.
I really had no plans to post anything about my Mkll wingmast until later this year but as we all love a good David & Goliath story, I thought this one was too much fun to miss, so read on.
After many requests for a wingmast design covering sizes above the 11m limit of my popular Mark l design, the onslaught of Covid gave me time and momentum to finally get this underway.
One of the most urgent demands came from Andre, a Farrier racer in Germany and after learning about his previous experiences with carbon fiber, vacuum bagging and infusion, it became clear he would be an ideal client to build the prototype, so the actual build was started in 2021.
It was a satisfying co-operation for both of us and after nearly 1000 emails between us, the first 40ft (12.2m) mast was completed barely 2 weeks before his first race, with sails only arriving days before he had to trail his boat up north to a start line in Wismar (near Denmark) … with finally only a couple of hours of shakedown the day before the race.
At that time I was not fully aware of what this first test would entail .. but check this out.
Andre was so trusting of my engineering and his own workmanship that he planned to do ‘a 1800 mile trip to the Arctic Circle and back’ as the very first trial for this new mast! Yes you read that right. ‘Dive right in and let’s see how this new stick works!’.
First, here is a short video clip that gives a very quick tour of the mast. Not hi-res but you can at least pause it on say the hound fitting or spreader to appreciate the overall product. It is designed for strength and efficiency with no compromise on either for the sake of a few kilograms, though it is still lighter than a conventional alum. mast that would have less material and flex more. (Finally linked to the above 'short video' words, NOT to the video image)
This wild and extremely challenging trip came out of Andre’s plans and desire to enter the longest and toughest race in Northern Europe … a 900 mile race the full length of the Baltic Sea that finishes less than 100 miles from the Arctic Circle at Tore, the most northern port on the Baltic, west of the border between Sweden and Finland. Barely 3 months before the race, about ½ the sea .. some 20,000 sq miles was covered in sea ice and that area is particularly rugged, with ice leaving 1000’s of rocky islands that get totally stripped of vegetation. Here is a satellite image of where the race takes you.
Typically, the boats that enter this 1 to 2 week race are 30 to 50ft in length as conditions can be hard with strong winds, rough water and cold temperatures up north. But Andre’s boat is only an 8.2m (27ft) trimaran so one of the smallest boats in the fleet of over 60 boats and he planned to tackle this singlehanded too ! When we factor in a totally new untested rig (mast & sails) this is almost too much to comprehend but Andre’s desire to get to the start line was strong so he packed up his boat, gear and supplies and hit the road for his 600 km haul to the start line.
He arrived just the day before and only had time for a couple of hours on the water to check out his new goodies (mast and sails). Good early planning saw that nothing major showed up.
Having sailed the SilverRudder a few times, Andre had some experience under his belt and made sure he got a good start. With that many boats getting caught in the middle of a large fleet, that’s a sure way of losing a lot of time and distance.
Here you can see Andre with his new white wingmast showing up clearly - off in 3rd place amongst the 18-48% longer multihulls.
Andre's good start had him up with the leaders in the early hours. Now when comparing his boat length with the 40ft of both the Dragonfly 40 Ultimate and ‘RED’ the very fast Open 40 monohull shown below, one could expect (on paper at least) a speed differential of around 20%, with all other things being equal. So how might Andre’s new rig change this, if at all ?
Well, as the hours ticked by, Andre’s boat Flaneur remarkably stayed 'right up with the big boys' and for several hours while sailing upwind, he even led the whole fleet to the surprise of many. The light airs gave Andre a chance to observe the air flow via tell tales and he was delighted to see that from top to bottom of the mast there was a nice clean airflow with no apparent separation, and also that the section did not readily stall as mast rotation was added.
.
The amazing thing to all those following his progress via the Race Tracker was that he was able to continually stay in company with the top boats in the fleet … two, much longer Dragonfly trimarans up to 40 ft, plus the very fast Open 40 that had already been successful in highly competitive races around the globe (see pic of RED at left).
After 2, 3 and even 4 days into the event, this diminutive boat was STILL holding on to 2nd or 3rd overall spot as the miles ticked by and as I quickly write this, he is now well past the ½ way mark with over 600 miles to his credit and is STILL in 2nd place overall with only an Open 40 up ahead and the two ‘hot’ Dragonfly’s a few miles astern. How long Andre can hold this is uncertain as he is alone and obviously running on adrenaline at the moment With so many boats and rocks around he cannot do more than take 20 min cat-naps for days on end. All the other boats in competitive range have a full crew so they can all get sleep and rest. This HAS to take a toll as the race heads north into colder air and water, making any sail changes a major ordeal for one person alone.
But to make 600 miles with this performance at least tells both Andre and myself (and even casual onlookers) that this wingmast really works. Although I was in touch with Andre at the beginning via shore-base mobile service, this disappeared as he headed north and the only words I got from him on his new rig were when he was close to shore ….. brief but encouraging.
