Doyle Universal Power Sail

Moderator: GreenLake

Postby ChrisB » Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:48 am

An update on my UPS; this past Saturday, I flew my it for about 3 hours. I started out in about 5-10 mph winds and sailed upwind about 4 miles. I was very pleased with the close reach performance of the sail. The return leg was a broad reach and with the CB most of the way up boat speed was quite impressive. I did notice that the UPS requires more attention to sail trim. In a puff the boat accelerates quickly, moving the apparant wind forward and I had to sheet in both UPS and the main. As the afternoon wore on, the wind build to a steady 15 and I found I had more sail than I had ballast and I took the UPS down. I learned two things; a second halyard is definitely on my "to do" list and a second crew member is necessary to fly the UPS on a beam reach in 15 mph winds.
Chris B.
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Postby K.C. Walker » Tue Jul 26, 2011 11:46 am

Thanks for the update Chris! Judging by the 1300+ views of this thread you know we are interested. I am particularly interested in how you plan to rig the UPS halyard. Are you thinking of a double block where the jib halyard is now or just below? I'm assuming that you would want to keep the UPS inside the head stay so that you can tack it on the inside.
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Postby ChrisB » Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:34 pm

You read my mind! A double block at the current jib halyard location is what I'm thinking of. This would allow use of the UPS as a "genoa" in light air or as a reacher only as the wind speed increases.
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Postby Alan » Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:54 pm

Chris,

Would the double block be a side by side arrangement? And how would you attach the tack at the foredeck?
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Postby ChrisB » Tue Jul 26, 2011 4:19 pm

I was thinking of a side by side similar to a Ronstan RF41202. 1300 lb SWL is probably overkill but its better than having it fail.

Tied to the tack of the UPS I have a 12' line. It runs from the launching bag, forward to a block at the stemhead, then back to a cam cleat at the aft end of the cuddy. The bag has a clip on the bottom that I attach to the mast. I pull the tack forward to the block, pull the halyard, and trim the sheet. To retrieve, I head downwind to blanket the UPS, gather it from behind the mainsail, and stuff in the bag.
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Postby ChrisB » Mon Oct 03, 2011 12:13 pm

Yesterday was a beautiful, light air day. I sailed upwind about 3-4 miles so I could have a nice broad reach back with the UPS. I had the sail up for maybe a half hour and all of a sudden I notice the boat slowing down and 71 square feet of red, white, and blue nylong fluttering down into the water beside the boat. On further inspection, I found the halyard shackle had come open. Had to sail back to the dock under main alone. Note to self, remove the sailing gloves when attaching "captive pin" halyard shackles to the sail.
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Postby Karl Teske » Wed Oct 05, 2011 9:09 am

Chris, do you have any pictures of your UPS flying?
kayaker
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Postby ChrisB » Wed Oct 05, 2011 9:36 am

Karl,

I do not have pictures of mine. jdoorly has pics of his on page three of his personal photo gallery on this forum. Mine is the same as his except for the colors. I have the literature & quote I received from Doyle when I was considering buying the sail. Would be glad to email you a copy of the pdf document if you send your email address.
Chris B.
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Postby GreenLake » Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:33 pm

ChrisB wrote:I do not have pictures of mine. jdoorly has pics of his on page three of his personal photo gallery on this forum.

As the page numbers in the galleries always change, here are the thumbnails to the pictures you mentioned:

[thumb=895][thumb=896]

I'm afraid, though, that they are not a good advertisement for this sail, as he's clearly not going very fast, despite the sail drawing fully. :)
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Postby Alan » Wed Oct 05, 2011 11:11 pm

"I'm afraid, though, that they are not a good advertisement for this sail, as he's clearly not going very fast, despite the sail drawing fully."

Measured in BRK (backyard regatta knots), the boat was probably scooting. Might even have been on plane. :D
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Postby ChrisB » Thu Oct 06, 2011 8:15 am

"Might even have been on plane."

For sure, it was on a trailer.
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Postby Karl Teske » Tue Oct 11, 2011 12:59 pm

Chris I sent my email address to your PM so if you could send me the info that would be great, thanks.
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Postby ChrisB » Tue Oct 11, 2011 2:35 pm

Karl,

I don't think the PM went through. I don't see any new messages in my inbox.

Chris
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Postby K.C. Walker » Wed Oct 12, 2011 10:44 am

Chris,

Wondering what your thoughts are about getting your boat up on a plane using the UPS.

Over the weekend I had a very entertaining sailing experience. I was basically using my boat like a big windsurfer. Okay, some of the windsurfers were moving a lot faster, but I was sometimes keeping up with one guy. I would estimate the breeze at 10-12 kn and on a beam reach I was getting up on a plane. I know that you also single-hand a lot and I was wondering what you thought about the wind speed it would take to get planing. Do you think that you might get planing in 8-10 kn breeze on a beam reach?
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Postby ChrisB » Wed Oct 12, 2011 11:23 am

KC,

8 is probably a little low but the boat will definitely plane at 10 with the UPS. The trick is you have to be quick to adjust your course. As the boat accelerates, the apparant wind moves foward and you have to bear off to keep the UPS from collapsing. I could always trim in the UPS but I find when singlehanding, its kind of difficult to hold the hiking stick, the mainsheet, and trim the UPS without growing another arm! I have also had some nice rides on a broad reach in about 15 kn of wind with the board almost all the way up.
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