David Henshall, a British sailing journalist, recently published this interesting historical account on the FD, and allowed us to publish it on our website. I did not know that Great Britain was so much involved with our class. The photos are also very interesting.
David told me he is working on another article on the FD. I can’t wait!
This is a true story of a friend who was on his way to a regatta in Austria. He was driving along on the Autobahn in his compact commuter and a trailer with his FD. As he was cruising along in the middle lane, suddenly his car stopped; it happened so quickly that he didn’t have time to maneuver his vehicle to the emergency lane. The next car behind him could not stop in time and crashed into the FD. Here is the outcome:
You could say my friend’s FD sacrificed her life to save the life of her skipper…
It appears there was some kind of defect in the car’s transmission. The insurance will replace the broken FD with a good FD of similar age. My friend, who is turning 80 this year, is determined to continue sailing FD.
That’s determination!
This September Paul Hemker has organized the Oktoberfest Regatta on Brookville Lake, Indiana. This is a beautiful lake, about 10mi long and 1mi wide, with good wind and warm water, and located here: https://goo.gl/maps/o2eqwgyHQe45KU7B8.
We had 3 Flying Dutchman boats reaching the location and competing seriously while having fun and enjoying the venue. This was a true Three Amigos event, where we got to meet new people, make new friends, and comment on the various rigging innovations that the open design of the Flying Dutchman class allows. While the event was located in Indiana, we had teams coming from Ohio (Paul Hemker), Michigan (Peggy Menzies, Razvan Adam, and Ovidiu Adam), and Missouri (John Bick and Rick Mitchell).
The Race Committee has succeeded to run all the 7 races scheduled in two days. The first day the wind blew 10kn with gusts of 20kn, while on the second day it dropped to about 8-19kn.
We did enjoy very welcome and highly appreciated meals at the end of each of the days on the picnic area on the beautiful lawn near the ramps. The venue is easy going, and allows boat launch from both the dolly and the trailer. And best of all, cars may be parked near the boats.
Overall the three participating teams have won the three places on the podium in a win-win outcome where friendship, fun and the beauty of sailing the Flying Dutchman were the most valuable prizes. I am looking forward to return for the next event hosted here.
Pictures and videos are available here, courtesy of Daniel CaJacob, our PRO:
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/PjR5VJr1CY5KmzzW9
The second photo shows a Hans Mader all wooden boat from the same period but less advanced, with a half double bottom. This one has a curved traveller track. The controls are set up in a similar way and very simple. I suppose this boat had the spinnaker sack on the port side, which is unusual.
Ovidiu Adam reports that he is happy to be able to sail the Flying Dutchman on Baseline Lake with my colleagues and friends from the Michigan Sailing Club. The venue offers wonderful conditions for both casual sailing and racing, allowing a couple of FDs to sail, race, and shine in the middle of a mixed fleet. We are now expecting a 3rd boat to join the party.
Ken Frankel has been sailing on Lake Washington with crews Kim McDonald and Ondrej Lehecka. Ken has also been doing some very trick work on his mast. Check out the block that Ken made to repair his carbon mast.
The backing plate was CNC’d machined. It properly reacts to the forces from the genoa halyard that are trying to pull the sheave forward out of the mast, as well as downward along the mast. Rivets seem to be the standard approach, and this results in very concentrated loads that a carbon mast doesn’t deal with very well. In the pictured setup, the machine screws serve only to keep the sheave from falling into the mast; the screws themselves have no significant load. The metal plate distributes the forces over comparatively large areas, reducing the pressures dramatically. This is much friendlier to a carbon structure.
Ken has a whole CNC machine shop equipped to make aerospace parts. Ken would welcome other FD sailors who have projects for their boat to come to his shop to use the facility to fabricate their own specialty items.
Here is a short note to start off your week. Henry Weinhardt and family have been sailing USA 838 on Lake Simcoe for 15 years. The boat and the sailing venue look fantastic! Henry reports that the boat is in great condition and that he loves the boat. Henry, thank you for the short note.
During my 5-week visit of Austria and despite restrictions from the Corona virus, the opportunity arose for your US Class Secretary/Treasurer to compete in the Austrian Championships together with a new young sailor who recently bought a used 1985 Mader FD. There was a steep learning curve for Gregor to learn everything from how to set sails to trapezing. We also had a number of equipment failures, but we were able to finish all seven races except for one. Here is a quick summary of the Championships.
Because of Corona and a bad weather forecast, probably none of the 23 teams from six nations (from Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Croatia, Great Britain, and Austria) expected such good races on the water and such a relaxed get-together on land.
The Austrian Championships started on Thursday evening, with a lot of rain and traditionally fine burgers and beer, all in strict compliance with Corona rules. At the time, nobody counted on sailing on Friday.
After the usual North wind suddenly appeared on Friday afternoon, three sporting races could be completed in 10 to 15 knots of wind.
GER-87 with Hans-Peter Schwarz and Roland Kirst sat confidently at the top of the ranking. AUT-39 with Martin Pfund and Christoph Zingerle positioned themselves with good results for the title of national champion.
On Saturday, the very accomplished race committee sent the FD fleet, including the six UFO-class boats, which also competed for their champions, onto the water despite the thunderstorm clouds on the entire horizon. And immediately both classes had to endure a heavy downpour, which was followed by bright sun and calm winds.
Some boats took advantage of the long waiting time for a trip to Pertisau on the other side of the lake for refreshing ice cream. The North wind set in late in the afternoon, allowing just enough time for a fourth race to make the FD Championships complete. Last year’s winners GER-222 Felix Albert and Lukas Merz won this race, followed by GER-87. In the evening, the traditional party in front of the boathouse was not detracted by Corona: there was great music, fancy drinks, and people even waltzed on the grass.
On Sunday morning it cleared up and the expected southerly wind set in and lasted until late afternoon.
Three exciting and challenging light wind races were sailed, of which GER-222 won and thus secured the overall victory, followed by GER-87 in second place.
Third in the overall ranking went to the Swiss Stephan Fels and Ulf Hügel with SUI-1.
Austrian champions were AUT-15 Gerhard and Rainer Ulrich, who on Sunday caught up with last year’s champions Jacob Holzinger and Paul Srienz with the same number of points but secured the championship title due to their better placement in the last run. Third in the championship standings were AUT-39 Pfund and Zingerle, who on Sunday could not match the successes they had on the first day.
It was a wonderful championship – thanks to the confident race management on the water and the experienced team on land around Paul Hullehaar, Martin Pfund and Christoph as well as Philipp Zingerle. Thank you so much! We are already looking forward to next year, then hopefully without Corona. You can find the overall result here.
Marc Strittmatter AUT-8, translated into English by Gerhard Panuschka, who also competed with a new Austrian FD sailor