“Mast working perfect. Extremely rigid. Minimal flow separation”
Once he arrives at wherever he is able to communicate from, I can (and will) add more .. but the full test will not be over until he is safely home. Congrats Andre for a truly remarkable performance …. and stay safe returning home
You can track the finish of this amazing race by dnloading the free App “YB Races” and then selecting “MidsummerSail” (an understatement if there ever was one) from the long list of tracked race events worldwide. ‘Teams’ give boat data and the ‘Leaderboard’ gives the current position of the 66 entries. Check in soon as this will be over by Sunday June 26 … unless they have an unofficial race home ;) Current speed and direction appear to be indicated under ‘Teams’
Hope you will join me at my armchair finish ;-))
mike
==========================================================
June 26th 6am
As I write this, RED, the Open 40 sits passed the Finish Line and has earned the prized Line Honours ... having sailed 941 nmls. Congrats to her and her crew. That last part was excrutiatingly slow for them as up-river winds were way down. Fortunately, they had a good margin over the 2nd boat which is now only about 8 miles from the finsh and still moving well.
Here is a map showing how the tracked 66 boats were still scattered over practically the whole length of the Baltic Sea as the winner (in green) reached the finish line. As noted above, one of the smallest boats in the race (an upgraded Farrier F82R of only 27ft, testing out the new Mk ll wingmast) took on the rest of the fleet that included monos over 50ft long and powerful multi's and dedicated ocean racers of 40ft. But rather astonishingly, this little trimaran will take honours for First Multihull and finish 2nd Overall. If that were not impressive enough, she was also sailed solo, meaning surviving over 5 days of only 20 min. cat naps to avoid collisions etc. (Footnote: Andre did later admit he had a few strange and even scary hallucinations, so doing this Solo with all that entails is clearly not for the faint of heart).
Being alone also limited and dictated where the solo sailed boat could be at times, and at one point he had to back-track out of a small inside passage that was a shortcut for many boats (including the winner), but solo sailor Andre Baetz realised the tight quarters would not enable him to get ANY sleep, so he gave up many miles from his position, to gybe back out and head for more open water outside the roughly 50 mile long island. By the time the leader re-emerged from the island passage he was many miles ahead so also reached the open middle section first with very favourable winds. At this point she was about 60 miles ahead of the little trimaran who spent the next 600 miles steadily eating away at this lead, succeeding to pull back over 1/2 of it by the time the lead boat finished. All this time, a couple of large powerful Dragonfly's of 35 & 40ft were challenging Flaneur. but only once was he dropped back to 3rd. Due to that diversion and more tacking downwind, Flaneur finally sailed just over 1000 miles .. about 60 more than RED the first boat home, yet was less than 30 miles out when the leader finished around 8am local time on the 26th (so his 'average speed' for the race was actually slightly higher than for the overall winner but we know that counts for nothing). Flaneur is now expected in around 5.1/2 hours later at about 1.30pm local time. Increased wind is helping the whole fleet along now, with over 20 boats exceeding 150 miles in the last 24 hours.
One interesting observation was that about 2 days before the finish, Flaneur was about 60 miles (9 hrs?) behind the leader but only as little as 9 miles ahead (1 hr+) of the 3rd boat Firlefanz (a DF35S) that seemed to be closing fast. Perhaps Andre sensed the situation and raised his game to sail as well as he was able, as when he finished, he was only 5.1/2 hours behind the leader but now a huge 7 hours (!) ahead of the 3rd boat .. so that was quite a sprint on his part to make sure he nailed the First Multihull award.
So expect to see more of this 'flying wing' on the European circuit this summer. CONGRATS Andre ... an amazing performance and a race to the Arctic Circle he will remember forever. 
POSTSCRIPT: Apparently, Andre's race time was sufficient to set TWO new records for this 7 yr. old race. He beat the previous best time for a multihull by roughly 17 hours .... and also set a new record for a SOLO skipper. Here (at right), Andre is crossing the finish line after which it's apparently a tradition for finishers to tie up momentarily on arrival at the most northern buoy on the Baltic, for a photo-op, to prove 'they really did make it'..
On his way back south, 1000 nm down the Baltic, the 27ft trimaran had quite an endurance battle with large seas and strong head winds with even cleats getting worn out, but finally they both made it home. At one stop over, he took a pause at a shoreside pub and raised his glass to the success of both 'his boat and the wonderful mast'. He now plans to write an article on how he prepared the boat for this long, tough event for it to perform as it did, so well above the norm.
.
======================================================================================================================================================================
.
JULY 2023 .... and Andre DOES IT YET AGAIN!!
Of course, one race does not guarantee everything, but it was a good indication that his Mk.ll WingMast was adding to his performance.
But then, in July of 2023, he did this arduous 1000 nm marathon yet again ... also Solo .... this time with 76 boats (up to 54ft) ... but in lighter winds. And incredibly, after 7 days of patient sailing, he AGAIN took the same Awards with First Multihull, plus First Single Handed boat, proving that 2022 was no fluke. This year, many of the boats were different, so it was quite a new challenge. He finally finished 3rd overall within a group of very top racing monos that can creep up-wind in a zephyr and sail much closer than a multihull can or does. But he held his ground. The winds were so light that most of the other multis retired and in fact, when the top 4 boats finished, they were over 100 miles ahead of the rest of the fleet, and the next boat under 30ft (like Andre's 27ft F82R), was over 150 miles back! As I told Andre at the beginning, with all the variables he would face, the odds of repeating the same top result up this challenging 1000 nm course are very low. but Andre pulled it off ... and this time he had to physically last 2 more days with little sleep, due to the lighter winds. Bravo Andre!
Mike, July 2023
"See the Copyright Information & Legal Disclaimer page for copyright info and use of any part of this text or article"