Tips from Kevin Phillips

Kevin Phillips - rig setup

Eclipse is an Aero 9 in its second season. The Aero 9 in my view is the best and fastest hull design across a broad range of conditions. (Kevin's opinion back in 1998. ed)

The ability of the hull to support heavier crew weight (145 Kgm in the case of Alex and myself) is also appreciated. It is possible to design a hull which will do better in the higher wind range and go quicker down wind. A hull more buoyant in the bow will do better in these circumstances but is unlikely to match the fine entry and very efficient shapes of the Aero 9 and like hulls in the normal conditions and up, down and across the wind around our typical sailing courses.

Eclipse is rigged with a very stiff Goldspar mast with Brewer Kevar main and with Dacron Eastwind jib and kite. We have been progressively increasing the drive in the jib with encouragement from Eastwind sailmaker David Turner. Sailing at Gosford in predominantly flat water, slightly flatter gear and a rig set up for height to windward seems to work better,

Eclipse

Because of the sheltered areas in much of the St George course this worked pretty well for us in the State titles when the wind was moderate. In our favoured conditions of 8 to 12 knots Eclipse was fastest at the States. In these conditions we go for full power, mainsail on tight and only enough luff tension to remove the wrinkles in the main and jib. We have a very stiff and longer than normal centreboard made by Mark Thorpe. This seems to help a little with height and speed in these mid range conditions.

Perhaps because the set up is pretty inflexible with very little give in the mainsail's leach and minuscule mast bend we lacked relative speed in the higher wind range. As well, our technique is not as well practiced in higher wind or as good as the top St George boats. The technique used in the stronger winds the mainsail is twisted quite a lot but the boat is flat as it should always be.

We sail with no vang and little mainsail luff tension up to the point where we are overpowered.

Then we apply a lot of vang and ease the mainsail to keep the boat flat (always aim to keep the boat dead flat except in drift conditions when some heal is needed to keep the sails hanging). Once it gets over 20 knots we let out the mainsail traveler and lift the (longer than normal) centreboard. This helps in keeping control of the mainsail leech while allowing us to ease pressure and keep the boat flat.

In most conditions I adjust the over rotation using the wind vane as a guide. A simple rule is to point the mast into the apparent wind ie align mast with the vane. The wind vane I find very useful to steer on 3/4 and square runs. Jibe angles when running square and the sheeting and wind angles broad runs are best judged using this simple and cheap device. I notice a lot of MG's don't carry wind vanes so maybe others have deloped a better way of judging these angles and adjustments.

In the States, Bernard and Ben as usual were more consistent across the range of conditions and deserved their win with a heat to spare. They are a fine crew and difficult to beat in any race in any wind in any waters. Eclipse on the other hand has good speed and reasonable technique in moderate winds and flatter water. We are aiming to extend r range of good performance into the higher wind velocities and also to change the rig to suit lumpier water.

I will try more rake in the mast (ours is quite upright) for this stronger wind & bigger waves next season. Setting the boat up to sail freer in very stong winds is also an aim. What Bernard and Ben seem able to do is to switch regimes. They can point with the highest when this fastest in moderate conditions and can free up to power through waves in the stronger stuff. Lessons for us all here. Congratulations to Gary Reeves in Phoenix who, since fitting an over rotating rig has improved markedly in speed and always sails consistently.

Some simple rules of thumb I use and which might be a useful starting point for MG tuning and adjustment are:

Set up jib sheeting angle to pull 70% down on the leach and 30% on the foot.
Steer upwind off the jib tuft one third of the way up the luff.
Keep jib on hard until breeze drops to 3 knots.
When both crew are in the boat ease the jib a fraction to let it flow and go for speed and not height.
In these 3 knot and less conditions ease stay tension to develop a little jib luff sag.
Also in very light conditions ease the main to prevent the leach at the top from stalling.
You need a ribbon on the third top batten to judge this. Just get it to fly and then pull on a little more.
Sheet the main on the centreline and tight unless the wind is very light or you are overpowered.
When overpowered vang in hard and ease the main to keep the boat flat.
Lean flat out and adjust the main tension to keep the boat very flat.
In stronger wind and larger waves use more mast rake. Lift centreboard a little.
Pull on the vang to control the leech when the main is eased ie down wind and in overpowered conditions to windward - otherwise leave it off.
Use the vang and sheeting down wind to keep the tufts on the main flying. If you don't have wool tufts fitted on the main fit them (total cost 0.02 cents). The one on the third top batten is the most important.
Over-rotate the mast to point the mast into the wind - use the wind vane as a guide. If you don't have one keep guessing.
Keep the boat flat flat flat. All modern dinghy hulls are designed to sail flat and all sails and centreboards are more effective pointing directly at air and water respectively.
Centreboards pointing at air and sails at water is very slow and should be avoided (we are still learning). Don't capsize near wandering drift fishermen - better yet don't capsize at all.