Falcon No 202 For Sale

Hi All, Falcon No 202 is now for sale, please go to http://www.theboatshop.be/html/en/usedboats_en.html to have a look.  It is being sold by Gill at the European agent for Falcon Marine.  Get in touch with him and I'm sure he will see you right with a good deal.  Unfortunately I just don't have time to race for the next couple of years and would rather the boat was out racing rather than collecting dust.  Get in touch will Gill through his website if you are interested, it is the only used Falcon available in Europe and will probably be one of the cheapest of the latest generation of F16s available in the EU.  Go for it!

The brightest t-shirt in Italy

The ultimate in non-Italian style
(stolen from Mark P's blog)

F16 Euros: Day Five

I had to leave early on Day 5, but as it turns out, there was no wind and no racing, so the results did not change. Here's how it finished:

So overall I'm pretty happy with that, I was expecting to come last.  I think the generally high winds helped me a lot.  I learned a lot during the week, I think I can make up a massive amount of ground just by practicing my tacking technique a lot more and also the boatlengths I lose at the start mean I'm chasing from the off. So quite encouraging, hopefully I can get out of landlocked Germany to get some more practice by next season.

More pictures of the event soon.

F16 Euros: Day Four

OK, so last night and this morning I have been trying to work out what I am doing wrong in the pointing department.  Been talking to a few people, Mark had some good comments on mast rake and Gill had some excellent suggestions on trim on the water - especially as he had just been single handing his falcon in the one up cup.  So based on that, I have rake the mast back a click so it's now back on the factory recommended setting, won't make much difference but may as well do it.  Upwind trim I was now going to try much less mast rotation (aiming the spanner between centerboard and back beam) and using more Cunningham than I had been.  I had been trying to keep the power on but this may have been inducing drag.  I left some shape in the top of the sail by keeping the battens firm too.
The wind is slightly lighter today, so, first race I get my usual terrible start, but the boat is now pointing as high as Hans and still has the same boatspeed.  I get ahead of Hans and beat him to the first top mark, however he seems to be sailing fast downwind now, and gets ahead before the bottom mark.  I follow him and manage to get  past him with just boatspeed. But again he beats me to the bottom mark.  Here's where it goes wrong though, I take the wrong side of the course on the last upwind and Hans pulls away.
Second race the wind is noticeably dropping, I get an even worse start than normal, I tack across to go behind everyone on port but Mark (GBR555) has had an even worse start and is still coming up on starboard.  Luckily being a gentleman he passes behind my stern without even suggesting there would be a collision.  I carry on, trying to catch Hans, but he is faster in the lighter conditions.  At the top mark I stay on the wire to reach to the spreader mark but before I round the windward mark I accidently pop the main traveler, I tea bag into the drink as the power comes off and the force of the water on me is enough to capsize the boat to windward, how embarrassing.  Mark sails past with some characteristically helpful advice on the situation....anyway I right the boat quickly and even have enough room to make the mark without tacking.  Hans is way off, so my dream of ever getting ahead of him is gone, concentrate on getting past Mark instead.  I get past him before the last downwind, which is good timing as he is definitely faster downwind, he also gybes faster, so he tries to out-gybe me all the way down the last leg.  I've learnt my lesson and just keep covering him, gybe after gybe after gybe, each one slowing me down a little bit more and each one having the risk of a mistake and a capsize.  Luckily I keep between him and the bottom mark and stay ahead.
Last race of the day, the wind has dropped right back.  An average start and the wind has evened up the single handers massively all except Hans bunched together, plus I keep making really poor tacks and losing ground. Geert (NED9) is sailing really well in this race, and looks powered up and pointing all the time, always on the trapeze.  I am having to move in and out to keep the hull flying.  We stay close until the second to last downwind leg, Mark suddenly turns dead downwind and slows down, we thought he had a spinnaker problem but it turns out he had snapped a board.  The wind gets even lighter and Geert sails a nice race, staying ahead until the end.

F16 Euros: Day Three

The boat is back to being whole again with a bright and crisp new port rudder! Back on the water in the 1st race of the day (7th in the series), I seem to be developing a tradition of needing the first race to warm up - Mark beats me over the line on this one.  The next race the roles are reversed, I'm starting to get really good upwind boatspeed, I'm pointing lower than Mark, Geert and Eric but going a lot faster, it takes real effort to not pinch and lose boatspeed.  In the next race I'm starting to get better and keeping the speed on, I take a place off Mark by sailing through his lee to windward at one point - no pinching!  Starting to get closer to Hans, but he is sailing at the same speed but higher.  Last race of the day and I actually get ahead of Hans for the first time - someone even gets a photo of it (need to track that down), not sure if this is better sailing or just luck as we took two different routes to the top mark.  Nice way to end the day, but I still need to work out why I'm not pointing (and Hans is!).

F16 Euros: Day Two

Day Two was another awesome Lake Como day, bright sunshine, slightly cooler than yesterday and a steady 18 knots of wind right on cue before the start of race one. 1st race of the day I was having a shocker, almost capsized to windward trying to adjust mast rotation from the wire - luffed the boat by accident.  Was sailing windsurfer style on the windward hull for a few seconds, managed to get enough control back to bring the boat down Mark (Stealth GBR555) and Geert (Blade NED9) were very close - close enough that I could see them laughing!  I kept on making mistakes all through this race but somehow managed to stay in touch with Mark and Geert.  We had a photo finish at the end, round the final mark, Geert had the inside line and called room on me, and I had the inside line on Mark and called room on him (I had got ahead of mark by catching with on port approaching the buoy). We went across the line with each boat overlapped by just 1/2 a boat length. Downwind runs were excellent today, fully powered up.

Race 5 went a bit better for me, not so many mistakes and my better boatspeed to windward carried me home ahead of Mark, Geert and Eric.  With glimpses of Hans (Raptor NED111) ahead.  Race 6 ended in disaster for me, by port rudder snapped in two, reaching on one hull from the windward to the spreader mark - instant capsize and end of the days racing for me - lucky it happened in the final race of the day.

Missing something.....?

Luckily for me, Falcon Marine's EU rep, theboatshop.be was here at the regatta (Gill de Bruyne sailing on Falcon BEL666) and replaced my rudder from his spares and at no cost. Special thanks to him and Matt McDonald at Falcon Marine for getting me back on the water.  Matt and Gill have given me no end of invaluable support and advice.

Hans stroking my rudder..............

F16 Euros: Day One

Today we had a typical Lake Como day, no wind in the morning and then from 1300, like magic, above 15 knots for the rest of the day.  Stayed out of trouble for the start, and was in a duel with Mark on his Stealth for most of the race, a real shake out in the higher wind, kept losing ground due to poor tacks and gybes and eventually finished behind him in 12th.  Unfortunately I became really ill during the race and just got weaker and weaker, I suspect it was due to dehydration.  I thought it wise to retire so scored 2 DNFs for races 2 and 3.