New to IOM

[BrianONeill]

Hello All,
I'm new to RC sailing and IOMs and have just purchased a Stealth MkII. I'd like to get in touch with Stealth owners, past or present, to learn a little more about the design, it's strengths, weaknesses, and any peculiarities it may have in set up, rig tuning and sailing which have been found to make it go quicker, outside of the very informative set up and tuning editorials and posts I've found relating to IOMs from internet searches.
From my untrained eye it before I purchased, it looked to have fairly moderate lines and would be relatively straightforward for a new comer to learn to sail and get up to speed reasonably quickly.

Many thanks,

Brian.

[Dave Alston]

Hi Brian,

I understand that the Stealth can be a particularly tricky boat to set up and one would urge caution when approaching this task. Some owners have reported terrible injuries being inflicted upon themselves as a result of savage attacks from the boat whilst adjusting kick straps, shrouds and back stays on these completely innocuous looking boats.

Do not be fooled by their looks, attractive lines and shiny hulls, they are killers!!

The reasons for this is unclear at this time. However considered opinion is that the boat behave like this when it hates the sails and is trying to shake them off or is disenchanted with the skipper.

Others have reported long term mental injury and it is not uncommon to hear the phrase:–

‘This is doing my (h)ead in’
the ‘h’ being entirely optional as one progresses south in the UK.

There however have been no formal studies conducted on this subject in the last few years to understand the reason or reasons for this or indeed the validity of the claims to my knowledge.

Owners have also reported incidents of these boats escaping and sailing of into the blue never to be seen again or in less severe cases, the boat tacks into a header or tacks off on the wrong wind shift and heads of to the wrong side of the pond.

Some owners attribute this tendency to the boat having a mind of its own and not listening to the radio. Others are of the opinion that cause is ill treatment and that the vessel is simply attempting to escape from what it perceives to be an abusive environment and is looking for a better skipper.

Sorry I just could not help it… It’s a lovely boat – just sail it when the pond thaws – you will enjoy it. There are no tricks just basic sailing.

[BrianONeill]

LOL Dave,
I just found my REAL home!
Sailors with a sense of humour...as well as fun boats!

Thanks.


Brian.

[Jeff Kay]

Hi Brian
Welcome to the IOM. There isn't a huge difference in tuning between the different designs so probably best to see what the others are doing in your club.

If you've got Stealth specific questions, you're probably best advised to ask Trev Bamforth who designed it.

http://stealthsails.webs.com/contactdetails.htm

Jeff

[BrianONeill]

Thanks Jeff,

Will do. do you sail out of Howth?


brian.

[Jeff Kay]

Hi Brian
We sail out of Howth on weekends from October to May. We used to race exclusively on Sunday mornings but are now being more flexible with an aim to rebuild the fleet numbers.

I'm guessing you're on Strangfrod Lough ? Do you have many boats sailing ?
Our class website is www.iomireland.org ; it's a little out of date at the moment as Gilbert has been having some IT issues recently.

Jeff