Robert,
these days I don’t know anyone else with an IF. However, a friend of mine has a Nordic Folkboat with good sails. That boat is supposed to be one or two percent slower than the IF, if none of them sets a spinnaker, so we can make decent comparisons. Frankly, I doubt if I can beat that FB to windward, but should be happy enough to be only 3-4% slower. On all the other legs, I am pretty sure my IF will be faster. Therefore, in a race from A to A, around something, my guess is that the IF will be fastest.

Compared to the Alo 28, the IF is supposed to be around 1% slower (according to handicaps), if both use spinnaker. Johanna’s wll. is around 75cm longer. The hull speed of the Alo 28 is about 6.3kts while that of the IF is around 6.0.

I am not so worried about the IF’s extra wetted surface. I get paid back in lack of leeway. Johanna had a quite inefficient foil in her fin keel, as most of its iron was in the bulb. She surely went well on flat water, but she struggled with leeway in a lumpy sea, and also when coming out of a tack. I have yet to try Ingeborg upwind against some swell, but she surely accelerates well out of a tack, and always goes where I point her.

Yesterday, while being fully close-hauled, a gust hit us and half of the side deck went under. No problem, Ingeborg’s reaction was just to pick up speed , and then some more speed...

That is good enough for me.

Arne

That rig's a real beauty, Arne!  She looks great.  Congratulations.

Learning to sail Ingeborg

Fifth trip in Ingeborg today. Little by little things are finding their place. The sprayhood has been fitted  -  which called for moving the boom up by around 15 cm. I guess I will lift the boom another 10cm to let me raise and lower the sprayhood with the furled bundle centred. Luckily the mast is long enough this time.

The beast must be removed  -  I mean the full length Bermuda main sheet track, right across the cockpit. That thing is a real pain (literally)  -  and appears to be both bolted and glued in place. I must bring a sledge hammer tomorrow.

Ingeborg’s speed does not impress me: Even today, in around 14kts wind we only just reached 6 kts downwind, touching 6.5. I guess her bottom needs a scrub  -  actually I hope so. Maybe I have expected too much? After all, Frøken Sørensen’ is 25cm longer in the waterline than Ingeborg, surprise, surprise.

(FS is a real low-resistance boat  -  her 2.3hp Honda makes her touch 5kts on flat water...)

When you have learned to know a boat, it feels awkward to be in a new one: In Ingeborg I still feel clumsy and a bit helpless, but little by little I learn the steps as I tack her (going from 25° heel to 25° heel the other way).

On the last upwind leg today I reefed her for the first time. That went well (after a bit more clumsy fiddling). Now, since the sail rides in the fore position under full sail, the first reef is no longer connected with negative batten stagger  -  so there was no need for shortening the boom the way I use to do. But it doesn’t hurt either.

And yes, I did sail her back into her berth, so I have not completely lost the touch. The wind was just about perfect for that today. With 14 kts blowing, the last 5-6 boat lengths went under bare mast. In the berth, an aft spring line with a rubber snubber waits for me. All I need to do is to grab it  ( no rail in the way) and put it over the port genoa winch  -  followed by the fore spring line to stop us from being shot out again by that rubber snubber...

I am sooo glad the previous owner had not completed the refit, so the pulpit, pushpit etc. was not fitted yet. It certainly will not be fitted by me.

Sooo, little by little, Ingeborg and I will become friends  -  I hope...

Cheers, Arne.

  
PS: Finally a couple of photos on the port tack. Note the shiny Odyssey III...

Arne Kverneland wrote:

The problem is not to make a boat balance reasonably well to windward. The problem is to deal with the rise in weather helm as one falls off onto a reach or run (reach is worst). I have therefore started to compare the chord of the sails with the waterline length of the boat.

Ah, I didn't catch that nuance originally.  Since the CoE moves forward as you let out the main sheet, you're getting more weather helm.  That makes sense, and I can see why the split rig remediates this somewhat. 

I've got a good sized skeg-hung rudder, albeit not balanced, on my fin keel.  With her original rig she was not heavy helmed, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

Arne wrote, " I would think that the split junk rig, SJR, is more forgiving on a reach in this respect than the low-balance sails that I use to make, since there is about 30% balance in the sail of a SJR. In other words, if you get the balance right for close-hauled sailing, it will stay quite right on a reach as well. I am sure Slieve can verify that.."

Yes I can. I feel the high balance of the split rig is a major asset and makes for an easily handled boat. It's great for lazy sailors like me.

By the way, the Round the Island race is tomorrow and Edward and Steve are racing Amiina with its new split rig. There are a number of significant changes in this rig, so it will be interesting to see how they get on. They can be tracked during the race by following the link on the J P Morgan Round the Island web site. They are in the ISCRS Division 8D, starting at 10:10. It looks like a windy race for a small light boat, and could be very tiring. I wish them good luck.

Cheers, Slieve.