pompebled

Seems there still are a lot of Fairwinds around.

This very nice boat has been severely handicapped by its designers by the thick shallow keel, which limits the speed and windrange.

There's a solution however, watch the pics (and read the Dutch, if you can) in the link.
A couple of Dutch builders have removed the thick keelfin and replaced it with the keelfin and bulb from Graupner's Saphir (sold separately).

http://www.mzgn.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=106

We expect the Fairwind to be competitive to the Saphir, once the update has been done.

A similar surgery to Robbe's Comtesse (who has a similar brick shaped keel) has already resulted in a boat, capable of fending off a Saphir with success. (pics at the end of the Comtesse thread in the "Open Klasse" section of the same forum)
No wonder, as the upgraded Comtesse is 400 gr lighter than the Saphir...


Regards, Jan.

Guiri

Hey, Jan; wouldn't it have been easier to stick a Saphir hull and deck on the new fin
I must say, though, that the removeable fin is a slick idea and my "coffin" could have been reduced in size had I had a look at the way things are done in the Netherlands first.
Btw, a question for you. Do your compatriots find 10Kg/cm torque enough for the Safir (that's the rating of mine on 4.8 V) or would uprating the battery to 6 V be recommended.
Martin

pompebled

Hi Martin,

Yes, 10 kg for a sailservo is enough for the relative small sail area of the Saphir.

You might want to consider to go for a five cell (6V) receiverpack, as the extra power and speed come in very handy when rounding the markers.

Regards, Jan.

Focal Point

Any one with a Gooseneck in a Fairwind?
What kind of Gooseneck should I use in mine?



Regards,
Paulo

andy1499

An idea that one of our local club members considered and did was to detatch the main sail from the boom, making it 'loose footed'. This will give you better control of sail shape. (a better foil shape at the bottom)

A few issues ago, the AMYA magazine 'Model Yachting' featured the FW, and that's one of the things they recommended.

Andy

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

The Fairwind pages of the AMYA have lots of go fast mods that are allowed by class rules. Removing and replacing the keel isn't one of them. Don't show up at an AMYA sanctioned regatta with this modification. Check the class rules. Sure it might go faster on your local pond but it is not allowed for regulation racing. I personally prefer the Soling 1M any old how and it's much easier to build. Check out the latest issue of Model Yachting. The featured class is the Seawind. Also by Kyosho.

pompebled

Ballgunner,

You're absolutely right by mentioning that replacing the keel (and rudder) makes it class illegal.

In Europe however, I'm not aware of any Fairwind regatta sailing, so the only ones we see, sail in our so called "Open Class".

The bulk of the boats in this class at the moment are Graupner Saphirs (and the odd T.T. Voyager) and the Comtesse and Fairwind pilots were quite fed up of being smoked by them (a.o.)...

Instead of buying a new boat they updated theirs, with baffling results, as these boats are the ones to beat now.

Regards, Jan.

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

If you don't want to sail in class regattas and it makes the old Fairwind tub go faster I'm with you all the way. We have about eight Fairwinds on our pond but the club is very informal. We have four rules. #1 is no formal meetings, just come to the pond on Thursday mornings. #2 is NO OFFICERS. #3 is no dues of any kind. #4 is no racing.
I put all the "go fasts" that the class allows on my boat and it didn't go enough faster to make the extra work worth the trouble. Sold it to a guy in another state who races. He's happy and I have the money to build a third Soling 1M which I like. Not really fast but a good boat in a breeze.
Keep on having fun !

DONS BOAT WORKS

My Feedback: (3)

Ballgunner,
I like your rules!!

Don M.