_luukleclercq.nl

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)!

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And from day 2:

Well, that’s it for now. Ciao!

So exams are over and that meant shifting focus to finishing my model for tank testing. Unfortunately miscommunication resulted in the lay-up of the hull happening with old resin and at a later date. Instead of having a finished model the first week of January they (EDMC) were now construction her in the last week…

Anyway, I was fully confident still and kept on making arrangements only to find out on Thursday (with testing starting on Monday…) that the resin hadn’t gone off (quality issue and the fact a security guard uncoupled the vacuum bag didn’t help either) so that my model has now ended up in the bin. Well nothing I could do about it other than trying to find another gap in the busy Solent Institute tank at a later date. With the kind help of the Wolfson Unit and Andy Claughton two days have been picked and all involved are very hopeful we will be able to get everything sorted in time for the rescheduled testing.

Anyway this resulted in some spare time and I have been playing around a little with Maxsurf to learn more about it and hopefully gain some experience with rendering as well as hullshape design. Modified my hull design to include a proper transom area, a cockpit and coachroof even if at the moment it is all a bit rudimentary… Anyway judge for yourself and feel free to comment below…
Perhaps over the weekend I will make it even more realistic by adding better colouring, water, rig and so forth.

Anyway; end of the month, three day weekend, fresh start on Monday and AC33 T-10 (although I will miss race 1 because of tank testing). February is going to be awesome!

Ciao!

Can’t believe it is almost over, what a year it has been
(again). This time there was definitely less impressive sailing but loads more
interesting stuff to learn and do at uni as well as meeting a large number of
great people (from whom I have been able to learn heaps).

Anyway, from the freezing Flatlands I’d like to wish
everyone the very best for 2010 and the new decade (anyone come up with a name
for it yet?). I look forward to it and I’ll keep boring you with my stories.

Ciao!

For those who lack in their education: Wikipedia

Not the best Sinterklaas ever, however it seems that the group work is all falling into place and the interim report is coming along nicely meaning I can breathe a little bit more relaxed and enjoy more than 4 hours of sleep during the night. Also there is the promise of my model build to start after the weekend. Exciting times indeed!

To everyone a great Sinterklaas-Eve and fingers crossed no-one gets taken back to Spain…

Ciao!

I’m sure it’s the temperature that’s giving me the chills and not the deadlines piling up (and time running out)…

But no stress just yet, I even thought I should go sailing on Sunday. Wrong on two accounts:
1st – It was horrible weather with hail and nasty temperatures, real weather to move to the library (as I’m now) and get stuck in…
2nd – The squalls were pretty damn impressive with proper 45-ish knot gusts (that’s a force 10) and at the colder temperatures the air is denser so for the same speed the breeze is more powerful (Force is a function of velocity and mass, ie. density).

Anyway, we dropped the boat off in one piece, I didn’t go swimming (just), we had a brilliant lay-line to the Pier View and by 15.00hrs I was back behind the screen and writing reports again. Not all bad if I say so myself.

So what’s in store the coming 11 days..? Marine Hydrodynamics (Advanced fluids, naval architects only stuff…), a finished Concept Design for a sheep carrier operating in the North of Scotland, my interim report of my Bachelor research project and an abstract on that to complete the story. Basically it has taken a while before Ship Science started to feel like I remembered it but now it is just like in the olden days!

However far more important things took place over the weekend: France lost massively to the All Blacks (thanks Sis for the flag), the Aussies showed a lovely running game of ball against the Welsh and…

Finally:
Slightly delayed my cousin has finally managed to get his groundbreaking book published and out in the real world. Many congratulations to him (and his perseverance!) and best of luck with this and all new projects!

– www.pieterwisse.com
– pieterwisse.blogspot.com
– www.four-eyes.nl

Take care,
Ciao!

It’s blowing pretty impressively here in Soton, last night
wasn’t too bad luckily (couple minutes delay as a result of weather in Holland
and hefty headwinds) but today was a different matter. Rain was, at times,
struggling to hit the ground and preferring horizontal or even upwards travel!
That said, the weather is still not as bad as in other parts of Britain and I
still can move about without the need for a boat.

