Capsizing Drills in a Topper Xenon

It happened again last weekend with my Father as we sailed up the River Colne...the shame...!

We went over on a tack, which was interesting as the dinghy has come near to doing this before with other novice crew. I am beginning to have a theory as to how this might happen - beyond blaming myself.

Firstly the cleats that hold the jib sheets on the Topper Xenon often out-fox novice crew who I have seen have difficulty releasing them. When on a close haul the jib is set very tight and so is the cleat holding the jib-sheet. Coming round on a close haul tack, if the sheet is not released properly the nose will continue to pull round and instead of being on a close haul (opposite tack) you will find yourself coming on to on a beam reach. Obviously with a tight main sail + slow speed over you go. So, lessons to be learned are as follows...

• Teaching your crew how to operate the cleats and warning them of consequences if they get it wrong.
• Helmsmen don't be lazy and be ready to let the main sail go if things go wrong on the tack (i.e. take it off the cleat).

Finally, make sure you explain in detail what you want the crew to do when you go over. Novice crew have a tendency not to want to go in the water (quite understandable really), but the Topper Xenon floats very high on its side and with the crew trying to clamber desperately up the inside, the boat is inclined to turtle making it harder to right.

• Tell them to get in the water and swim to the back to hang on to the toe straps).
• Always be nice to the Romford Navy, speedboats and barges as you may need their help one day.

Brightlingsea One Design

My lack of original content and poor prose show up badly when compared to professionals like Dylan Winter. I came across another video he did as it had some Topper Xenons in sailing at Brightlingsea. Anyway it gives a great impression of what it's like where the Colne River opens up and what they look like underway.

The Brightlingsea One Design (BOD) is a big feature of this video and is similar to the Wivenhoe One Design (WOD) but bigger!

Anyway - here is how the pros do their video blogs.....

Topper Xenon Launching at Wivenhoe

I finally have created some content of my own. Here is my father and I taking the Xenon out for his first sail on her from Wivenhoe to Colchester and back up the River Colne. I chose what I thought was a safe passage, but yes we did have an incident on the way!!...more later.

Forgive the music, I was under a bit of time pressure to get this 'out there'

Xenon Handicap and others

In a sop to the search engines I am going to put in a post that covers the PY Handicaps of the Topper Xenon and others who I race against.....


Topper Zenon - 1070 (with Trapeze??)

Laser - 1078

Wayfarer - 1099

Topaz - 1212

Mirror - 1365

Wivenhoe One Design - ????

A list of the most popular fleet boats can be found here thanks to the RYA. What is not clear to me is how the Trapeze option impacts the handicap. I think that the handicap above is with the Trapeze operating. I don't have a harness yet so I believe that I am probably getting penalised with a too high a handicap at club races.....hmmm very interesting I must find out more as this could make some big changes to my race results..!

Laser Blogger ?

I'm not the only one that blogs about trying to sail. This chap is interesting, he's 60+ and it appears be sails one of those pesky lasers that I am always trying to beat ...

Actually I have been a little cruel and linked his entry about hating Laser sailors... I don't really I promise!

http://propercourse.blogspot.com/2006/07/seven-reasons-to-hate-laser-sailors.html

Dinghy Racing - Long Distance Race

We had the long distance dinghy race last weekend; the Barman my usual crew was not able to make it due to work commitments but his very experienced father volunteered to replace him; Father of the Barman now known as FB.

I thought it was going to be a walk-over but 4 other boats did eventually enter into the long-distance dinghy race. End result we came 3rd and that includes with the handicap. The 2 boats we left way way back were a Wivenhoe One and a Mirror.

What was slightly disappointing was the margin by which we were beaten by another Wivenhoe One and a pesky Laser. We did expect to do much better and were slightly disappointed. FB did have some good sailing tips. The issue we have is that there is very little knowledge within the club about how to sail a boat like the Topper Xenon.

Being the observant helmsman and having had a few crew on board, I have noticed a couple of things where the manual differs (see http://zambezishark.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-sail-topper-xenon.html) from the habits of experienced crew used to sailing other types of boat.

These are (when going upwind)

• tension tight on jib
• lots tension on cunningham

I also notice that there are a number of opinions as to where the telltales should go. Some say both fly horizontally across, others having the inside flicking upwards (as per http://zambezishark.blogspot.com/2009/07/where-should-telltails-go.html)

We were a new team and areas that we could have improved were around handling of the spinnaker. We struggled at times and perhaps should have borne away from a straight run to build up speed on more of a reach angle. This will come with practice I am sure. What is not certain either is whether the jib should furl when the spinnaker is up? Marketing pictures from Topper all show it up - I'll have to check some more neutral snaps but I reckon the jib can stay up.

Finally disappointing as it was, there are a whole host of other reasons why we did not do as well...

• other helmsman was a previous national champion on Enterprises (apparently)
• there is a tidal channel through the course of River Colne which I don't know very well yet
• we grounded on the mud
• my first season
• luck

Anyway if there are other sailors of Topper Xenons please add your top tips in the comments section below.

Laser Vago Planning

There is a dire lack of videos out there of what a Topper Xenon looks like when it is planning. To give a clue of how the Barman and I looked (albeit briefly) before we capsized I found this video with a reasonably similar looking boat. It does take a bit of skill to do this and they are not out for their first sail.

The Xenon is slightly larger and I believe has a slightly lower handicap (just) - it starts getting picky when you try to decide whether it is with or without trapeze.

Have a look....

Hydroptere - World's Fastest Sailing Boat

No it is sadly not my little dinghy.

Sadly it is also a French boat - honestly I thought we invented everything. :)

So what is it?

The World's fastest sailing boat is the Hydroptere - a hydrofoil trimaran giant. If they ever want me have a go on it and make a report I am ready.

Reading about it on the web it has apparently hit an amazing 61 knots!!! However I see that back in December 2008 it made the headlines when it hit that amazing speed and wiped out!! Look at the link below and see the pics! To right such a massive boat it had to be towed to shore.

http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/2008/12/hydroptere-61knots-and-huge-crash-with.html

http://yachtpals.com/hydroptere-4036