New Ariel Speed Record !!!

[frank durant]

11.4knots SOG !!!!! strictly under sail !!!! Beat that all you west coasters/racy types. Varified by chart plotter on a very windy , very high wave ,broad reach coming up from out front of Bimini towards West Palm beach. Man these ole gals go on a reach !! It was one of those majic days with a double reefed main/jib combo and both the wind and waves on the border line of scary.Did 27NM in 3hr 10 min with the peak surge being 11.4 !! Just for the record you west coast guys.....the 4 1/2 knot gulf stream push had NOTHING to do with it...honest. I'll be off for quite a while more..anchored out the majority of the time and most marinas when we do stop don't have wireless.

[mbd]

Good to hear from you Frank! Break out the water skis!

Man am I jealous. It was 4 degrees here this morning and blowin hard. The last thing I wanted to do was get out and sail. You'll have to let us all know how your mods have worked out: what were you especially pleased with and what were you not so pleased with. Nice to hear from someone out there doing it! Have a great cruise.

[frank durant]

I'm typing (pecking actually) this sitting at the dockmasters outside bench in Port lucaya Grand Bahama Island. Revival is resting at her slip after a 20hr,84knm crossing from Ft Lauderdale.An Amazing night at sea.First time I've had illuminated phospherous...kinda like flouresant green glowing sparkles every time the bow slashed. At about 1-30am,I watched the most beautiful HUGE red moon raise up from the east...I was literally heading right into it.I sat on the forward cabin roof watching this for hours...autohelms are amazing things.Clean-up and relax day today.Judy flys in tomorrow,then off exploring the Abacos again.

[BJOAS]

Jealous doen't begin to describe how I feel right now.

[Lucky Dawg]

11.4knots SOG !!!!! strictly under sail !!!! Beat that all you west coasters/racy types. Varified by chart plotter on a very windy , very high wave ,broad reach

I need mathmatic or physics assistance...

Can someone help me understand the relationship between theoretical hull speed and the actual sailing capacities of these yachts. We did 7.2 the other day and I thought I was getting a bad reading or something - or just one FINE sailor. Frank put my speed to shame! I understand the theoretical hull speed mathmatical calculation, but why are these boats apparently regularly far surpassing that?

[frank durant]

OK OK.....please re-read my post and you'll see "the 4 1/2 knot gulf stream push had NOTHING to do with it...honest"....... and if ya believe that...well...... (the speed over ground was accurate,but I was near the appex of the gulf stream sailing N with it) Having said that...these designs DO surpass hull speed often, paticularly on any kind of reach. Remember that waterline increases as the boat heels.

[ebb]

No JEALOUSEY, yeah, jist a lousey sinking feeling of will I ever make it!
Well of course I will! the wind in my thinning scalp, the sand between my toes, the frosty at a beachfront cafe.......

But we do have this thread here that came along with the past intact!! That's cool and breezey.

As to exceeding the numbers for the A/C hull....
Let me just say this: I've seen 100s of hulls on the hard at the yard where I slave dilligently on Little Gull. Numbers be damned: the Ariel hull I'm working on is THE MOST PERFECT KEEL-HULL SHAPE ever conceived. From entry to bustle it is clean and true. The rudder at the end on the keel must make the least amount of fuss thru the water than any other.

The rounded angles of the hull at the forward waterline, the break in the blige amidship, the tuck and rise of the hull leaving the waterline at the stern. Without flaw. The sculpting of the ballast keel without any bulbous. As fine a stem entry sweeping into the bottom of the keel as can be imagined. I cannot see how any better, easier, shaping of this deep underbody that becomes the rudder can be done. It's all curves with a single purpose of slipping 5500 pounds thru the water. No bumps, no flats , no wingy-thingys.

The underbody shape of the Ariel is without flaw. This is the essence of the word finesse. I haven't seen it better anywhere. Not even the folkboat. Not talking engineering, talking bout that warm feeling you get when something LOOKS right. You mean
that gorgeous babe will let me touch her!!!

I'd guess much less fuss than a fin keel and rudder on a skeg or stand alone. When this kind of underbody turns even slightly, eddys are made, and while by definition you get lift you also get the water being glued to the boat on the other side. How much wetted surface there is in relation to weight is important in the dinghy/finkeel shape underbodies currently in fashion.

But I think the rounded, natural, fish like underbody on 338 is as near to perfection any boat of this type has even been conceived. Carl Alberg, who never let anyone mess with his lines, and I guess, with the many boats of all sizes he drew, certainly experienced a sort of swedish satori which produced the perfectly proportioned waterline and underbody on the Ariel/Commander. How often did he repeat it? Every enlightened line came together to blossom as the true nature of sailboat.

Alberg's own sailboat was C-302. Isn't that so? WHY? Did he know something we don't know?

It's beyond the measly numbers and the comfortable BS of yacht design formulas. Because that garbage can't explain why the Ariel goes faster or looks better than it's supposed to. Can they? Certain socalled inanimate objects sometimes make it over to the magical side. The Ensign? The Alberg 30? The Triton? NOPE, only the Ariel/Commander made it to this other side.

[Lucky Dawg]

Ebb, we were writing at the same time!

this is re Frank's response.
----

Right, I did read that! I'm sure you're glad you weren't going against it.

Nonetheless, 5.76 knots isn't really an accurate estimate of our hull speed. I doubt that my 7.2 is top speed. Likely "theoretical" hull speed doesn't calculate actual sailing but just the mass of a boat at rest at the waterline/sail area/water density/etc - and therefore everyone's hull speed is simply a comparable average that isn't exactly true to the real sailing of each boat.

So the question "what will she do?" stands...

I know I sound hung up on this heel and speed thing but I am really just curious

[frank durant]

Please...argue with Ebb..get another responce.I really like reading his 'poetry'. He writes to the extreme of his detailed boat restoration. These craft ARE beautiful..they DO sail extremely well...their motion IS great....but Ebb puts the same facts down SOOooo much better

[commanderpete]

The theory is that a displacement boat can't get over the bow wave it creates going through the water and get up on plane

[Lucky Dawg]

Please...argue with Ebb..

Au contraire! Not arguing by any stretch - throwing my ignorance at the mercy of the well informed.

[commanderpete]

Heeling the boat gives it a longer waterline and spreads the distance between the bow and stern wave, allowing greater speed

So, to answer your question, I have no idea.

I just like to look at pictures

[Lucky Dawg]

C'Pete - now that's a convenient angle! You can wash your hands in the drink without leaving the comfort of your tiller-side seat.

Alas, these are likely just the idle questions of a single hander... Cripes I'm out there and the ol' noggin has to occupy itself with something!

The storm clouds have given up for the afternoon - I'm going sailing

[frank durant]

....."Au contraire! Not arguing by any stretch - throwing my ingorance at the mercy of the well informed.".....I was just hoping to get another poetic responce out of him
__________________

[CapnK]

What Ebb said about the lines of A/C's - exactly.

I've looked very closely at many other Albergs (while trying hard not to be biased, even!) - Triton, B27, A30 and 35, Cape Dorys - and I really do think that the lines on the A/C's are just a smidgen more 'perfect' than any other that Carl drew. Very very subtle differences, but they are there.

Of course, any of the above vessels far and away have more beautiful lines than just about any other boat, especially production boats. I will gladly admit to an Alberg bias.