Desert Wind - new Elan 310

I recently got an email from Sasha that I was allowed to share here on the blog. First of all, congratulations, Sasha!

Here is what Sasha writes. My comments are below the text.

Hi Thomas,

I want to thank you for your e310 blog. It has a lot of useful info and was one of the major factors in my decision to go for 310. I wish blog was updated more frequently.

Initially I was concerned that 310 is  too small and for the same price it is possible to get 36ft mainstream cruiser. But after seeing 310 live in holland and sailing 350 in israel the choice was made :). 

So "Desert Wind" was born. It is probably one of the last 310 built. I went for barcolana promo plus quite a few things to make cruising easier. (I am not a racer at least not yet :P). I ordered cruising laminates from our local north sails + G2 with the sock.

We took delivery in Portoroz at the beginning of May. (Delivery in Portoroz) Me, my wife Yanina, our friend who has much more sailing expirience than i do and our two kids. There was a few problems here and there. The biggest was that elan passed wrong boom length to the northsail loft. In the end I got a longer than standard boom (about 5 cm longer).

We sailed to Dubrovnik with plenty of stops on the way, taking our time to learn the boat and being careful of weather. Boat stays in Dubrovnik till next spring. Then we plan to sail to Turkey.

So far I am very happy with e310. I find it fun to sail, very easy to handle single handed. Sails downwind/beam faster then most 40ft cruisers. Not a motorsailer though. Boat goes only 4 - 4.5 knots when going against the wind/waves. I guess you just can not have everything.

How you trim tack line when chute is flying ? The bowsprit supposed to have low friction ring but in reality I can not pull the line in in 10knot wind. I wonder if I am doing something wrong.

Did you have any troubles with bathing ladder plastic holders in the locker ? Mine are broken now even though there was nothing attached to the ladder.

Where you keep a life raft ? Mine sits under the cockpit table because i did not find a good place outside :(.

My major problem so far is that anchor chain practically touches top of the jib roller. I am waiting for answer from Elan on this one but I wonder if you know boats with similar issue.

As for the questions, I'll see if I can answer some of them.

Motoring speed: which engine do you have, Sasha? I have the 18hp engine, and have good power. But of course, going directly against wind/tide in rough seas is punishing.

The tack line trimming while the chute is flying. If there is power in the chute then the tackline needs winching. So go deeper, give out more sheet if you want easier trimming. If not, just grind it on the winch. I am not sure how your tackline runs, but I have relatively low friction. Could you perhaps show a picture of how the tackline runs forward on deck?

No problems with bathing ladder holders. Even with quite rough treatment they are still holding out. Maybe they have been mounted slightly off so they are in tension when the ladder is in place, eventually wearing out?

Life raft has been placed three different places: in the cockpit locker (not easy to get out in an emergency), under the saloon table (easier but not technically approved) and strapped down to the cockpit floor (where it is somewhat in the way of things, but safety wise best).

I am afraid I do not use a permanent anchor chain - I have rope with 10m chain in an anchor bag in the cockpit locker, so I cannot answer that question.

Maybe some of the other owners could contribute with their experiences on Sashas questions? Feel free to comment.

Elan 320 testsail

Question about mainsheet fine-tuner

Margie seems to be having some issues with the mainsheet fine-tuner, in their own words:

Our mainsheet fine tuner does not work to well.
It can be pulled on but it will not feed out even in winds over 20 knots
We have adjusted the cleat angle and fitted slightly thinner rope but nothing is working
Any suggestions.

I don't have this problem, it pulls easily and feeds out nicely, so this sounds strange. Could it be that there is too much chafing on the rope or that the rope has been threaded in a wrong way through the blocks? Not really too many variables here, either, so this is a bit mysterious. Have you tested to see if the blocks actually "backtrack" or if they are somehow "locked", ticking only one way?

Anyone else have this issue that could comment?

