Our attendance at the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show - 5th-6th March 2011

The first weekend in March the team took Invictus down to the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace, London. Just as with the London International Boat Show, Invictus generated a lot of interest; a steady stream of people, some who know about C class catamarans, others who were just awed at the sight of a 40ft wing sitting on top of a 180kg boat!

The RYA were great hosts, and we pass on our appreciation and thanks to them for inviting us to attend their 60th show. Invictus was on central display in the Palm Court entrance hall.

We met many people, and it was great to be able to be part of the revival of the event, bringing the class up to date with the dinghy sailing public. We also met witht he current owner of Emma Hamilton (sailing from Calshot), a Bristish winner back in the 60's, though she now sports a 50ft mast and a huge increase in sail area. There was also rumours of Ocelot, and I think that Steve Clark had knowledge of Helcat II, so it got me wondering where all those old cats have ended up.

A special visitor to our stand was Alain Thebault, from the Hydroptere project. He is joining Jérémie Lagarrigue who sailed Patient Lady 6 at the 2010 Little Americas Cup in Newport, RI. They have stated their intention to bring a new boat to the next championships here in the UK which would be great for the event; Alain was very much drawn to the Corinthian spirit of the event which we wholly support.

Plenty of people were asking when we would be on the water next, so its clear we need to get our itinery defined. Keep watching this space and we will bring news of this!

Norman Wijker ~ 10th March 2011

Team Invictus Sponsors

RYA Volvo Dinghy Show 2011

Visitors at the Invictus stand

@Team Invictus Ltd 2011

The Familiar Itch of Carbon

Week nights and weekends have seen a little hive of activity over this flap. We have been aiming for this bank holiday weekend, and it looks like we're on target. Last night saw the final trimming of the lower flap box that we salvaged off the previous flap and suitably modified. We also cut the leading edge slots for the slot gap fingers and bonded these in. On the previous flap we bonded the slot gap fingers onto the outer surface, which frequently resulted in one or two popping off and it wasn't a particularly aerodynamic solution; this time around we have pierced the leading edge and have bonded a post right through the structure. This should help stiffen the leading edge. This one uses Rohacell as a core, which isn't easily thermo-formed, and that has meant we had to stop it short of the nose radius.

Today we will trial fit the wing together and run the controls through their range to check the functionality, skin the wing, and be ready for sailing on Saturday. We're eagre to get this boat back in the water where she belongs.

Andrew