Congratulations to Ninja sailor Chris Rashley who fought a tight battle with Simon Payne down at Paignton over the weekend to secure the open and the Grand Prix series for 2011. This tops off a fantastic first year for Chris and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do in 2012!
Jul 012011
It’s been a good season for Aardvark so far, with Cookie winning the Moth winter series in “Ninja Turtle”, followed by the UK Dinghy sailing show at Alexandra Palace where the Aardvark built E6 Cherub won the Spitfire concours award, beating the Mach2 and several timber tubs.
The Moth circuit has seen the Ninja Death squad starting to get their act together, with Chris Rashley winning the Inlands at Queen Mary and the first 2011 Ninja Donatello winning a race in it’s first outing.
Rashers and Jason Belben gave Si Payne a run for his money at Parkstone, pushing him all the way and there was only 1 point in it at the end. Again, Donatello showed what she is capable of, taking the first race.
Hayling saw the local black boat fleet on top, but Jason was looking pretty fast in his first outing on the 2011 foils and kept them on their toes, leading races and taking 3rd overall.
Thorpe Bay saw biblical conditions, with only Chris Rashley able to get around in the only race on the Saturday and showing the way around on a more sensible Sunday, making that his second open win in his first season.
The Nationals at Stokes Bay are now upon us and with the entry now topping 50 boats it’s going to be excellent. The Ninja is the strongest it’s ever been with several people capable of winning races and the event will be a good indicator for the Europeans a few weeks later.
On an equipment side, the new foils are proving themselves to be stiff and fast while losing none of the light airs performance the Ninja is known for.
Rudders are available as upgrades for the Mach2, Bladerider and Prowler and mainfoils will fit the above although due to the pushrod direction some control modifications would be required. Mike has been experimenting with a new stiff mast designed to work with the KA10 which has shown much promise and we can accomodate any bend requirements.
May 242011
Mike Cooke from Bristol has set a new UK speed record of 28.8 knots. This is now the fastest recorded time in the UK and has surely opened the door to the elusive 30 knot club.
Mike Cooke tells us how it was done….
“Well conditions were pretty hostile to be honest, but with my wingman badger egging me on we decided to take to the skies. Some pretty big blasts down the lake saw Badger going into a 5g inverted dive that ended in a big ball of spray, his black box was later recovered recording 27.5 knots. I barely got away with my wings in a 30 knot puff but was rewarded with a big score at 28.8.
Conditions were starting to get really wild after that so we retired to the hard deck for a nice cuppa”
Kevin Ellway, the designer of the Ninja and Ninja foils said “The foil design is the culmination of hundreds of hours of 2D and 3D CFD modelling combined with 3 degree of freedom dynamic system modelling. This should provide a foil system which can win around the racecourse over the wide range of sailing conditions we experience in the UK and Europe.
The foils have performed as predicted during initial sailing trials and performance looks very promising. As ever, however, the proof of the pudding is around the racetrack, so it will be interesting to see how the season unfolds.”
Mike Cooke sailed his Ninja to 10th place at the 2011 Bloody Mary, making him top foiler on the day. Alex Adams was next in line, in 25th, also using Ninja foils.
2011 is shaping up to be a good year already!