New update from down under

Margie writes us again from down under:

Hi Thomas 
I hope you had a good summer sailing season and 
all went well in your races
We have just completed our winter sailing program
and are moving into our spring, summer season
During winter we sail once a week (weather permitting)
Over spring, summer we are on day light savings time and sail 
3 days of the week.
Since we last wrote we have sailed in both full crewed (6 on board)
and two handed events, with a few seconds overall.
We do not complain about our ratings anymore as no one listens and
all we get back is," you have a fast little boat so get use to it."
For the last 4 months we have been lucky to be coached by an European Dragon champion
who is our here. (He is French but his english is good except on boating terms)
He is getting us to do lots of practice and different kite sets and drops
One club race he made us match race one of our rivals which annoyed the hell out of the other boat.
(we one by 4 seconds)
Our Sydney sister boat is finding her feet and is showing good form 
The Elan brand here is well regarded and respected but most boat owners will buy the French boats
and complain when we beat them

Awesome, Margie. Too bad about the rating, but good to hear that you beat the others occasionally! :)

Like you say - here we are preparing for winter, so the season is over, always nice to hear from other parts of the world where sailing continues. :)

Elan 310 second after first leg

The Elan 310 "Kårstua" came in to the pitstop as second boat, 55 minutes corrected after the leader, the Swedish X-382 "Chamsiin" after an 18-hour long beat upwind in difficult conditions. This is a great achievement! The next leg starts automatically 6 hours after reaching the line at pitstop, so the first boats are already on their way.

The second leg will bring westerly winds, turning to southwest and increasing as they sail north again, which will allow incredible speeds if the sailors push their limits. Lets hope they all sail safely and have some cool surfs! The conditions are certainly there for getting record speeds, so maybe our own 17-knot BSP will be beaten today? Andreas and "Kårstua" are certainly capable, so lets see!

Elan 310 in this years Skagerrak Twostar shorthanded race

Although we are not participating this year, the Elan 310 is still a contender in this years Skagerrak Twostar shorthanded race, starting right now as we speak.

The 310 "Kårstua" which got second place in their class in last weeks "Færder" race is also racing shorthanded this year.

Strong competitors in their class, and I think one of these will win the class this year:

• Elan 310 "Kårstua"
• J/92 "Jolla"
• Archambault 31 "Angelique"
• Dufour 34 "Piteraq"

Due to extreme weather forecasts (up to 40 knots and 12 foot middle-to-top waves),  the second (and longest) leg has been changed to go back up the coast and into the Oslo Fjord instead of crossing over the sea to the Swedish coast. Wise decision I think.

Tracking here:
http://yb.tl/ws2star2013

2nd place for Elan 310 in Færderseilasen 2013

The newest Elan 310 in Norway, "Kårstua", got second place in its class in this years Færderseilasen, which is one of the worlds largest overnight regattas. This is a great achievement and shows that the 310 is highly competitive raced well.

In addition to second place on handicap (the new NOR Rating/ORC Club offshore) the 310 was only 2 minutes behind the class winner (X 372 Prestige) in actual sailed time.

The results can be found here (Norwegian): http://www.færdern.com

Congratulations!

(And ofcourse congratulations to the class winner PopX, clever bastards. Hehe - the great Tormod which I was privileged enough to sail shorthanded with)

Our own results were mediocre - lost two (almost four) battens in the jib and had to find a temporary solution only four hours into the race. Also the jib fastening to deck broke soon after that, which also required a temporary solution that wouldn't allow decent tightening of the jib. So we couldn't really shape the sail as we wanted at all. But we still finished the race, and were happy that we didn't give up. :)

Both problems were due to poor race preparation on my account. Sigh. :)

Brand new Elan 320

The yard has just released information about the Elan 320:

Looks like the changes are (among other things):

• Windows in the cabin sides
• Twin steering wheels
• The hatch looks a bit longer/different
• 6% lighter

http://www.elan-yachts.com/en/news/1369826547.html

Norwegian distributor continues with the Elan yard!

