Rigging Guide July, 2016 Revision: 1.6
INDEX 1 Unpacking... 3 1.1 Before starting... 3 1.2 Removing contents... 3 1.3 Trolley Assembly... 3 2 Hull & Wings... 4 2.1 Hull... 4 2.2 Wing Frame Assembly & Control Lines... 4 3 Control Systems... 6 3.1 Ride Height Adjuster... 6 3.2 Gearing... 7 4 Foils... 8 4.1 Foil Assembly... 8 4.2 Foil Installation... 8 5 Rig... 10 5.1 Boom Lashing... 10 5.2 Bridle... 10 5.3 Initial Sail Set-up... 11 5.4 Boom Rigging... 13 6 Safety and Maintenance... 15 6.1 Boat maintenance... 15 6.1.1 Drain your hull... 15 6.1.2 Check your gantry... 15 6.1.3 Check your foil bolts... 15 6.1.4 Wash your boat... 15 6.2 General safety for sailors... 15 7 Sailing Tips... 16 7.1 Launching... 16 7.2 Take off... 17 7.3 Upwind sailing... 17 7.4 Tacking... 17 7.5 Downwind sailing... 18 7.6 Gybing... 18 7.7 Back at shore... 19 2
1 UNPACKING 1.1 BEFORE STARTING Your new boat will be delivered to you in a wooden or fibreglass crate. This crate is sturdy enough to protect your new boat under normal shipping conditions. It can also be reused for re shipping, if for example you are attending an international event. Note: It is important to visually inspect the crate upon delivery and before taking receipt of your new boat from the shipping company. 1.2 REMOVING CONTENTS Remove the contents carefully. Try not to put them on the ground where they may be damaged. Some of the components are delicate and need to be treated with respect. Before you remove all the contents of the crate give some thought to where you will store them in order to keep them from harm's way. 1.3 TROLLEY ASSEMBLY Remove the boat and trolley from the box and insert the axle through the holes in the trolley just forward of the main cradle. Push the axle spacers over the protruding steel axle on each side of the trolley Put the trolley wheels on. Insert axle washer and wheel clip retainer pins. 3
2 HULL & WINGS 2.1 HULL Assemble the wing blocks (raised or lowered) onto the hull using the supplied pins. Ensure that the trolley loops are in place around the rear wing blocks and that the trolley straps are tight to secure the boat to the trolley. Screw both bungs into the hull, one in the transom and one near the bulkhead on the starboard side. 2.2 WING FRAME ASSEMBLY & CONTROL LINES Slide the wing covers onto the bolt rope track from the rear. Take the outhaul rope kit and assemble the outhaul control line and retrieval lines as per the images shown in the rope kit and below. *It is best to run these lines down the inside of the wing cover sleeves prior to inserting the wing tubes. Tie a small loop in the centre of the control line Thread into wing covers 4
Assemble to retrieval and wing corner Thread retrieval through rear wing corner block Tie retrieval back onto front wing corner block Take the downhaul rope kit and assemble the downhaul control line and retrieval line as per the images shown in both the rope kit and below. 5
Slide the wing tube sleeves onto the wing tubes, aligning the holes. Slide the front wing tube into place and fix with the front wing hinge pin and front wing corner block. This can be difficult, if you are having problems, take a hot knife and remove 10mm of the bolt rope from the very front of the wing cover. Slide the outer wing bar through the wing cover sleeve Fix the rear wing bar to the hull via the rear wing hinge pin, and once the hiking strap has been slid down the bar, assemble with the rear wing corner joint and outer wing bar. Thread the hiking strap lashing as per the rope kit instruction. Tension the wing covers to a moderate tension whilst in the raised position (close to vertical). Tighten the wing lashings gradually. Over tightening the lashings in one position can damage the wing covers. Lower the wings now until they sit comfortably in the wing blocks and insert the wing block pins. If the pins are very difficult to insert, try loosening the wing cover lashings a small amount. Tighten and tie off the hiking strap. 3 CONTROL SYSTEMS 3.1 RIDE HEIGHT ADJUSTER The ride height adjuster controls the length of the push-rod running from the reversing lever to the bellcrank. This push-rod length will be your way of controlling how high you fly above the water. The following steps outline the suggested rigging method for the ride height adjuster; Dip the end of the control rope in super glue, and once it has gone hard trim the end to create a pointed end. Thread the control rope end through the hole in either end of the ride height adjuster barrel. Tie a small thumb knot in the end of the rope you just pulled through. Thread the control line through the wing cover, as shown in the rope kit images. 6
