for moving the lead
in and out. Many boats had minimal fore and aft or up and down adjustment.
Sails
Bergstrom used a Kevlar mainsail. Howard Hamlin claims the
main is all seam shape and no luff curve, but I did not take a close look at it.
Most of the Aussie 505 Team had Vectran (black fiber)
sails. They are a clear film with the vectran reinforcement. They resemble 3DL, but are
built of panels, with the vectran criss-crossing the film, rather than laid onto the film
to match the load lines, as with 3DL. Most of the Aussie 505 Team were using these on
Goldspar masts. Their rigs do not seem to be optimized for the light and marginal
trapezing conditions that were common during the worlds. The top Aussie boat was 16th.
The Rondar Hulls
Though they have been around for three years, this was my
first look at the new Rondar 505s. They use an epoxy layup, with a PVC foam core. Rondar
has built at least two all carbon fiber boats, the Nilsson/Arvedsson boat, and one other
that was gelcoated or painted.
I spoke at length with Paul Young about the construction
and the hull shape. My recollections of that discussion (and a couple of others) are:
-
Built to minimum sizes (boat is small everywhere)
-
Played with baseline (rocker)
-
Paul Young measured lots of hulls before building plug
-
Swedes with carbon Rondar notice difference between it and
their Lindsay
-
Rondar is considering a balsa cored, vinylester resin boat
to reduce cost (this was partly in response to my pointing out that a Rondar was not
noticeably less money than a Waterat in North America). The balsa vinylester boat would
not need to be vacuum bagged.
Rondar hopes to do SailExpo with a new 505, 470, 420,
Contender, and bring some used 505s over in the container.
The Rondar looks like a Waterat or Kyrwood generally
(interior). Lots of interior varients have made, such as wider CB trunk caps, and moving
the back of the gate aft. Some other details that were interesting to me were:
-
Layup shroud tubes with tank, not added later
-
Thicker area in rail where shrouds attach to rail - built
into tooling, hull skin is parallel to deck for easy through bolting. The area is long
enough to allow for shrouds on cars and tracks.
-
Paul Young was 4th (crewing) in a "bog standard"
Rondar that had just been completed before the Worlds.
According to Val May, the Waterat hull is unique, and
differs from the others, while the other hulls have much in common.
Robinson/Masterman
The winners had a forward tack launcher boat according to
Paul Young (I did not look at the boat myself). From reading regatta reports in 505 Great
Britain, they are very fast upwind. Bill Masterman is very tall, while Robinson is quite
light.
North American Boats
Overall the North American boats had good speed. There were
always US boats well up there in every race. Tyler Moore/Ryan Cox and Nick Trotman/Mike
Mills combined good speed with sailing smart, and were 5th and 9th respectively. They were
sailing the two oldest boats in the Worlds fleet. Moore/Cox raced a forward tack Waterat
with North sails, while Trotman/Mills used their 1982 forward tack Lindsay with some
Ullman sails.
The initial conclusions are that the North American boats
are fast enough, but need more big fleet experience to sail smarter.
Ebbe Rosen and Olle Wenrup of Sweden - who appeared to sail
quite smart - were 3rd in a launcher Waterat.
Next stop, Townsville!