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README.md

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-# whisper-catamaran
+# whisper catamaran sailing experiences
+
+## swimming for screw-driver
+It is not the workst, but still this is what you dont want to happen. Especially when single-handed sailing you are toast. 
+
+So recently we went out, had a great sail. When approaching the shore and stopped to prepare for slipping we couldnt lift the backboard foil anymore. We double-checked the boat speed, but it was zero. So was the wand blocked by a branch or so? Nothing there that we could identify from the trampoline of the boat. Big problem, because it means we cannot pull the boat to the shore due to shallow knee-deep water. 
+So we tied the bow to a closeby buoy and I jumped into the 14 degree celcius warm (!) water perform a closer inspection. Then i could feel it with the fingers. There was something on the back side of the foil preventing to lift it. Swimming to the inside of the hull and diving (ducking??) the head underwater I could see that the screw was loose. Since I didnt fill the on-board tool-chest with my machinery, I had to take a swim and get a screw driver. Consequently I a nice swim to get a screw-driver from land. So i fixed that. How exactly it happened that i broke the wand right thereafter is unclear to me. It just broke by a simple touch. Maybe the wand was already damaged during the ride by only being half mounted.
+![losing the wand screw](losingwandscrew.jpg)
+
+So the boat and crew was rescued and we could slip the boat on land. Gladly I had ordered spare wands with the boat so I was on to fixing that broken one. It was trickier than I thought. The connecting metal axle had to be unscrewed at the top of the foil as well as at the wand. When I had finally the new wand in position, I figured the 3mm screw wouldnt go in. Why? There were no threads. So fortunately I had 3mm thread making bits !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! . They come as a set of 3 and I used only the first two, so that the threads would be tight enough and keep the screw in place.
+
+As to the larger screw that I almost lost during sailing, I used silicone glue, which should allow me to open the screw again in the unpleasent event i crack the wand again.  
+
+
+## 
+
+# rigging and trimming tips
+## main sail 
+O-shackle should be placed in a way that the know shows towards the mast. This is needed so that the main halyard unhooks easily when rotating the mast 90 degrees.
+
+## foils
+Flaps should show 2-3mm upwards when the wands are down.
+
+## Fastest sailing when sail is above one
+Async setup of flight height through ride-height adjuster wheel and through foil rake, like 2.5 windwards and 3.5 leewards. 
+Foil rake: 4 is absolute max. 2.5 to 3.5 is good
+
+## how to remove water from the mast
+The mast should be water tight. But however, in my unfortunate case when I lost the lid of the hull and the boat almost sank, I did get water into it. The entire mast was in the water and it could have gottin in at the foot or somewhere else on the mast. Usually when capsizing the foot is above water, so less risky for untighteness.
+
+However, in case you have water in the mast, I had gotten from whiteformula's Tom White great hints. To get it out you can remove the screw from the halyard turning block eye. Near the base of the mast. This should let out any water. Note, the smaller upper-one screw of the two is connected with the hollow area of the mast, so this one lets water come out. 
+
+If this does not solve the problem it is most likely that one of the rivet plugs is leaky. You can remove the white plastic plugs in the rivets on the mast hook. You can either pull them out with a pin or you can remove them with a 2.5mm Drill bit. I got some plugs from the nice guys from whiteformula.
+
+A very easy way to find the leak is to put soapy water over all of the rivets and blow air into the mast through the halyard eye hole using a bike pump. You will see bubbles come from the rivet that is leaky.
+
+If it is not a rivet but a screw in the foot, you can remove the screw, put a little silicone in the hole and then put the screw back in. That should solve it.
+
+
+# boat tweaks
+
+## rudder holder
+Launching the boat in shallow water requires to hold the rudder in position by hand. When sailing single-handed its impossible to pull the boat at the bow through the water and hold the rudder at the far distant end of the boat at the same time. so something needed to keep the rudder a quarter-height down. I had this door wedge at home, and squeeze this at the side of the rudder to keep it at height. This works ok, when pulling the boat, but as soon as you are on the boat and pick up speed, it falls off as the rudder gets lift. Yes, if you manage to better adjust the angle of the rudder so the force goes down, maybe its possible to better keep it in place. However, I had to dive for the (KEIL) already and since added a line to it.
