The Vision
sailed into the top ranks at the EC and the basis for this great result was
analysed which underlined what we hoped to find in the design stage. After the
fine tuning done in the first year of its existence the Vision’s potential was
shown in the German Championship with a 2nd place in light conditions and a 1st
place in the French Nationals with more wind and high waves at La Rochelle
leading up to this event.
The Vision
was having good speed upwind in all conditions and was a treat downwind. It
allows you to have a wider choice of sailing. Of the starting line you can
accelerate in a straight line, you hardly ever have to bear away to pick up
speed and then to start pointing. This gives you an obvious advantage. After
that you can go for speed or height. The balance of the Vision is very good on
the curved boards.
Tacking and
gybing is very easy and quick in all wind conditions. And again the
acceleration out of these manoeuvres gives an extra edge.
The hulls
run clean through the water which is often well visible in the trail you leave
behind. This gives you also the possibility to use a flatter sail trim as the
hull resistance is lower giving you better top speed.
Downwind the platform of the Vision gives you a lot more
choice either to sit and go deep, or trapeze and go fast. You do not have to go
to trapeze early to keep the bows clear. This is due to the non-fashionable bow
which does not have a negative component of force pushing the bow down further
once pushed into a wave leading to a pitch pole. This makes life a lot easier
for the average sailor and helps safety. It is ever so easy to lose your
balance trapezing losing control over steering and being thrown off the boat by
sudden direction changes. This has happened to the very top sailors recently.
We know the
platform is very stiff, the stiffest we have measured by a factor 2 or more.
This is very well visible in a number of photos taken at the latest EC.
Together with the foils we have developed this attributes to a fingertip fine
steering, without a trace of spinout. This cuts out sudden steering reactions.
The Vision goes where you steer it.
The
Saarberg mast was developed to a new bending characteristic which gave the need
to develop the sail as well. Here especially Chris Field gets all credit as his
expertise and quick feed back to what was the feel and experience in boat
speed. We left the choice of sail completely with him. He and Micky Todd from
Hammer sails made the combination work. Andrew Landenberger was using the same
sort of mast getting the 1st place.
At the EC
Chris showed the possibilities of the Vision to be quick so even when he had to
pick up places he could have the speed to accomplish this. Getting from the
starting line with minutes lost he accomplished to get back to 17th
through this very competitive field of 95. Impressive.
The Vision
in short:
-Clean
running
-Stiff
platform
-Well
balanced
-Can be
pushed downwind
-Forgiving
-All-round
-Perfect
steering
-Fast
Thanks to
Chris we got the proof of the character we designed into the Vision.
I can only confirm the above. I was able to push a LOT harder than any other boat downwind winning valuable places which I lost again with each manoeuvre. Because it is also through the boat manoeuvres are very swift and hence, with my lack of two years sailing experience before showing up at the EC, one needs to be as swift as the boat :)
ReplyDeleteIn other words, without the Vision (and the latest Saarberg mast and suited Landy sail) I would have ended a lot worse in the ranking...
flyer = michel :))
ReplyDelete