Just in after a day where the wind just didn't build. It was the day I thought we were going to have a week ago when we missed it. Oh well, we were over there and waiting this time and that's the best we can do. There was the odd gust to 23 knots... but a lot of 17-19 in there as well. In the end we did do a run just to keep our eye in and try the new cockpit seating. It sure is cosy in there now. Not much arm room to pull the mainsheet in with but then I don't need it anymore as I am only sheeting through quite a narrow range and generally only need to worry about sheeting out once up to speed.

STOP PRESS... top speed just in for today... 7.03 knots! So that there is about the size of the low speed hump.

 The big disappointment for today has been the data logging and instrument system which basically left us flying blind on both aspects.  Today as I sat in the cockpit it just looked at me with it's dead eyes. The bit I missed the most was the rudder angle display. I need to use a lot of rudder angle to get started as the rudder is so small... yet still big enough to have some effect at low speed. I use big brutal movements to get VSR2 lined up and then sheet the wing correctly to get the power and reduce the rudder angle to reduce the drag. This usually gives a short surge of acceleration that gets us over that 7 knot speed hump and allows VSR2 to start planing. Due to the high gearing on the rudder (37:1) I have no force feedback and have to turn the steering wheel many times to swing the rudder from lock to lock. The indicator let's me know where I'm at with the rudder. I thought I could just count the turns from full lock but it's not that easy when you have to to-and-fro a bit.

Anyway... as usual we will work through this. We are all very keen to see it work as we know how important the data is in the big picture and how much it can point towards serious performance gains. We just need it. The gear that did work effortlessly as usual today was the TACKTICK wind gear. Simple and robust. I like that.

So we stuck it out until just before dark and then came home.

Unfortunately tomorrows forecast looks pretty flat. We will use it to try and get the electronics sorted once and for all and do the final fit of the front planing surface.

Our day will come soon. Walvis won't leave us hanging forever that's for sure.

Sounds like you appreciate the techy stuff so I will keep it coming. There's heaps of it and I never get bored talking about it.

Cheers, Paul.