Massive Nosedive Video, but all is fine sailing an Oz Goose - New Speed Record?

Home » Massive Nosedive Video, but all is fine sailing an Oz Goose – New Speed Record?

oz Goose seconds before massive nosedive. Video here. Storer boat plans

Video of that high speed nosedive down the page. And an interesting peak speed on GPS

Raceday – Racing Cancelled because of strong winds

A regular raceday looks more like this. But today there is a lot of wind. How is a cheap plywood box going to hold up in the conditions? 18 to mid 20s as gusts barrel down parallel with the shore.

Oz Goose sail boat race fleet on Taal Lake.. There is a second fleet in Cebu. - storer boat plans

We are at the Taal Lake Y.C. and, as the Committee boat goes out to start line, wind gets stronger.

As we launch the Oz Geese (info) the wind comes howling in. I start worrying about the guys who have just a year’s sailing experience.

And Rich is an OK level sailor but a bit rusty.

How will they cope?

Will the wind moderate or call off the racing?

Oz Goose Square Boat in really strong wind. storerboatplans.com

It was pretty hard getting the boats upwind, photo is me slowly grinding my way photogenically upwind (or at least the boat is photogeniacly backlit), sails set wide to try and keep footing so the centreboard would stop the boat sliding sideways. Only to be hammered by a mad gust well above 25 struggle to keep any speed with sail mostly luffing.

Downwind was pretty amusing. This is a video still from the nosedive video. Boat is kiting over the top of one wave.

Far too much wind; two less experienced crews and one rusty sailor. Two experienced.

In the end we called off the racing and the wind got stronger. One boat capsized and drifted downwind. Rich sailing solo. He had a heart attack last year. He rights the boat, gets in and sails upwind back to the club in the mad conditions. Crashboat standing by in case he gets into trouble. Later he grins and wants to retell the tale. So all was good.

Roy in the boat with teeth is the guy that organises everything, from Family Boatbuilding Weekends to even getting the racing going and handing the internet activities of the PHBYC. His Monsoon Marine builds boats and makes kits. He is a big guy and one of the top sailors in our fleet. Just about equal with him in the racing is Job Ferranco who is around 60kg. And the two person boats can win with good handling too. Goose is lively with his weight even in light winds.

Disability Sailors equal with the rest of us

Back to the water. Now 18 to 25kn is the minimum and about every five minutes someone pulls a switch and turns on the turbo. Whitecaps as far as you can see. Tacking angle down to around 70 or maybe 80 degrees, but the Oz Geese are still barging their way upwind.

This crew is one of our new ones. Joy and Ritchie are members of “Amputees 4 Life” (Amp4Life). Both have only one leg. Joy is aiming for making the Paralympic Sailing Team. We also have another two crews of Paralympic Sailors, Leader Cherrie and Clyte. Cherrie, who is one of the quick sailors, is also a leg amputee and Clyte has a very weak hand grip both hands, so the light tiller loads of the Goose in all situations are ideal for her as she can sail as aggressively as she likes. Oz Goose information here.

Doing speed runs. Record was 13.8 knots

Upwind enough and over to the right far enough from shore; about 600 metres, I can do some speed runs, curving down towards the Start Boat as pressure and apparent wind take me there. Have to bear away too far for best speed to get around the Committee Boat so runs start off fast with lots of ground being covered and then slow as I go past the boat.

Nosedive

Commodore Peter Capotosto on the Start Boat with his camera is getting some really nice videos and stills.

And then he gets this one of the nosedive.

Boat muscles its way up/through the obstructing wave and over the top.

There have been lots of comments about how lucky or skilled I was getting out of that. There is much less skill or luck required in the goose.

Because I was pushing hard I did three of these nosedives. Remember that the wind was over the mid 20s, otherwise it is not worth pushing the nose down to get the power for a speed run. The nosedive can be reduced by either sailing more conservatively or reefing the sail. Also be steering more across the wave, but I would have hit the committee boat. But the Oz Goose is no drama even at high speed. Just fun.
Look carefully at the video. There is no radical steering required. Tiller is central. I wave the extension a bit as I try to move back even further to pop the bow out Boat never wants to veer left or right unlike most pointy nose boats. Tiller load is very light and balanced at all times.
Stability of these boats is enormous. In his early days Job sailed a whole downwind leg sitting on the wrong side of the boat in just sub 20kn winds. The boats are not stodgy and slow but they have this huge stability reserve.
And no water came into the boat at all during that big crash. It seldom does.

Oz Goose Info and Plans available here.