48 Knots

Beginning of February 2017 strong NW winds rocked IdeesfixVIII, the gusts went up to 48 Kts, heeling IdeesfixVIII up to 10-20 degrees. No damage was suffered.

Twin Backstay installation

On 29 January 2017 Nicolas got up the mast and drilled a 30mm diameter whole to fit in the new axel from Southern Spars. A centering 15mm axel was fitted in place of the main halyard hook system. This served as a guide for the bell drill.  The hook cassette did not move.

The installation went smoothly, here is the purchase system at deck level:

The purchase is 4 as per the single backstay system, the same winches are also used.

We did not add outer attachment points, the 20mm carbon thick stern deemed strong enough to take the load. This simplified a lot the installation. We tested the twin backstays during the next Wednesday sail and all was good, the handling is a bit more work but the backstays do not need to be realeased a lot.

Here is the link to Nicolas Rossier's Rigging Work Shop:
www.sui4616.ch

This was a difficult installation which went very well without taking the mast down.

ADCA Commodore's Cup 2017 Race 01

On 28 January 2017 took place Race 01 of the 2017 ADCA's Commodore's Cup. For a change winds where from the south leading to a spinnaker start, this changes from the ordinary. The course was to FN2 then Z15 this sailed under spinnaker followed to a beat back to FN2 and Emirates Palace Marina. IdeesfixVIII finished second behind Mistress who sailed the short halfway course. 10 Minutes seperated us in corrected time which is quite a lot, this partly due to dying wind. It's going to be an interesting year !