Welcome to our Newsletter which we are sending to our Helpers, Sponsors, Suppliers and other interested parties. We will be sending a new one out every month or so depending on what's been happening. I hope that you find it informative and enjoy it. Do write in or send us an e-mail if you wish to contribute to it or have any suggestions to help with the project.
The New Team
The Management Team has now changed Tom Marriott has found full time employment in the Norfolk area, so hopefully he will be able to escape from time to time to come and help. David Rich has also left the company.
We would like to welcome David Topsfield to the team he will be running the office with the help of Carolyn.
The Office has also moved from "The Reddings" to Simon's & Carolyn's new home the address is :
61 Dale End
Brancaster Staithe
Norfolk
PE31 8DA
Tel/Fax: 01485 210951
Mobile: 0831 134031
Email: ussc@talk21.com
www.ussc.co.uk
Our New Site
In order to minimise damage to the beach and its ecology and also to allow us access to the boat at all states of the tide when the road floods we have taken the boat from its former site last year and will be resiting it near its winter storage close to the sea wall. The new site has the advantage of less wind blow and will now escape the worst of the high tides. We have also agreed a new access through the adjoining farmers land which will give us good vehicle access to the new site.
Modifications to "Bootiful"
Over the spring this year we have made several modifications to the boat to make it go faster and be easier to sail.
The hulls have grown "wings" out of the transoms so that tracks could be moved 400mm further back. This allows the rig to be moved further back so we have greater luffing up power. Last year we could not luff up at all if the sail was sleeted out! It will also allow us to sail with a greater stagger between the hulls so when the leward hull is fully forward the windward hull will be further back. This will make Bootiful plane at a slightly higher angle of attack more bows up. This should produce more lift reducing the wetted hull area hopefully leading to higher speed. The optimum angle of attack is 5º. Last year we were running with less than that. The steering blocks, pulleys and padeyes under the cockpits have had to be moved to accommodate the 400mm rearward movement of the tracks and at the same time we have changed the blocks so that the single blocks have been changed to double on the decks and the singles have been bolted by the padeyes underneath the cockpits. This system will not be used straight away but means if the steering forced required on the pedal winches becomes too high the 2:1 reduction can be changed easily to 4:1 to double the power of the winches.
We have also removed the "other side" steering winches from the front cockpits to give more room for cameramen, sponsors, yachting correspondents etc.
Harken have made us new custom steering cars to move the hulls back and forwards. The old ones had started to corrode badly where the helicoils for the bolts had been taped in. The new ones have more metal round the bolt holes which have been anodised too this time.
A new halyard lock has been designed, manufactured, tested and then fitted on to the track at the mast head. It uses a stainless steel triangular paw which comes out through a slot in the track to lock the top headboard car in place at the top of the mast track.
Last year the sail constantly slipped down slightly, as the halyard was locked off on the X beam and kept stretching. This lead to too much twist in the sail slack appearing in the luff, the boom end getting close to the water and the bottom batten getting caught on the rear cross stay when we tacked.
All four stays were tested to destruction over the winter, 3 failing at 2 tonnes and one at 200kg or less! They were supposed to be good for 6 tonnes. Regnart rigging had discovered that PBO our stay material was degraded by normal light as well as ultra violet and needed replacing. Our new stays have black covers. We have also glued 4 strain gauges to the titanium end fittings of each stay so that we can measure the force in each stay with a strain gauge reader when we tighten the lashings. We can also read the tension in one stay while we are sailing.
Other modifications include:- Compasses have been fitted into the two steering winches each side so steering the boat will be easier.
New stronger stiffer canopy hoops have been made to stop them being broken off. The front boom end has been reinforced as a couple of small cracks were found and a new lightning conductor system has been fitted as the resistance was too high in the old one.
Also we are just about to blow new cockpit canopy bubbles from a tougher plastic to replace the old ones and repaint the cross beam with new non slip as it is starting to wear off.
Finally if anyone fancy's helping with the maintenance and modifications of the boat do give us a call as there is always something to be done.
Volunteer News
It was very good to see everyone at the dinner on the 18th January 2000 and to thank everyone that help dismantle the boat for the winter.
Jamie Borthwick of Northshore Boat Yard was asked to give us the necessary tuition on the Rib, Tom Marriott, Tim Snelling and Clifford Nye went on the course and passed with flying colours.
Simon and Tim Snelling have also been on a First Aid Course.
Tuition is also required for Radio procedures and any other safety aspects this will be readily available to anyone needing it.
We have also included our Sailing Schedule for the coming year which indicates the possible days when the tides and daylight hours coincide (high lighted in red). Twenty-four hour notice will be given to you when forecasts indicate a favourable weather conditions apply. Whilst we only call out volunteers when the forecast looks good the previous day , we also aim to have a pre-recorded message on the action day if you wish to to check to make sure we are still hoping to sail.
We look forward to seeing you all in the coming year and hope we may rely on your support without which we cannot really achieve our objective to beat The World Speed Sailing Record.
If you know of anyone who would like to join our volunteer team they can contact either David or Carolyn in the office for further information.
Website News
www.ussc.co.uk
With the assistance of Jason Borthwick we are revamping the website www.ussc.co.uk and hopefully by the end of June it should have its new look. We have also linked our weather station to our website to show wind speed, wind direction, max. windspeed temperature and wind chill. It is updated every 30 mins. and because it is sited on the roof of our office in Brancaster Staithe you need to add an extra 50% to get the wind speed on the beach.
Many thanks for all your help last
year and we hope to see you all shortly.
Simon, Carolyn & David