Tuesday 9/18 - Germany 658 - Master Tuners

    The fine art of tuning a Nordic Folkboat for speed.  There is a reason these gentlemen are torturing this boat, to check the mast flex.  Sails may make a sailboat go, but the mast determines much of the sail's shape.  To get optimum speed, you need to shape the sails for optimum power.  This requires getting the sails and mast curve to match.  

Nordic Folkboats have wood masts, so no two are alike.  Here Christoph had the mast taken down to inspect while Dave Thompson stands in awe.  There have been calls to adopt alloy masts that are all the same.  This will make the boats similar in tune.  Most feel a wood mast is more of a challenge to master.  .

    This is Christoph Nielsen and his crew on Germany 658 trying to determine which sails are best.  They brought over two complete sets of sails, one for a stiff mast and another for a more flexible mast.  They drew US 102 to sail in this series, let's see what the mast looks like.  Looks straight under low load.  This will change when the jib is set.

    A little more load here, they are looking for an even bend, and the same on a port or starboard tack

    Downwind this mast appears to flex forward.  Christoph's opinion of this mast is indeed a challenge.  He feel it has a huge amount of flex up high but the base is stiff so it is impossible to get an even curve.  What is worse, it bends differently on a port or starboard tack. This is their challenge.

    Germany 658 - Klaus Reichenberger, Christoph Nielsen, Torben Dehn, Wolfgang Klemm, master tuners and about as close to rock stars as we have in the Folkboat world.