winter sailing

Luigi's F-22 Rebel is still in maintenance status, so today we opted for a run with Mauro's Elan 37, Amelì;

Here are Mauro and Luigi, smiling in the wind. In the next photo you'll see your loved blogger Angelo. I had never "driven" a sailbot with the "wheel" before today; it took a little to get used to ! 1K thanks to Mauro for giving me an opportunity to learn something new :-)

What a nice boat, this Elan 37. She has a heating system inside, too. And standing headroom. And a lot a things to make the cruise a pleasure. But she heels a lot ! Ok, compared to a multihull ... ;-)

Look at this elegant blue hull; The interiors are high quality, too.

A couple of hours through the waves were enough for us, due to low temperature, so we packed everything and went home. See you soon !

Slideshow:

Houston, we've had a problem

Saturday we went to Marinara to sail on Rebel. Light winds, a smiling sun and a low temperature. As we reached the end of the dams, we switched off the engine and started to raise the main. The halyard was easy in the beginning, but suddently it became hard to pull and then locked completely. In the mean time a change in the wind direction had slapped the sail from side to side. So we tried to lower the mail. No way. It was locked, almost completely raised and locked. That was a problem, a serious one.

We decided to come back to the marina, hoping that the wind would stay constant, 5Kn from NW, so to serve as a brake, as we'd reach the pier. We were lucky. Using the engine in reverse we landed ... almost as an elicopter, hoovering near the piper. Rebel was undamaged, tied to the mooring.

  And up Luigi went to the mast head. 

He was able to detach sail and hayard, but the halyard stayed locked.

A modification will be implemented on the masthead main pulley to avoid any possible future jam.

Now please enjoy some pictures: "sunset at Marinara".

 The tower, we the offices are.

 The piers are the floating kind ones, with plastic "soft" borders, very gentle against the hulls.

Looking W

Looking E. Nice place to spend a Saturday.

connecting rudder and engine

It's a step by step refinement ! This time we talk about engine and rudder.

Luigi found not so pratical to have 2 "handles" to manage during motoring, expecially on close quarters, when mooring and the likes. So he connected engine and rudder using simple metal pieces and a stainless steel tube (or was it a rod ?):

You move the rudder and the engine follow (and viceversa). Nice solution, isn't it ? See it in action:

When it's time to raise the engine and start sailing, the connection is removed in a split second. Unfortunately, the rudder is receiving a great amout of vibrrrrrrrrrrrrrations, not so good, so Luigi will try to insert a "off the shelf" silent-block somewhere to dampen this effect.


Pianpianino le cose migliorano: ad esempio, dover gestire timone e fuoribordo, specie in fase di ormeggio, non era facile, così Luigi ha pensato bene di collegare i due "manici" con due particolari metallici e un tubo in acciaio inox. Il tubo si mette e si toglie in un attimo, solo che passa un sacco di vibrrrrrrrrrrrazioni verso il timone e dopo un quarto d'ora ti si informicolisce la mano; quindi si pensava di infilare un comunissimo silent-block da qualche parte per smorzare il tutto. 

 La goduria continua e il Rebel diventa sempre meglio :-)

Grazie ai "condomini galleggianti" come questo ripreso qui sopra, adesso bisogna fare a motore tutto il tratto tra i moli di Marina di Ravenna (con le vele giù, se no multa) perchè i bestioni devono poter manovrare in sicurezza ... la gente è amareggiata per questa decisione della Capitaneria e ci si sta organizzando: è in corso una raccolta di firme, credo, per vedere di trovare, insieme alle autorità, una soluzione migliore. Anche perchè il divieto è in forza 24 ore su 24, 7 giorni su 7, ma i barconi evoluiscono solo ogni tanto e con largo anticipo. A me sembra francamente una misura inutilmente restrittiva. Che ne dite ?

less wind: not less fun

Here's more video footage from F-22 Rebel sail test in a quite calm day:

When a heavy monohull just floats, slowly inching forward, this trimaran slips around in a magic wind energy transformation, moving itself and almost not the water ... probably Rebel thinks to be a ... "Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor" in ground effect !