Breaking news: the Norwegian distributor Fjord Sail has now decided to continue the cooperation with the Elan yard. This is great news, and means the yard has listened to what this important distributor has had to say about the future direction of the Elan brand.

More information about the disagreements have now been disclosed, which is a great, transparent move:

• There are many differences between sailing in the mediterranean and sailing in northern Europe; most notably more wind north and less regatta participation in the south. This means these markets need to address different characteristics in terms of performance, comfort etc.
• Performance boats are also very suitable for cruising, which is what Elan should make
• The new Elan 400 is going to be made a lot lighter, with vacuum + vinylester. It will weigh less than 7000kg
• The yard is going to initate a yacht weight-reduction focus programme, which has been fundamental for the Norwegian distributor, also with support from Rob Humphreys
• The yard has agreed with its subcontractors to increase warranty coverage and length so they better correspond to Norwegian requirements

The distributor goes on to regret that this has been a time of uncertainty for Elan customers, but that the end result is a lot better, and that many new and exciting things are to come from the yard.

More information (Norwegian) from Seilmagasinet: http://www.seilmagasinet.no/id/40203.

ORC Club certificate for Silverminken

Hello all. The Norwegian rating system has now changed from a mixture of theoretical and empirical (the LYS-system) to using the "offshore" time-on-time handicap from standard ORC Club certificates. This will take some time to get right, not least because the ORC certificates for most of the boats are "conversions" from registered boat data from the old system. Some of which is obviously wrong, and therefore brings those errors over to the ORC rating.

International updates

A while back (sorry!) I got updates from both Margie and Blue, and I thought I'd post here and include my comments in the posts. First here's a picture from Margie:

Elan 310 testwinner in norwegian Seilmagasinet

The Norwegian sailing magazine Seilmagasinet has re-run its test of four modern boats in the 30-32 foot range, titled "Wide transoms are most sexy". The boats tested were the First 30, Elan 310, Dehler 32 and the Sun Fast 3200, and the test was to see if these boats can double as cruisers as well as have good racing performance.

The result was:

• Elan 310: The winner, also "allrounder"
• "The sailing performance of the Elan 310 brought smiles, especially in a breeze. The boat is well thought through and works well"
• First 30: Most sexy
• "First 30 makes the heart beat. We like the boat, but fewer points in total nevertheless puts this boat in the shadow of the Elan 310"
• Sun Fast 3200: The fastest
• "Sun Fast is a sportsboat with a capital S and it is a typical "boys boat" with little regard to comfort and design, but with a lot of sailing joys for your money"
• Dehler 32: Best below decks, also "conservative"
• "Dehler 32 gives a lot of cruising boat for your money, and the boat is a good choice if you are not looking for dinghy-like sailing in a lot of wind"

 Although this has been in print before, it is good to see this kind of exposure for a boat that is now in its fourth season. :)

Norwegian importer ends 15 year relationship

The excellent Norwegian importer of Elan boats, Fjordsail, has just announced that they will end the relationship with Elan effective immediately. All warranty issues will still be honoured by Fjordsail for new and existing Elan customers.

Press release here:
http://fjordsail.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/fjord-sail-slutter-som-elan-forhandler/

This is sad news for all existing Elan owners in Norway, as Fjordsail has been both a key driver for sailing in Norway, both cruising and racing (especially shorthanded), and provided Elan owners access to his great knowledge of sailing and tuning.

Fjordsail continues in the business, though, primarily with the Seascape brand.

Hopefully a new importer will be announced soon to take the Norwegian Elan market and make plans for the future. After all, I'm not afraid to say so: I'm quite proud of Silverminken, as it's a great little boat.

Perhaps the Swedish importer will reach out and become a nordic distributor? "Nordic Yachts" does sound like that, doesn't it? Who knows...