I knew this was going to be a Brilliant Week!

After quite a stressful weekend (trying to get my model
finished, refining the test-matrix, following the pre-match antics of the 33rd AC),
come Monday it all started to come together.

Got driven down to the Solent Institute towing tank by a
very kind housemate (thanks Ray), found Dr. Taunton already getting the test
rig ready and had the boat in the water and ballasted within the hour. Checked
the interweb on the phone to see the AC start postponed and then set-up the
model under the carriage. Before 10 o’clock the first run was finished and all
the calibrations seemed to be in order. As a result testing got underway some 4
hours ahead of schedule and because of the light displacement waves were much
less of an issue than assumed in the test-matrix. This all meant that all
upright resistance tests were finished well ahead of schedule and so even one
of the heeled experiments could be conducted and finished ahead of schedule and
before the tank was closed for the day.

So what does this mean? Tuesday I have a lot less tests to
run, so it should be a relaxed day in the tank. And with the AC33 postponed I
also haven’t missed any of this spectacular event. So the rest of the week will
be some more testing, watching some sailing and some enjoyable events planned
for the weekend as well.

But no peak can be enjoyed without enduring the dips, there
are a few: the quality of the model could have been better (the lay-up of the
bottom allows water to sip through, debatable at best), the weather is pretty
miserable in Southampton at the moment. However all this is just nit-picking
and basically life is pretty damn good.

Right, below are some photos and video of the tank testing.
Not visible but greatly appreciated, Grapefruit Graphics has supplied some
branding for the model (will have to get a good shot of that)!