Some items that I think would be worthwhile discussing (design and pics if possible) Out haul systems for class5. Adjustable steering Brake setups. Couple of out hauls

Those wheels are very 'this years mainland Europe'. All looking very tidy. Which wheel are you looking at braking? I saw a neat front brake on a class 5 at the regatta - hopefully he'll be using it this weekend and I'll get a photo (if not for you but for me). Simple cable running inside the front chassis tube to a pivoting loop of 8mm rod pulled onto the front tyre. Simple, tidy, well out of the way. I'll be wandering around the worlds 'blagging' ideas with the camera Cheers Col

Outhaul system I made a few years ago. I found if I changed the rear pulley to a larger diameter (arround 30mm) I only needed a 2:1 ratio instead of the 3:1 which meant less chord to deal with when it was fully hauled in. The wheels were from a sliding door track.

Aus230 is now ready for next season. Ended up fitting a 2 lever out haul The front break idea that AUS4 came up with is a back peddle bike brake activated by a peddle above my steering arm it works great. aus230 ready to race

Yes it is only for the starting line, This is an area that I have had problems with in standing starts that we have here in aus. as I can not stop the yacht rolling when powered up so it has caused for a slow start.

Havent seen a two lever outhaul before Vic Clever stuff! Or the back pedal brake being used either

Edit: FOUR settings. You tricky little engineer you... having the rope in different holes so that lever 1 down and 2 up is different to 2 down and 1 up.

Hi Vic, Just thought I'd mention that I developed the double lever as an improvement on the single one for the Faze 5 Given. I've used them on all my racing cl 5 yachts since then. Some of your efforts look like they would work even better, I tried always to keep the whole thing very compact, which meant that sometimes there wasn't enough leverage.

Thanks Bill, good to know where it all started. Have you a pic of your setup. Cheers vic

That would be a good way to damage the sail, as the sail would be free to flap around and lead to tearing/ripping at batten pockets etc. Also it would be another rope to tangle and it would take time to use(by which time you would most likely to have tipped over)

Freco, It seems to me that your idea is tantamount to dropping the Sheet to releasing the sail and loosing all wind from it. The end result will most likely be a mast and sail brought down on top of you, a very expensive mistake. It happened to me when Land Yacht and my self where traveling too fast in a restricted area. Coupled with forcing the YL to spin out and dropping the Sheet to release wind pressure causing the Mast to Whip madly and Crunch the whole thing came down around my ears causing all of what TP1 said above plus a Broken 100% Carbon Fiber Mast. No I too, do not think a quick release. You will find that by hauling your sail in tight and spinning out will cause you to slow very quickly and be an enjoyable experience to boot. Ron PS; aus230, Will you take those damned pic's down?? They are causing me to turn GREEN (Envy) every time I see them.

The standard blokart has what they call a turban which is a cup made from nylon strap material that fits over the top of the mast. The top eyelet of the sail is attached to the turban with a short piece of line which is therefore adjustable. The mast crane option eliminates the turban and the sail is shackled directly to the crane. The alleged benefit of the crane is that it makes the rotation of the sail on the mast easier. Theoretically I would agree but it is a little hard to measure. I think the main benefit is that it positively fixes the height of the sail on the mast. For yachts other than blokarts, a mast crane allows fitting of a shorter sail lower down on a full length mast if there is an eyeleted wire strop fitted between the top of the sail and the crane. Doing this though might have the effect of tending to snap the top of the mast off. That could be counteracted by ties around the mast at the top of the sail and say halfway along the strop.

Nah!Keep building aus.. That looks like a real Desert Flyer/Salt Pan Slider If you ever get tired of it just ship it across here.. Ron

I suspect it will be smoking fast out on lefroy when the wind gets up, just when I was thinking I didnt have to get my ** together for september, now I have to make new wheels and a new sail!!!!!!

interesting question Vic. heres a quick summary. minis should have taken nappy rush ,circa2009 model and sail. add 6.5m mast. should have paid attention to the fact that airtrack was offering a 6.5m sail as an option on thier lovely minis. lesson learnt class 5 the way they are rigged for the surfaces they sail on is so completely unlike what we sail on that i suspect you couldnt set up the yacht on lefroy /walyungup and then race competitively on the beach in france. the conditions were awful, but the Europeans just tweeked thier yachts for the conditions and just got on with it. you have to be impressed when they can sail a class 5 in light winds over a surface that a 4WD quadbike get s bogged on sailshape and cut was completely different, mast bends and the effects of sheeting completely different, weight distribution absolutely at the other end of the spectrum to what we sail. when the yacht get home , I will glass some ballast holdersonto the seat ,thenI plan to rig as per what was neccesary in France and see if the yacht is even sailable on salt. I plan to repeat the experiment on a little 75km beach that chook is researching as well to see if we can at least have somewhere to trial all thees new lessons