+
+## chicken line
+So far all of the capsizes and most of the splashes were related to losing balance on the boat. While I hope to get better at keeping balance and steering the boat smoother, I still need to be able to hold-on to something. The traveller line isnt ideal, as the traveller cleat opens to easily and when the traveller is a bit out, you pull the sale all the time. On my Nacra 16 I had a chicken-line, which saved me a couple of times from capsizing when sailing gennaker downwind. So here is my first implementation of a chicken line for the whisper. Its good, it works, and it could be further improved too.
+![chicken line](chickenline.jpg)
+
+## hull lid marks
+
+
+## 4-wheel trolley
+So I do need a 4-wheel trolley to slip the whisper. The air-filled wheels swim nicely. But also they swim nicely, so risking to damage the foils when sliding the boat onto the trolley. So the best fix for this was to fill the rear wheels to almost 100% with liquid. The front wheels got only 50% liquid, so they would still swim, making it easier to keep it in contact with the hulls. I found from the camping area ecological frost proof liquid that is used for camping cars. It felt I filled the old airpump 1000x with that liquid and pressed it into the tyre. But it worked.    
+![Sinking wheels](fillingtyreswithfrostproofliquid.jpg)
+![4 wheel trolley](4wheeltrolley.jpg)
+
+## slipping line
+
+## sacrificial halyard - no longer
+
+## rigging tension 
+Tightening and loosening the rig with the spanner wrench is somewhat annoying. 
+I am a lazy person - in the sense of repetitive tasks - and hence want to automate everything as much as possible.
+So I have ordered a 17mm spanner ratchet and let you know how much of a help it is.
+![fastratch](fastratch.jpg)
+
+The other issue is the risk of the mast fall over when loosening the rig tensioner !!!!STRIKER!! too much  
+
+### safety line
+
+
+
+## ride-height adjuster
+
+## righting line
+Yes, it costs a few grams, but its less stressful if you have a righting line that you can pull out of the pocket vs. making knots into the gennaker sheet for uprighting. The other benefit is that the crew can use it to hold on when the helm is working the main sheet. 
+
+## main sheet pulley
+
+### 1) two-handed
+There is quite some force on your hands when constantly operating the main sheet to balancing the boat on the foils. So I ordered 40mm Harken blocks that allow for a 1:6 translation vs. default 1:4. I also ordered a variable thickness main sheet and need to splice it on the block properly so to not destroy the original pulley. I will let you know how it goes.
+![Harken blocks for two handed 1:6 purchase system](twohandedpulley1to6.jpg)
+
+### 2) single-handed
+There are two issues making single-handed sailing more difficult. 
+* One is that the main-sheet location at the boom,pulls you forward, which makes it hard to balance when you are already hiking at the very end of the boat. 
+* Second, managing the gennaker sheet, main sheet and tiller all at once is one thing too much. At the Nacra i could cleat the main sheet while hiking and operating the gennaker.
+
+So the idea is to solve both items with a set of following Harken blocks. I had to take the larger 57mm blocks because the cleats that fit the original block size would only handle 6mm lines, what is too tight for main sheets.
+![Harken 57mm blocks](singlehandedpulley1to6withratchmatic.jpg)
+
+So once I have spliced the main sheet properly I will start testing this configuration and let you know.
+
+## gps
+Having the only whisper at this lake is cool, yet suffers from the ability to match-race. So I need to know the speed on the go, to get a better sense what works. So far my conclusion is that proper boat balance has more impact than sail trim of jib sheet, mast rotation, cunningham. However, I am sure I still need to learn a lot.
+So I mounted a Velocitek SpeedPuck. 
+![Speedpuck mounted on Whisper spinnaker boom](3dprintedvelocitekspeedpuckholder.jpg)
+The holder is 3D printed and can be found here [INSERT VELOCITEK HOLDER LINK].  
+![3d printed holder](3dprint.jpg)
+