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Cymraeg
New D-One Training Video
There have not been many racing events in 2020, so we were very grateful in the UK to be able to gather for some informal racing and training in July, in place of the cancelled Lymington Regatta.
We are also very grateful to Liam Willis for capturing some high quality footage of key moments, and have spliced this into a video which we hope will provide long enough shots of all the key parts of a race to be useful to new sailors in the class.
The event covered a range of wind and tide conditions, and it is also clear that different sailors sail ...differently, so remember that you will need to adapt your technique to your own conditions, weight and fitness. Best of all, come and sail with D-Ones near you!
Our next event is the Gold Cup at Lipno (CZE), preceded by the open event at Wolfgangsee (AUT). Both wonderful places, and both actively sailing already after the lockdown earlier this year. Our next UK event is at Warsash in October.
Comments are welcome. If anyone has better video editing skills then I have please feel free to get in touch and improve on this, but I hope it is is interesting, and in places, amusing....
Click 'Read more' for the video, which is also on Youtube at https://youtu.be/wTdj-qsaZ5k
Lessons for Lockdown: Nick Craig Tuning Tips
D1 Tuning Guide, June 2020
The D-One is a powerful, demanding boat yet highly refined and sensitive. Unlike the people who sail her ?. That mix of power and sensitivity is one of the reasons the D-One is such a great boat to sail!
Static settings i.e. those adjusted on shore
Mast foot position
Mast foot forward shifts the rig forward so your push point (centre of lateral resistance) moves forward whilst your pivot point (centre of effort) is fixed. So your boat will naturally track lower upwind with the foot forward. This is good in breeze and chop.
Moving the mast foot aft (turning the mast foot through 180 degrees) moves the push point aft so your ship will want to point higher upwind. This is good in flat water. Also in very light winds, it is hard to generate lift off the foils with little energy through the sails and foils. Moving the foot aft increases weather helm so generates lift which would otherwise need to be generated through leeward heel. Being able to sail flat in light winds whilst still generating lift from the foils is fast because a flat boat has a fair underwater hull shape and presents an upright rig to the wind. There is more wind high up due to turbulence near the water’s surface in light winds which has a disproportionate affect in light winds
A lot of theory! The short story is I sail with the foot forward in 6 knots+. Foot back in light winds is better but not by much. Foot back in 10knots+ is slow. So sailing with foot back is high risk if the wind builds so I need to be pretty sure it is a light wind day before putting the foot back because it is hard to change on the water, especially in a building breeze which is just the time you would want to reverse the foot!
2019 Gold Cup, Lac du Der, FRA
The D-One fleet were treated to a Gallic Regatta for the 2019 Champagne Gold Cup organized by Emmanuel Abord and Etienne Lobert and hosted by Ligue de l’Enseignement Giffaucourt at Lac du Der 7 to 10 June 2019.
The rest of the French fleet, Marie Benoit, Thierry D'Allance and David Bremond did a fantastic job assisting with all the background tasks that made such a great regatta. A big thank you from all the competitors, especially the Czech-Italians who were politely allowed to beat the French in the international boules contest. Or so the hosts said. 
As sailors and support teams arrived from 7 nations on the Thursday everyone was enjoying the sunshine and light winds. Unfortunately the weather was not going to last. Friday dawned with a forecast of 23-30 kts with a storm with a name moving across Europe. The intrepid race management team set off ready to start at 1500. Launching in to the shelter of the club house seemed OK but a short sail later it was clear the fleet were in for a wild ride. A couple of keen racers headed up wind to check out the windward leg, but even the best did not make it back downwind without a swim.
2019 Gold Cup Competitor Analysis
Since the D-One was launched 10 years ago, it has been sailed in a huge variety of conditions, from calm alpine lakes to full-on sea sailing, and by all shapes and sizes of competitor. We are fortunate to have a very wide base of friendly international sailors.
The boat has always had a fairly crude form of weight equalisation, whereby sailors below 86kg are allowed slightly wider wings. As with all classes, there has been occasional discussion as to whether this is adequate. We were fortunate at the Gold Cup this year to have very clearly defined windy and light days, and a full international fleet weighed in for the event. This gave a perfect opportunity to crunch the numbers, as shown in the graph, which reads from first to last place left to right.
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