DN yacht performance gears
Going to regatta I had a clear plan in mind as the weather forecasts was also black and white. Both racing days were supposed to be sailed in a very strong breeze gusting up to 30kts on day one and decreasing to 24 on Sunday. -4C in the night and slightly above 0 during the day. So very windy and hard. And bumpy. Already in Gdansk I decided to prepare my stiff setup: use a very stiff mast and stiff plank. I knew I can squeeze impressive speed out of this combination with help of my 92kg.
Very wet sailing last weekend. We had only 3 races on Saturday. RC discovered dangerous spots on the ice and racing was cancelled. Night cold didn’t improve the situation and Sunday was no sailing.
I made another improvement to my boat trim and I could feel a little difference. I need to work on my back up plank to make it softer down to 48mm. I want the plank to take more load and let my soft mast breath a little more 😉
Next weekend: Polish Champs. For sure not in Poland. If it happens than lake Rekyva in Lithuania is the place.
We’ve been studying weather forecasts for days to find out if it makes sense to go to Estonia or Sweden. Wind forecast eliminated Sweden and we were left with one option only. Thursday afternoon we decided to risk and go. Travel started late afternoon with intention to drive non stop all the way to Haapsalu. Total 12 hrs. But before Polish – Lithuanian border heavy snow storm started and we could not continue our journey. We decided to stay in hotel in Suwalki and wait for weather update from C6. At 6AM Vaiko texted that it makes no sense to travel because of snow. We had breakfast, coffee and started trip back. I guess it was minimal price to pay to this fail. Now waiting for the weather to clear up in Poland. There is ice and there is snow. 60% chance to sail on lake Sniardwy next days.
Long awaited moment has come! First regatta in Poland with 40 DNs on the starting line happened on lake Siemianówka.
Crazy Saturday with wind up to 38kt in gusts. One race started in 30kt+ breeze on hard black ice! It was insaine! My GPS showed 110km/h in race mode! This doesn’t happen too often. Sailing was really on the edge.
We had 5 very challanging races. And quite substantial number of equipment fails. Two masts were broken in race #1.
I was having very hard time to sail fast. Mainly because I messed with sails and my flat sail stayed at home. Instead I had two FO1s with me;) On black ice and strong wind no chance to compete with top guys.
Day two offered three races. First in strong breeze but the other two in 6-10kt. At this point everything was working fine and speed was there.
Now time to re-sharpen my runners and regroup before next stop on the way to the Worlds.
Awaiting for new full carbon masts from Moore Bro. allowed some extra time for finetuning runner plank details. This little add-on in connection with new tang design will make plank ends look really cool.
To find out more go to Aerodynamic upgrades menu.
An upgrade to old and new masts producerd by CSI and Moore Bro.
FDM technology, flexible material.
Super easy installation.
See details in Aerodynamic upgrades.
100 clips compilation about essential moments in making DN runner plank shot over a busy week. Feels almost unreal.
Runner plank plays a key role in developing top speed of an ice boat.