1.7 RC Yachts Australia
The 1.7m Class is fast, easy to sail, medium weight and easily transported. Designed to a "box rule"
From archives of first boat….
If this was a 100ft supermaxi this photo would be spectacular.
Windy and wet afternoon.
New Mk2 out for a run with the B rig in the rain.
NEW BOAT....finally on the water.
It floats!
No leaks!
Early observations indicate its quicker upwind than the previous design (Mk1). This one sits better in the water and with the fuller bow sections it rides smoother going to windward.
New boat (Mk2) rigged and ready for sailing.
Comparison of Mk1 and Mk2 (without deck hardware).
Mk2, fully fitted out, weighs in 800 grams lighter than Mk1.
Currently waiting for the lead bulb to complete the keel then it will be ready for a test sail.
New boat (Mk2) nearing completion.
While a new boat is nearing completion, a beautiful day (Friday) could not be wasted so it was a good chance to take the current boat for a sail.
No wind on the water....or was there?
Light weather practice/tuning this morning.
Latest progress update on new 1.7 'Mk2'.....
Deck/cockpit filled & faired, deck hardware fitted, deck glued to hull, construction frames removed. Next...exterior carbon layer, glue in transom then paint job.
Trial fit up of internals featuring RMG 380EH Smartwinch, RMG smart switch, Du-bro Lazer Rods for push-pull steering and HiTec Ultra Torque HS645MG rudder servo.
New design under construction. Progress has been slow due 'work' getting in the way. Slowly getting internal structure completed. This boat has less internal structure than first boat and is substantially lighter but far stronger. Deck structure extremely rigid...does not flex or twist in any direction. Keel box is next job.
New boat coming along nicely. Deck was built first on same bench so it can be glued into hull whilst hull still in frames.
Sailing at Lake Samsonvale (QLD) last weekend with LSWSA RC Club hosting a series of marathon races. Three races for the day and the 1.7 dominated all three. The morning breeze was light and variable which was ideal for A rig then breeze increased after lunch requiring a change down to B rig. After racing finished this footage was taken.
Awesome footage from start of the Rolex Middle Sea Race.....watch for the 140 foot Skorpios roll over the top of Comanche fully powered up in flat water.
In the end Comanche did take the gun, approx 1 hour 20 mins ahead of Skorpios.
https://fb.watch/8TfZna2BE3/
Collected today....frames for the new hull shape. Now the fun begins.
Phenomenal........
Finally finished files for laser cutter....this one includes deck. Deck for current boat was conceived adhoc during the build and it works so this new boat has similar deck design but actually designed prior to commencement of building. So this deck will be built on frames then fitted to hull as a completed unit,
New design RC1700 (version 2.0) has been finalised. This is a development of the current boat on the water. This new shape has a narrower LWL Beam therefore less wetted surface area and 'cleaner' lines....so it should be faster.
Competing in handicap event against R10R's and Marbleheads starting this race off 150 secs after 6 races (1st race started off scratch). The power of this boat is impressive and has the ability to recover from operator errors ie. poor ex*****on of a tack at 4mins20secs. 😆
An S2H without WOXI will be like Christmas without turkey!
For the first time in 16 years the legendary supermaxi Wild Oats XI will not be competing in the Sydney-Hobart race. The silver-painted Reichel-Pugh is to remain in the shed on December 26 – mast out, keel off, and wrapped in plastic.
WOXI’s arch rival Scallywag (previously Ragamuffin 100 and Maximus) is also a non-starter having withdrawn their entry, reportedly because owner Seng Huang Lee and some crew are unwilling to meet the two-week COVID-19 quarantine requirement imposed by the Australian government on all arriving overseas visitors.
So only two of the world’s fleet of veteran 100-footers will contest the race – 2016 line honours winner InfoTrack (previously Loyal, Rambler 100 and Speedboat) and Black Jack (previously Europa, and before that Alfa Romeo when she won line honours in 2009).
A spokesman for the Oatley family, who own Wild Oats XI, said they had decided not to enter the nine-time line honours winner as a mark of respect for all those Australians who have suffered through the Coronavirus epidemic. But there are likely to be additional, more practical, reasons.
The Oatley family also own the Hamilton Island Resort in Queensland where 1,200 of their staff have been laid off for most of the year while tourism was suspended. The optics of millionaires going yacht racing while hundreds of their workers are still unemployed would make for some decidedly unattractive public relations.
Also, as with Scallywag, many of the specialist WOXI crew are fly-in/fly-out professionals reluctant to submit to the two-week quarantine in Australia – and whatever similar restrictions might apply when they arrived at their next job.
The supermaxis have dominated Sydney-Hobart media attention for almost 20 years but COVID-19 may now have accelerated their demise as the focus of public interest. The remaining boats in this year’s two-horse race are so different that the result is likely to be determined more by weather than sailing skill. Black Jack is a narrow downhill flyer; InfoTrack will be much quicker if the bulk of the race is a bash to windward.
Despite regular upgrades and modifications, all of the world’s 100-footers now seem antique beside the more recent offshore designs in the 50-70 foot range. For enthusiasts, the real competition to follow will be between the TP52s – a classic ‘race within a race’. Of the 98 boats entered for the 628nm dash to Hobart eight are TPs.
Meanwhile, the onshore dispute between the new Two-Handed division and the skippers of fully-crewed boats has, for the moment, been resolved. The issue at stake was whether the two-handed entrants, using autopilot, should be eligible for the overall handicap prize, the Tattersall Cup.
The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the organizing authority for the Sydney-Hobart, has now revoked its original policy of making no distinction between boats using autopilot and those steered by hand.
A notice posted on their website on Friday confirms that the NoR has been amended “to reflect that two-handed entrants will be scored within their own handicap category divisions and not be eligible to compete against full crewed boats in divisions for the overall race win.” CYCA Commodore, Noel Cornish, was refreshingly frank when explaining this backflip. “We are genuinely enthusiastic about encouraging the two-handers. But with hindsight, because of our enthusiasm in embracing two-handed sailing, we may have acted too quickly allowing two-handed boats to be eligible to compete for one of sailing’s most prestigious trophies”, he said.
But this battle is far from over. The CYCA statement concedes that further understanding needs to be gained to appreciate the full capacity and range of technology available to two-handed competitors, “and how these are accommodated within different handicap rating systems”.
In other words, if the new two-handed division is a success this year – and someone can work out a fair way of handicapping autohelm technology – then stand by for their possible inclusion in the overall competition in 2021. “The door hasn’t closed”, says Cornish. “We’re playing a long game”.
Today's outing to test some rig mods
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Test sail for B rig....wind pressure increased shortly after this footage then rain started so no more video unfortunately. The boat handled the conditions very well, extremely fast downwind.
Comparison of the US design (top) to the AUS design (bottom). Note the mast and keel positions further aft on the AUS design to improve downwind performance.