New crew member for Silverminken

This latest crew member didn't have any documented experience, but I am told he likes water so maybe the foredeck is the place for him. He follows orders, but doesn't really stay in one place for very long. Also, the different sounds the boat make seem unusual to him, so I don't know if he has a lot of suggestions for tuning the boat or if he is just leading us to believe he can do a good job. Anyway, the first trip went well, but I can't really remember if he actually helped in any way or just walked around. :) I'll try getting him to hook up the spinnaker next time, to see if he gets it right.

Elan 310/320 IRC rating discussion

Hi everyone, and sorry for the long delay between posts. The winter is over here in Norway and spring is here, and most people are preparing for the season. Silverminken has spent the winter in the water, so will need a lifting to get the hull up to speeds, but haven't gotten around to that yet.

Margie has asked before about experiences with IRC rating and how well the boats sail to that potential.

Silverminken has an ORC Club certificate, which gives it:

GPH 652.8
Offshore Time-On-Distance 627.8
Offshore Time-On-Time 0.9558
Inshore Time-On-Distance 708.3
Inshore Time-On-Time 0.9530

I personally feel that I still have a lot of boat-handling issues to resolve before I could actually comment on the figures themselves, but racing against other boats I feel that for longer races, especially offshore we are really competitive, whereas more constricted courses (plain windward/leeward) it is a little harder to keep up. Though this I feel is more due to the nature of the boats than the rating.

So for those of you who have gotten your boats rated/measured for IRC - could you please comment with what rating you have and if you feel you are able to sail up to (or above, if that is the case) this potential?

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. :)