So, my boat has finally turned up 6 months later (having been on order since 16/03/14), and have to say it was worth the wait.  Just a shame the sailing seasons almost over.

 

First impressions; rigging instructions could do with some improvement, maybe some actual photos rather than grainy black and white images?

 

Anyone else had trouble getting the join between the 2 main halyards through the eye at the mast head?  Also found the traveller too short to get between the 2 eyes - swapped the two ropes and I have a traveller long enough and the slightly thinner rope gets through the mast head easily.  Problem solved.

 

other than that, great boat, first race tomorrow see how it performs. 

My first impressions after my first sail today. I agree with Idge's comments re the rigging instructions. They do need improving, and in some instances re-ordering.  However, onto the sail. It was light winds today, and a pursuit race, so I was interested to see how I performed. Certainly I felt comfortable from the outset, although my tacking wasn't the best. (blame the helm). I wasn't happy with the mainsheet as it seemed to slip through my hands rather to easily. A different material maybe preferable here. Also I seemed to lose out on the beats, although I suspect that was me rather than the boat.

 

At the outset I was gradually catching the Lasers which had started one minute before. I reached comfortably past a K1 (PY 1064). So reasonably happy. Unfortunately I decided to take a different course to the windward mark, copying one of our top sailors, but lost out badly. I did gradually reel the fleet in, but not before time was up. So I finished just behind the K1 (OK) but someway behind the Lasers 

 

 

 

I was pretty impressed back then with the weight (obviously) and also the handling, albeit in a F2-F3.

I've sailed the 300 in the past, but do most of my club racing in a Laser Std, and I have been looking for something to sail that falls between the two in terms of overall sailing experience.

 

At the club, the Laser fleet is fairly small and is always going to be towards the back of the fleet as we are joined by ISOs, 800s, Musto Skiffs, 300s and the like, handicap racing off of a tidal line where it is rare that being the slow boat confers any advantage.

 

I have now unwrapped the boat and been through:

 

 The rigging process

...not for the faint hearted is my first comment on this

Don't get me wrong, not many sailors haven't had to attach a block or two I'm sure, I have fond memories of 400 wing wang dyneema replacements. I also may have been on a self help path as I nabbed the boat the day after it arrived, but it wasn't that much fun pulling the dyneema through and on to the main sheet boom blocks or compressing the mainsheet ratchet block spring (my fingers are still sore). However, it has given me a really good knowledge of how the boat controls are put together and having pre-spliced continuous cunningham and outhaul lines is great.

Attaching blocks to static lines and rigging the kicker are the main effort. I'd prefer to see some high quality photos in the rigging guide with step by step blow-ups to ease this process and if I get the chance I'll try and post something which might be slightly more understandable for a novice. Don't get me wrong, the guide is OK, but no reason it couldn't have been a little more detailed.

There appears to be plenty of spare line on the controls, so I'll be trimming back a few of these after I've been out a few times to see what's needed in light and strong wind conditions.

 

One mistake I made was to leave the fitting of the rudder to the rudder stock until I was at the club...without a screwdriver. I'd imagined (I know, RTFM) that it would have a butterfly bolt like the 400...no. Not a big problem, but I did manage to allow the rudder to drop onto the slipway because I hadn't tightened it quite enough.

 

One other issue I had was trying to keep enough free line in the continuous systems while I attached the final lines to them. Firstly, you do have to make sure the under gunnel lines are lifted clear of the trolley gunnel supports, secondly you have to feed line through the cleats from both sides until you have enough slack the front of the boat, not easy on the Cunningham due to the multi-block setup and reasonable elastic strength.

 

The mast sections were a very good circumference fit, snug but smooth. the two sections did not butt together fully though, due to the positioning of the track a 1-2mm gap is left between the two sections, not sure that it is a problem, but it didn't feel quite like the best quality had been applied.

The sail ran up the track very smoothly, a minor difficulty encountered where the thin and thick lines that make up the halyard join and wouldn't go through the eye easily, but it came through on the third tug. I'm sure a bit of tape or whipping twine to shrink the bulk of the knot will help this.

 

 

The Launch 

Very easy in the wind strength of the day, 8-10knts. The boat was easy to handle off the trolley and easy to step in and go. Again, I made a rookie mistake, I hadn't attached the tiller extension before taking it off of the trolley, not a big deal, but whilst standing in the water and attaching it, holding the boat with my arm hooked over, the anti slip surface did a great job of sand-papering my elbow...that stuff is rough! An extra pair of sacrificial shorts to reduce wear on my £100+ hikers and wetsuits will be needed I think.

 

Rudder down and centre board in (slides beautifully), I was off.

 

The Sail 

Unfortunately, this was not the most exciting of wind conditions. I sailed out with a Laser 4.7 with lightweight crew and played around up and downwind.

 

Most noticeable in these conditions are how fast the boat picks up speed and haw fast it loses it. Sheeted out, upwind, alongside the Laser a slow pull in and the Aero picks up and flies past, sheet back out, the boat slows immediately and the Laser cruises by. We are going to need to keep this boat on the wind (advice I was helpfully given by Richard F, thanks).

 

All very easy, once rigged, removing the connecting lines was straightforward to allow the boom to be disconnected from the mast, keeping the kicker attached to the boom. split the mast and put away...simples!

 

Overall 

Loving it...there are some great touches, the pocket on the sail for the main halyard, the cleat at the rudder end of the tiller to keep the rudder pull down out of the way, the centre rigged kicker...the drinks bottle :o)

I am considering replacement cleats for the outhaul and cunningham, I'm not convinced that all the angles are adequately covered by the standard ones. Cam cleats might allow for easier rigging too...we'll see. 

 

That's enough rambling on, I hope this is helpful to others and look forward hearing other Aero experiences,

 

Cheers,

Idge

Aero (9) - 1054