Wind the control line around the barrel, leaving a single turn free. Finally put the free end through the remaining hole in the barrel and tie thumb knot. The trick here is to tie the knot so that the adjuster control line is as tight as possible. Cut off the stiffened ends. 3.2 GEARING The gearing system on the WASZP is located inside the small bonnet at the bow of the boat. Although this system has been assembled for you, the length of the gearing screw shown is very important for controlling the ride attitude of your WASZP. The longer the screw, the more responsive the boat will be to wave height, and vice versa with a shorter screw. We suggest that if you are sailing your WASZP at a venue with either large waves or high wind, to wind the screw out to the position shown in image. If sailing in flat water or light winds the screw can be wound in until half the thread shown in the image is showing. To change the gearing, first remove the screw at the end of the gearing pin with a phillips head screwdriver. Next, wind the gearing pin until you reach your desired position. Finally replace the phillips head screw. 7
4 FOILS 4.1 FOIL ASSEMBLY Cover the vertical male plug (both rudder and centreboard) in a thin layer of 5 minute epoxy* before inserting them into the female horizontal socket. When applying the epoxy, only cover the sides of the plug to ensure that no glue enters the threaded hole on the bottom. Once the foils have come together, insert and tighten the supplied foil bolt. The main foil push-rod can now be threaded into the foil. A lot of care must be taken when doing this, as the barrel nut thread (sits inside the foil) can be damaged if the pushrod is forced in without correct alignment. To install the pushrod follow these steps; Firstly, wind the pushrod anti-clockwise looking from the top. This will wind the pushrod all the way into the terminal at the top of the foil. Now carefully align the barrel nut with the bottom end of the pushrod, and slowly, using only the force that can be applied by your fingers, wind the pushrod clockwise. At this stage, if the pushrod does not want to rotate, re-align the pushrod and the barrel nut and try again. Once the pushrod begins to wind into the nut, more force may be applied. Stop winding after around 7 turns. *This item is not supplied with your WASZP. Purchase it from your local hardware store. 4.2 FOIL INSTALLATION After waiting until the epoxy has semi-cured, the foil surface should be cleaned to remove the excess glue, and the centreboard covers and rudder horizontal cover put in place to protect the foil. The rudder can now be inserted into the rudder box from the bottom, and then assembled onto the gantry. The rudder pull down system can be installed as shown in the rope kit. The tiller bungee can also be installed as per the rope kit. 8
The boat must be rolled onto its side and the trolley removed in order to insert the centreboard into the centre case. With the mast stepped (no sail), the boat will be much easier and safer to roll onto its side. Once the mast has been assembled and stepped into the boat, tie the mast into the hull to stop it from falling out. The boat can now be rolled onto its side. As this point it is advisable to place something heavy on the mast to hold the boat in a capsized position. **Please note, the trolley straps need to be done up as tight as possible whenever the boat is rolled on its side to ensure no damage is done to either the boat or the trolley. During this step, it will also be helpful to tie a small weight to the gantry. This will keep the boat sitting on the wing only, instead of resting the bow on the ground. Once on its side, the trolley can be carefully removed from the hull and placed on the ground. Remove the foil stopper pin from the centreboard vertical, and insert into the centre case. Once in place, replace the foil stopper pin back into the foil. Without this, the foil is able to fall out of the boat, resulting in a lost centreboard! Whilst the boat is on its side, it is a good opportunity to insert the foil pin, clip the ride height adjuster to the foil bell crank and familiarise yourself with the dynamics of the WASZP control system. You should check that moving the wand tip corresponds to the foil flap moving. You should also now check that your ride height adjuster is working properly by using the full range of adjustment on the adjuster barrel. 9
