Are we wet yet?

Well, no. Not quite but we are darn close.

Big things are happening behind the scenes for team RAF. It looks as though our persistent phone calls and e-mails might soon equate to some new gear for the whole team! Gosh we hope so. But I will keep you on the seat of your pants again until all the details are worked out. We are pretty exited.

Hey, also check out www.sailinanarchy.com who just posted an article we wrote about the EC and our team. Thanks Scot, for helping us get the word out.

The schedule has us in the water by the end of next week. In regards to the boat we need to (as we like to say) DOOO IIIT! We are working hard to finish up the crossbeam mounting points, cockpits, and seats but in order to do this we need to get the boat out from under the terrible tarp which means getting a storage unit pronto. We are patiently awaiting the word from our friendly neighborhood storage unit manager who is really a nice guy and is doing his best to locate something for us free of charge for the month of Feb. Keep fingers crossed.
After painting; rudders, hatches and leeboards will have to wait until after the first sea trials (lake trials). I was messing around a bit in paint and I think I got a little carried away but these two pictures do demonstrate some of the design changes that we made to the "stock" Wa'apa.











Notice that the crossbeam location has been shifted 4 feet forward essentially which allowed for better distancing between sailors and will help with stability in the long run. The Ama's are also a bit shapelier. Rudders with footpedal control will be used for hands free steering. The top of the hull is also fully decked with "kayak" style cockpits that will use conventional sprayskirts. The mainsail is also different. We would ideally like to use a roller reefing sail design in which the mainsail rolls up around the unstayed mast. This allows the mainsail to be continuously reefable and it also keeps the deck clean when the sail is fully furled. We are also toying with the idea of a jib and we would definitely like to have a spinnaker for downwind legs. For this we would probably employ a temporary backstay that went from the top of the mast to the crossbeams.

Here is a picture of the second leeboard. The first one is already finished. It will be shaped this way front and back for a symmetrical cross section. Since Mike, Matt and I are Aerospace engineers after all, there was much discussion about how the leeboard should be shaped for maximum lift through the water. In the end we decided that simple was best and so symmetrical it is. We also were thinking about using dual leeboards (one on each side) but again realized that we can add another one later if we want to. Right now we just need to get on the water.

Stay tuned for more updates and keep an eye on www.sailinganarchy.com if you don't already.

Thanks for checking in.