More Maiden photo's

I thought it was worth posting a couple more photo's of VMG's maiden adding my initial feelings about the design

It's too early to tell how successful this design will be.  But if I was to be completely honest or if I could make any changes I'd probably increase the volume of the bow slightly and raise the transom about 5mm. This is probably being a bit harsh but is food for thought.

On the original design the transom was a little higher and the chine merged with the waterline at the transom.  Prior to construction I then decided to keep the chine above the waterline and thus lowered the transom, perhaps a fraction too much looking at this photo

For the conditions that VMG  will normally race under her beam, chines and tumblehome design should work very well.  Her cross section, although relatively narrow has a fairly large balancing area so she should be forgiving to sail tune and gust response.  I need to make a small adjust to the jib to help balance the rig and helm, then she should really go well uphill.  During the racing last weekend she had a little too much weather helm and I was nearly always feathering the helm.  She was still pretty fast despite this but downwind I thought she lacked a little speed.  This I hope could be due to the mast or bulb rake, or maybe the nut on the stick but I would like to see her go a bit faster in this area

Although, when you look at the above photo you could be mistaken in thinking this yacht was designed by a person who knew what they were doing!

She's also looking pretty good in the water here.