5 RIG 5.1 BOOM LASHING To fix the boom to the mast, the boom lashing must first be tied and taped. Although the position of this lashing is an important tuning parameter, a good starting point is 2420mm from the mast base. 1. To begin, take the boom lashing rope supplied in the rope kit and tie a clove hitch around the mast, leaving one of the tails twice as long as the other tail. This clove hitch must be as tight as possible. 2. From here, take the long tail and tie a single half hitch around the mast. 3. Tie simple overhand knot to create a lock 4. Finally, tie a loop with the remaining tail lengths, finishing with a reef knot If tight enough, the lashing shouldn t slide up or down the mast. To be safe, electrical tape can be wrapped immediately above and below the lashing. - Step 2 detail Step 4 detail - 5.2 BRIDLE Bridle position is an important tuning parameter on your WASZP. Follow these steps for initial setup; Tie mainsheet bridle (port/starboard) onto wing covers as shown below. Tie bridle restrictor onto the ring on the top of the rudder pin. Shackle all three lines onto the supplied mainsheet block 10
A good starting point for the length of the bridles is 420mm (Port/Starboard) and 680mm for the bridle restrictor. 5.3 INITIAL SAIL SET-UP Your WASZP sail can be scratched and damaged if dragged over concrete surfaces. It is best to find a softer surface to unroll the sail. Usually, the hull and wing covers are adequate. Your WASZP sail is supplied ready to go sailing, with the camber inducers and camber spacers set in place in the factory. Simply slide the mast up the luff pocket, leaving all the cams to one side of the mast except the top cam, which should be assembled onto the mast. The remaining cams can now be put onto the mast and the mast stepped into the boat. To pop the cams onto the mast; 11
Have the mast in the luff pocket with the cams on the bottom side of the mast. Apply downwards pressure to the intersection of the luff pocket and batten pockets (just behind the cam) With your other hand, push the cam upwards from the bottom so that it pops onto the mast Close the zip 12
Repeat, working your way from the top of the sail to the bottom. Once stepped, shackle the downhaul onto sail and mast, as shown in the following image. You can now pull firm tension on the downhaul. 5.4 BOOM RIGGING Once some downhaul tension is applied, the boom lashing should be visible in the sail cut-out. The fitting on the front end of the boom can now be used to hook your boom lashing loop and the boom can safely hung from the mast. The boom tail end can now be put in place, with an initial length setting of 30. The next step is to thread the outhaul. Beginning at the rear end of the boom, tie one end of the remaining outhaul control line to the boom. Thread the rope through the purchase system at the clew of the sail, as shown in the below image. The line can now also be threaded down the pocket at the base of the sail to the webbing block below the luff pocket, and put through the centre cleat on the bulkhead. 13
Once in the cleat, this control line can be tied onto the outhaul control line that runs through the wing covers. The mainsheet can now be rigged in the same fashion as the outhaul. *Be sure to not tangle the outhaul and mainsheet around each other inside the sail. 14
6 SAFETY AND MAINTENANCE 6.1 BOAT MAINTENANCE 6.1.1 Drain your hull The hull has two drain holes, one on the starboard side of the transom and the other on the starboard side near the bulkhead. If you have any water in the hull undo the screws in the drain holes and with the rig/mast up and the boat capsized on shore with the starboard wing down, lift the bow until the boat sits on the starboard wing back corner, with the gantry and mast tip touching the ground. Any water trapped in the hull will flow out. 6.1.2 Check your gantry Make sure the bolts are tightened securely and re-check after a few sails. 6.1.3 Check your foil bolts Make sure the bolts at the base of the foils are always done up tight, this should be checked every few sails. 6.1.4 Wash your boat After every sail your boat must be washed thoroughly with clean fresh water. 6.2 GENERAL SAFETY FOR SAILORS We want you to understand safety as it applies to our product and to equip yourself in order to minimise any risk. Please read on.. Take care to always to wear a buoyancy aid, it is mandatory when racing but in some parts of the world it is not a legal requirement when cruising. However it is sensible to get into the habit of wearing one at all times. Not only will it keep you afloat if things go wrong, but most buoyancy aids also provide valuable impact protection. Wear a good wetsuit. Modern full-length long arm wetsuits are very good at keeping you warm and also absorbing minor impacts that a sailor can be exposed to. Remember it is one thing to be warm as you work the boat hard, but another to be warm for extended periods of time in the water. Be aware of your surroundings, and invest in the correct kit to keep you warm in all conditions. 15
