Update from down under

Margie wrote to me about the status on the 310 in Australia....good reading!

Hi Thomas
I thought I would fill you in on the progress of the Australian 310. Boats arriving in December is not a good thing as Christmas and summer holidays fill 3 to 4 working weeks. So things did not happen until late January, early February when rigging was finished and our sails were finally finished. On our first outing we decided to enter the club race and
came home first. The following week we raced again with the same IRC rating
as you listed for the German boat, again with much luck we won our section. The boat has been displayed at the Melbourne boat show with much interest and a lot of comments on just how good the shape is. On the water we get a lot of favorable comments and people
wanting to sail with us. There are 4 350's in the country with a few more on order but as yet
only one 310.

On a technical point with the spinnaker we are doing inside jibes in winds up to 15 knots and doing outside jibes in winds over 15 knots despite our best efforts in the stronger breezes we are finding that the windward spinnaker sheets are ending up under the boat.


Great for cleaning the boat but very frustrating, do you have any suggestions to cure this.

thanks
Margie

PS
We enjoyed your skiing video and envy of all that snow Attached is a photo of us going back to shore after a race with our number 3 head sail.

Selecting spinnaker colors....

...ahh...the luxury of ordering a new chute. :)

Talked to North today after their boat handling seminar and started discussing the colors for the medium/heavy spinnaker. Choices, choices.

First chute will be 0.9 superkote with some additional strength added so we don't blow it out the first season, then we'll see what to add next....hehe.

The 310 forecabin

This being a 31-footer means the forecabin isn't really more than a spacious bed. However, the bed is full size, which is more than what can be said for even larger boats. A neat contraption is found under the bunk, where there is a large storage compartment, used for the spinnakers when racing (as shown in the picture). Also, what you cannot see on this picture, is that the "lids" on this compartment are hinged so you can string them up when racing, and drop them down afterwards. Pretty neat.