Now from Blue:
Hi Thomas! Hope all is well in Norway.
I wanted to ask you about your sail configuration for higher winds. Do you have a storm jib? Do you mind sharing the configuration or your strategy to address 30+ knots?
All is well here. Air Time has been a great boat. I've been sailing about 50+ days a year which has been as much as I can do with work obligations. Mainly cruising Puget Sound, no serious racing, only some beer can nights. To my knowledge she's still the only one in the USA. Elan doesn't have any brand awareness here in the sailing community and there hasn't been any progress from the brand or dealer perspective since 2010 so I don't see that changing in the near future. A typical response to my boat is, "wow! what is that??" haha.
I read that your Norwegian dealer stopped selling Elan. It's too bad, the boats are great, but I think they have some hurdles to get over down there in Slovenia.
As for hull #42…Overall I've been very happy. The only problems I've experienced have been with the steering system. I broke the system back in November and lost all steerage due to pressure on the rudders in reverse. There is a warning against this in the owners manual, but it seems like an engineering error that should have been fixed at the factory development level instead of a warning in the manual. Given that there is a warning in the manual, that tells me they were aware of the problem very early on and simply decided not to fix it. Luckily I broke it in the marina, and not in a distant bay - or worse. I ended up fabricating new resistance blocks and moving them in a couple inches, so that now it's impossible for the system to repeat this error. I reduced my steering range ever so slightly by doing this, but the pros greatly outweigh the cons as a preventative measure to ensure this never happens again.
Hope all is well, just thought i'd reach out and say hi. Currently I'm double reefing the main and furling in the jib when the wind picks up. Wondering if you have a better system.
Best Regards,
blue
Hi Blue, thanks for the update! Important to keep in touch, and it's also good for me to get out and post and sail more! I'll try to address questions/comments here:
- Yes, I use a storm jib. It is a requirement for the offshore races we race here, which are a OSR CAT 2/3 rating. However, I haven't yet had to use it. The #4 jib i have along with two reefs in the main works pretty well. I think it is important to make a distinction between which sails are included for safety reasons (survival) and which sails are for sailing in heavy conditions. It is not easy to sail upwind with a small storm jib in 30 knots.
- Sounds like you have a lot of fun with Air Time! Too bad that the brand has little presence over there, but then again you have exclusivity! :)
- Regarding the dealerships (also see the post from Margie): yes, it is too bad. Hopefully there will be some more information about how this will work out, but I think the yard might have set too high expectations...
- Regarding the steering, it sounds like the boat was going in reverse, and the rudder travelled all the way to the end (the power can be overwhelming if unaware of this)? Followed by some sort of breakage losing the steering. The fix sounds like better/more flexible "end stops"? Please elaborate on this if I have got this wrong. Could we also see some pictures to see if this is something other owners would like to address?
- Back to the jib/main config again: when racing I convert my furler to just use the profile, so I cannot furl the jib. I change sails. :) Two reefs in the main and change to the heavier #4. :)
And here's the update from Margie:
Hi Thomas
We have had a busy summer sailing season, racing three days a week
for some of January and most of February.
The wind conditions have been either 5 to 10 knots or 25 to 35 knots
as per attached photos show.
We have not altered the boat since our last posting only trying to hone
our skills. ( we actually had the boat plaining down wind with every one down the back trying to keep the boat flat)
Results wise we have to sail to near olympic standard to do well on handicaps
as our ratings have changed. We are getting used to being in the top four boats over the line in our division only
to be mid fleet on the score sheet
Like you the Australian and New Zealand Elan distributor has parted ways with the company
after 10 years of service.
I hope this is not a sign of things to come with the boat yard
Over the cooler months we are planning to do some more two handed racing so please
post some more videos for us to learn from
regards
Margie
Hi Margie, thanks for the update.
Awesome when the boat is planing!
Sorry about the rating, do you feel that it is unfair, or simply that you have been proving that the boat can win races? :) Joking aside, unfair ratings are something that can really ruin our sport, so I hope things work out for you.
We are in the midst of changing the whole rating system in Norway (more on that later), so it will be interesting to see how that works out.
Sorry to hear about the dealer down under, I think it is becoming more and more evident that the dealerships and the yard need to get their expectations aligned according to a highly competitive and slightly difficult market. 2013 will be a very interesting year.
Awesome to hear you are going to try some doublehanded stuff. I'll try to get some videos out or link to the ones others are making on the subject!
Happy sailing!
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