Try to always sail with a training partner, or failing that make sure someone at your club is aware that you are going sailing. It is also a good idea to take a mobile phone or a VHF radio in an Aquapac type waterproof case out with you so you can call for help if you need it. When you are working hard, dehydration can occur quickly. Always make sure you take enough liquid out on the water with you. Most drink bottle sizes will fit in the pocket in your wing covers. Get in the habit of checking your boat over before you go sailing, replace worn parts and ropes as necessary. It s easier on the land than on the water but if a rope does breaks, make sure you have some handy lengths of spare rope and a few shackles in the pocket of your life jacket. Sail within your ability. Do not take risks, and if it s too windy or too rough for you, be sensible and go and do something else. There will always be another day. Make sure you know the forecast; many a sailor has been caught out by not understanding the true wind speed and/or sea state. Offshore winds for example can look quite benign from the land, but in fact be very strong at the sailing area, and of course with an offshore wind if things go wrong you won t be blown back to the shore either We suggest wearing some form of head protection. The WASZP can get up to much higher speeds than conventional dinghies, which always increases the risk of injury. Finally remember your safety is the responsibility of the skipper. In a WASZP, that is you. As if you didn t have enough things to think about! 7 SAILING TIPS 7.1 LAUNCHING Launching the WASZP is a skill that should not be taken lightly! It is advisable that the first few times you launch a second person to help is on hand just in case. The WASZP trolley has been designed to allow for two different launching techniques. The first technique is explained below; At the edge of the water, with your WASZP pointing into the wind, remove the trolley straps. Be sure at this point to not let the WASZP roll on its side, at the foil tip may touch the ground. Wheel the boat into the water, stopping when the boat begins to float off the trolley. This should be between knee to waist deep water. Sink the trolley down (using your foot) to enable the centreboard horizontal to clear the trolley. Leave your trolley to a friend to return it to the beach. Walk your WASZP into deeper water (waist deep is enough) and lower the foils to around half down. Ensure when hopping into the boat to have the mainsheet in hand first, as the WASZP hull is less stable than a conventional dinghy, and the sail is need to keep the boat from capsizing. When sailing with the foils in a raised position, it is advisable to skim a wing along the surface of the water. This will add stability and stop the boat from going too fast. When appropriate, slow the boat down to a stop, remove the wand holder and lower the centreboard, lining up the stopper pin with its corresponding groove in the centre case. Insert the foil pin and foil pin retainer. Clip the ride height adjuster ball joint onto the top of the bell crank. Lower the rudder using the rudder pull down system Insert the rudder foil pin and foil pin retainer The second technique is slightly easier if you are alone; however it requires the boat to be rolled onto its side once in the water. With your WASZP pointing into the wind, wheel the boat into the water, stopping at around knee depth. 16
Roll the boat onto its side, with the rig on the leeward side of the hull. Remove the trolley from the hull. Return your trolley to the beach. At this point you can either right the boat and continue in the same fashion as explained above, or; Push the foils down into the lowered position Remove the wand holder, letting the wand swing forward Insert the foils pins and retaining clips Attach the ride height adjuster Holding the mast, walk the boat out until the water is around chest deep before righting the boat and hopping in. 7.2 TAKE OFF Start trying to foil when the boat hits 7 knots. Get as much lift on the rudder as possible by winding the tiller mechanism until the rudder pin is all the way forward. The outhaul should be loose enough pre-foiling to get some twist and shape in the sail. The downhaul should be loose enough to allow mast to straighten but not allow wrinkles in the sail. Crack sheet to gain speed. Induce a minimal amount of leeward heel so that you can bring it upright as the boat starts to foil and you pump twice. Remember, no bouncing on the wing. Once foiling head back up to the breeze and bring on the outhaul. 