Having missed out on a couple of days around Uni, it is pretty full on to get
everything back up and running (Model build dates have been confirmed!) but at
the same time I am not too far behind (on my own schedule).

Anyhow, it is autumn and the weather is trying to make that clear… It just
means that coffee breaks are less frequent as it is nice and dry inside.

Ciao!

After quick ride up to the airport and again a very swift check-in and boarding, we left Southampton 10 minutes early resulting in the plane landing 20 minutes early. After driving for 15 minutes I still managed to get through customs before the scheduled arrival time of 20.30hrs.

Now I am settled in the centre of Amsterdam and my god what a brilliant place it is! Anyhow, tomorrow is the second day of the METS (and my first), hopefully I get to tick off a lot from my to-do list. What is a certainty is that I am looking forward t get stuck in and enjoy Amsterdam the coming days with friends before and after visiting the RAI.

Ciao!

Well, I went sailing on Sunday and had an absolute shocker…

To start with I was probably the least prepared I have ever been and so after calling the start (keeping us just behind the line) and the first beat I was a little slow with hooking up the A-sail for a reach across.

Basically the reach across ended up going like this: Top mark > hoist A-sail > drop jib > spinnaker on deck > go downstairs to put on a harnass > change the sheets on the A-sail by flying out to the clew > hoist Spinnaker (outside) > drop A-sail > pack jib > gybe > pack jib a bit more > gybe > get other jib on deck and plugged in > gybe > finish plugging in the jib > hoist jib > drop spinnaker…

Not many issues but not a glamour performance from yours truly either. Didn’t matter too much in the end with plenty of other stuff to do along the way (couple of jib changes downwind, broken halyard on the jib and broken jibsheet) in 15-22kts of breeze in fairly sunny conditions and ending up first in class as well as beating the other class that raced the same course on corrected.

Anyway, the shame of my performance is behind me and another day of uni-work ahead before heading for Amsterdam and the METS for the coming days. Should be interesting!

Ciao!

Well, it are busy times even with the pressing stuff out of the way. Had a lovely weekend in London, followed by a lovely weekend in Holland and the upcoming weekend of library (and possibly a bit of sailing on Sunday) before a couple of days of industry related time in Amsterdam (and a weekend to relax from that in the Netherlands as well).

So the renderings as provided below have had hardly any modifications before being submitted to the University of Southampton’s Engineering Department Manufacturing Centre and they have promised to have my 1.8m model ready at the start of the new year (2010). This has released a lot of my project pressure and means that till Christmas I have only writing left to do. Though not a task to be underestimated it does help to be slightly more relaxed with regards to the project.

This does not mean however that there isn’t anything to worry about (well I suppose I could better say that I need to keep track of…) as the first coursework assignments of the year have arrived as well as the deadline nearing for Marine Craft Concept Design and the fact that as a group project we depend on each other to actually produce something useful…

Weekend wise, the trips away from home (Soton) have not really interfered with Uni though next week’s trip might result in a couple of late nighters. But on the bright side of things it has kept life in perspective and spending time with friends and family have been really nice and relaxing.

All in all life is pretty good and at the moment the continuous downpour and early darkness are but small spoils.

Ciao!

Ahh, how I missed normal life… You know those days where you think you are slacking when you ‘only’ get to uni at 10 and leave before 6 at night. Basically it is good to be back!

Here’s a quick round-up of what’s going on this first semester:

* Individual Project – Bachelor Research Project and you can find more on that under ‘projects’

* Marine Craft Concept Design – A group design project where we are designing a concept for a replacement vessel for a ferry in the Shetlands. We’ve interviewed the captain, been given the wish-list and now it’s our turn to produce a viable and usable design

* Plate Structures – How strong has that plate got to be to keep the boat from crumbling…

* Marine Hydrodynamics – basically learning how to do CFD without a computer

* Manufacturing with Metals – third attempt at being thought how to design for the manufacturing of items that only mech-engs are interested in…

* High Performance Craft – It has taken 2 years but finally we are looking at boats with sails…

Anyway, deadlines are looming again and weekends are spent on campus: Life is back to normal, and I love it!

Ciao!