Meno vento ma non meno divertimento ! Ecco un altro po' di video dei test con l' F-22 Rebel.

Quando un monoscafo si limita a galleggiare, avanzando lentamente un centimetro per volta, questo trimarano scivola intorno trasformando magicamente l'energia del vento, muovendosi senza quasi muovere l'acqua ... va a finire che Rebel pensa di essere un "Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor" in effetto suolo !

a couple of unedited video about 3rd Rebel sail test

Maybe a little too long, but anyway ... here they are:



A calm breeze and the GPS says "8 knots" !



Enjoy !

more video footage

here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsRitwj-TMA
Enjoy :-)

Today is THE day

Dear fellow builders and Farrier aficionados,
let me share with you these unauthorized (*) 20 secs of video I took today aboard of Rebel, the Farrier F-22 trimaran built by my great friend Luigi Magnani. I can't find the right words to properly explain the feeling that pervaded me, a simple spectator of this event; I can barely imagine the feeling of Luigi, as he begins building confidence with his masterpiece.

To all out there in the middle (or at the very beginning) of a boat building (me included): keep building ! You build a boat and the boat builds you.

*) Luigi is a perfectionist and prefer to show a completely tested boat ... I hope he will not upset for this small "scoop" ... sorry for the very poor quality of the images: I lost the camcorder special firewire cable, so this is the screen of the camcorder captured on my photocamera !

Cari colleghi costruttori e appassionati dei trimarani Farrier,
lasciate che condivida con voi questi 20 secondi di filmato non autorizzato (*) effettuati oggi a bordo di Rebel, il trimarano Farrier F-22 costruito dal mio grande amico Luigi Magnani; non riesco a trovare le parole giuste per descrivere propriamente il sentimento che ha pervaso me, un semplice spettatore, e fatico a immaginare quello che prova Luigi, mentre comincia ad accumulare confidenza col suo capolavoro.

A tutti quelli a mezzo (o proprio all'inizio) della costruzione di una barca (me incluso): continuate a costruire ! Costruisci una barca e lei costruisce te.

*) Luigi è un perfezionista e preferisce mostrare una barca completamente testata ... spero non si arrabbi per questo piccolo scoop ...mi scuso per l'infima qualità delle immagini: è che ho perso il cavo firewire della videocamera e questo è il suo display ripreso dalla mia fotocamera !

Details, details, details before the sails

Luigi explained to me that the thin water flow exiting from the bottom of the engine case is an indication that the water cooling system is correctly running. I didn't know that ! Simple and effective.
Here is forbidden to exit the marina without the engine running, that is only by sail.
One float extened, Luigi is testing the bimini. Still many small details need to be sorted out before a sail test. In the meantime Luigi is collecting the usual "You built it ... unbelieveble !" from his new neighbor sailers.

pre-splash slideshow

splash !

Rebel on the water and Luigi over the sky:
More pictures and videos in the next few days ... too many emotions in a single day !

Rebel on trailer

Expected Time of Splash ... very very soon :-)

rigging done

New sails under way; same for the outboard engine; if everything goes well, Luigi will splash his F22 Rebel in a month or so; I will be there to take pictures, movies and ... if possible ... test her :-)

Nuove vele in arrivo, idem per il motore fuoribordo; se tutto va come deve, Luigi varerà il suo F22 Rebel in un mese o giù di lì. Io ci sarò per fare foto, film e ... possibilmente ... farci un giro :-)

most mist but must be ... a mast !

After a long period of bad weather, at last I received good news and pics from Luigi:

So now everything is ready for the trailering and the splash day is coming :-)

P.S. Just received from Ian: "It all looks excellent luigi! Let me know how it goes, and be sure to monitor saddles for any distortion. Should be okay however."