November 2001 Speed Trials
Bob Dill
November 28, 2001
With three days of wind this was one of the best speed trials in recent memory.
As usual, it was an informal affair with a lot of sailing and a couple hours of speed
trials each day. On Thursday the wind stayed around 20 for most of the day.
During speed trials it ranged from 18 to 24. Dennis Bassano got the Green Machine to 71.6
mph with his class 5 sail. On Friday, the wind stayed in the upper teens for most of
the day. During Friday's speed trials it ranged from 15 to 19. Tye Bayless was
the fastest at 65.2 with his class 3 sail. My best guess on boat speed to wind speed
ratio for the most efficient boats is a little better than 4:1. This estimate is
based on the average over many runs. The best efficiencies are in moderate
winds. Most boats had maximum efficiencies of around 3:1.
On Saturday, with a storm bearing down on us, the winds to 28 to 35 mph. Bob
Schumacher and Larry Hatch put a couple of Manta Twins to the test with Larry getting
56.9, beating Bob’s best recorded speed by 0.9 mph.
The big boats were planning to stay in port in the big wind until Paul Ackerman went out
with a GPS taped to his friendship with his Class 4 sail. He got to 73 mph.
This convinced Dennis and Tye to give it a go. Dennis got to 78.8 before retiring after
breaking his second steering cable of the weekend. Tye came in a little later with an 82.1
with his class 5 sail. Upon hearing this, Dennis came out of retirement with a
repaired steering system and got to the events top speed of 83.6. Paul went back out
with his class 5 sail and spend considerable time trying to improve his speed and got to
73.7.
The rains were rolling over the mountains west of the lake by 3:00. By 3:30 we were all under Kent Hatch’s motor home awning in the parking lot at Primm handing out awards.
The Awards for this year were:
Class 2 Wally Hall, Ice Flyer: 55.3 mph
Class 3 Tye Bayless, #1501: 70.9 mph
Class 4 Paul Ackerman, Friendship 73.0 mph
Class 5 Dennis Bassano, #2000: 83.5 mph
Class 6 Terry Fulbright, Zest 61.5 mph
Classic: Dan St Lewis, TwinStar: 48.9 mph
Five Square: Larry Hatch, Fed 5: 54.1 mph
Manta Twin: Larry Hatch, 56.9 mph
Click here for details
Data sorted in Excel format.
Wind speed and direction data from Dennis's recording
anemometer