 Banana Boards  A
lot of people ask about the banana boards on the C-Class Patient Lady VI. What
are they for? How do they work? Well this past weekend during our Yacht Club's
sail past, opening day festivities, we launched the boat for her first time this
year so we could get practicing and find out what the bananas could do for us.
There was some question as to weather we should go out as it was periodically
well north of 20 knots TWS which is our cut off.Hubris prevailed over wisdom and off we went. We did our salute to the commodore then went for few rips around the harbor to see how the boat handled in a blow. Well soon enough we had a few beautiful reaches where the banana boards really kicked in. They're asymmetric and we always lift the windward one, so they provide really efficient lateral resistance but they also lift the boat vertically a fair bit, the faster you go, the more lift you get, the more you heel the more lift you get. We also have L-shaped rudders that pull the stern down and keep the bows up. After a few runs we had her up to 25 knots according to the tender following us with the GPS system. Sorry no pics on that so I guess it didn't happen. We find when we do go that fast the whole leeward hull lifts up about 6" and the boat is really cooking. As such we decide we really kind of like what the boards are doing for us. Conditions were described by Fred as "Spicy" and indeed they were about to get hot.  Once
more back across the harbor, the boat is hauling ass
when we get hit by a good sharp puff. All of a sudden
the bows start to lift up as I ease the sheet, a lot,
then while running forward as I look directly to leeward
and I see the lee hull angle upwards to about 30 degrees,
wherein the banana boards kicked into overdrive and the
whole leeward hull flew up about 10 feet out of the water
while we were doing 20 plus knots. At this point according
to the guys in the tender, the entire boats was clear
of the water launching up into the air for a brief moment.Seconds later Fred and I hit the water and start getting tossed about as the boat teeters on the edge of total disaster, both of us waiting for the wing to land on our heads, skating along with the boat heeled to weather, we were fucked for sure. "How in hell do you dump a C-class to windward?" was all I could think. Luckily the leeward hull eventually falls back down with a thud slamming Fred and I into the hull, a mad scramble ensues to get back on the boat and regain control before it takes off again. We could not believe what had just happened, stunned was an understatement to say the least. Rob Patterson snapped the pics from the tender and deserves full credit for quick hands on the camera. So I can now say that when used wisely the bananas are bad ass, but they can just as easily kick your ass if you're not careful. Sadly later on while doing our last run of the day, our camber control snapped off in the middle of a rather large puff, so we went from as de-powered as we could be to as powered up as we possibly could be in the crack of some carbon. We kept it under control and got her back to the base but discovered some serious problems with other parts of the wing. So we'll be taking a brief rest while we fix up the lady so she may fly again. Blunted C-Cat guy 5/30/06 |