7.3 UPWIND SAILING Sailing the WASZP upwind is similar to many other dinghies, except faster! Ride height and rudder angle adjustment are important when learning to foil. Your rudder pin should be towards the front of the rudder box slot to maintain a good pitch angle. The aim is to have the boat flat or slightly bow down whilst sailing upwind. While you are sailing, always remember to check where the rudder pin is sitting, as sometimes it can unwind itself in tacks or in capsizes. The boat will also be easier and more efficient to sail when it is higher on the foils. Use your ride height adjuster to allow yourself to find a comfortable foiling position. The standard sail shape of the WASZP sail is very full to create plenty of power while in low riding mode. Once foiling, your sail shape will need to change quickly to keep up with your apparent wind. Usually this involves trimming the outhaul on hard and sheeting the mainsheet in. Do not be afraid to pull the outhaul and downhaul on hard when you are overpowered. From a technique perspective, your WASZP will respond better to smaller mainsheet movements, and larger steering movements. 7.4 TACKING Keep the boat dead flat or with slight windward heel pre-tack. Move faster and earlier than you want to (or even can imagine) and steer right through to a beam reach to keep the speed up. It helps to get the tiller extension through very early, and allow your body to follow your tiller hand through the boat. Mainsheet tension is one of the most important aspects of tacking. Generally, until you are on the new wing with the battens popped, keep the mainsheet as tight as possible. However, once on the new tack you will need to ease the mainsheet quickly to allow the boat to accelerate. 17
There doesn t seem to be an accepted technique for where to place the feet through a tack. This being said, the noodle in the centre of the WASZP wings is a very useful platform for your feet to propel you through a tack. Hands should be swapped after the boat has tacked and is in control, not in a hurry post tack whilst still building speed. 7.5 DOWNWIND SAILING To go downwind, the ride height may need to be lowered slightly using the ride height adjuster. The bow of the boat will also need to be trimmed upwards by moving the rudder pin rearwards in the rudder box slot. Usually this will be around two turns on the tiller mechanism. Downwind rig setting is best with twist but not a knuckle (not too much draft forwards) at the front of the sail which will cause you to sail low and slow rather than true VMG by building apparent. Avoid the knuckle by keeping on enough downhaul. When sailing downwind, your body weight should be towards the back of the wing. 7.6 GYBING Speed, Stability and steady steering make the gybe happen. Faster is faster! It s a good simple rule to aim to reduce speed loss to a minimum. Always look forwards and move earlier than you think you need to. It s seen as faster to gybe the boat faster and get as far out on the new wing bar as possible, steering the boat up to the breeze to keep you there will keep the power on and get you back to max speed quicker. You don't want to hear this, but it needs to be said: practice, practice, practice. Some pointers for easy gybing (not necessarily to get around fast, but to get around easily): Ease the sheet and point down so you can get to a comfortable stable position on the wing. Get the tiller extension through to the new windward side. Steer the boat around to the new jibe direction keeping it flat by a combination of moving your body and steering under the rig. The noodle in the centre of the boat is your best friend! 18
Pop the cams by a jerk on the mainsheet if not already done by wind pressure. Swap hands on tiller and mainsheet. As the boat has slowed down by this point you will have to point up from the normal jibe angle to get flow back over the sail. 7.7 BACK AT SHORE When coming in to the shore always do this at slow speed, if you hit the bottom you can damage the foils so it is better to come in slowly and judge how deep it is! As you come in to the shore remove the ride height adjustor and foil pins. This will allow the foils to be half raised. The rudder should come up on its own as you sail along, so no need to strain yourself. Fix the wand holder to the wand. Sail until it is around knee deep and then replace the boat back onto the trolley, remembering to do the trolley straps up tight. You can also sail in until waist deep and capsize the boat to raise the foils. We have found this is a matter of personal preference. The key things to remember when launching and retrieving are the following; 1. Always have the trolley strap on tight when rolling the boat on its side 2. The wand can hit the ground in shallow water. When in less than waist deep water keep the wand in the wand holder. 3. The foil tips can be damaged by hitting the ground in shallow water, be careful when in less than knee deep water. 19