I'd like to introduce the group to new owner Jean-Marc Fe'lio. Actually, my tremolino is Jean-Marc's second tremolino. He sold his first ten years ago and both he and his wife missed it greatly. So my tremolino has moved to Montreal for a new home. Another trem goes out of country. Do hope we don't run out. The supply is limited for the time being. I felt really good selling it to Jean-Marc since he knows the boat and has been watching through the group and knew my boat as well. So I never will get to discover vmax. My guess its with one reef in the main, possibly two its about 29 to 30 knots in flat water. Really flat water is the only way you can find it I think because you cannot have water flowing down the leeward seats t and waves moving the boat to really get it. Also I am pretty convinced it lies in the wind range of about 42 to 45 knots true wind. But the 23 plus I got was satisfying. Just wish I'd had not had the roller furler issue or we would have been able to find it that day.
So I will now relegate myself to lurker from active owner. I have really enjoyed this group as both a tremolino wanna be and owner. The wealth of information and expertise here is truely awesome. The directions the boat can be taken in much wider ranging than I ever would have guessed. I had no idea when I started optomizing the boat for my light air area that I was also crating such an accessable high wind velocity capability. My guess was I was creating a way to sail in big wind safely. In open water with the winds in the over 40 knot range the waves would obviously put you into the mode of protecting the boat vs seeking really big speeds. But on protected water.... its breathtaking.
Thanks again to John Olin for developing such a wonderful boat. And that is what birthing a boat is all about, especially a production boat. Its a never ending give and take between a builder entrepaneur and a designer. At given points one may take presidence over the other. That's all a part of birthing a production boat. Sometimes the builder may take the bigger part of the laod becuase of economic considerations, building expertise, or his percieved target market. Sometimes the designer is given more responsibility. I have had it go both ways in boats I have designed. The bottom line proof of the pudding though is in the longevity of the end result. How does it all work years down the road when the sea has taken its toll on the design, the materials, and the satisfaction of owners with the boat years down the road. How well does it all stand up to the moving state of the art? How satisfied are the second, third, forth owners. Does the design allow for adaptation to new ideas, and new goals? Rare is it to find owners as passionate about their boats as we Tremolino owners. Just look at others owners groups online.
I think it is a marvelous tribute to John Olin the result of the Tremolino. Its a tribute to Dick Newick for his contribution as well. Regardless of who has how much input in the conception, design, and execution, its in the end the builder who executes the whole thing. John did an exceptional job in that. Every designer has on his board, designs that for want on one or more parts of the equation never came to execution and the opportunity to be evaluated long term and in numbers of consequence. As a designer, builder, and owner (as owner the Tremolino was I believe my 40 somethingth boat, but who is counting), I have to honestly say, John did it right and having owned one am very appreciative of his work and effort. I only wish I had had the opportunity to have met him.
Bob Branch
I'd like to relate my first sail in my finally completed tremolino. I had done a 15 mile sail from the launch to my house and some short evening sails on the river I live on, but I could not sail the boat properly. The amas were soft, delaminated, and the towers weakly connected internally. In any boat wake the amas swung under the boat. You could push the decks in with a finger andthe hulls as well. The ama hulls had cracked in transport and repair turned out not to be possible as the foam core of the early hobie hulls had delaminated from the skins. Duct tape did the repairs and I finally managed to get new amas on and mounted last week.
The sails arrived last weekend and the battens today. I have already in a previous post outlined the rational for the sail plan I decided upon keeping the std. hobie 16 spar and the reason I did not go higher, mainly that sail could not be shortened below the original full sail rig if I did. For folks interested in ultimate top end this is not a sail plan they would prefer. But I have followed Dick Newicks work from the first Val on. I have had a great deal of respect for his perspective as well as his work. In this boat he created a very light , non folding, minimal approach to a multihull, much as the original Val was. I remember a conversation I had with him a number of years ago when I was still into long distance single handed offshore racing about bringing a Val to the great lakes and wanting to put a taller stick on it. He shot me down. Thanks Dick. I remember.
So what is wrong with the standard hobie rig? Its a beach cat rig, not a tri rig. Expedient, It let the boat happen. But we can do alot better if we want to bring the boat to its performance max by making the rig what it truely is, a trimaran and it can be done without creating more heeling moment that needs more ama... and the circle can just keep going. Trash the bridle and hobie jib and put on a real headstay and real jibs. Put on a real mainsail, not the light weight hobie cloth but cloth that will stand up to the power gernerated by the boat. Bring the jib tack down to the deck where it belongs and sweep the deck with the jib. Trim the jib the way a jib is supposed to be trimmed, to a genoa track on the hull, not to a lateral track way up in the air on a cross beam.
I have raced just about every kind of monohull from Lasers to large offshore boats. I am a light air specialist... its the only way you win in Detroit where we have the lowest mean wind in the country, yes even lower than the Cheasepeake. Tonight I had a rather remarkable sail. There was what we call in Detroit, a vacuum of wind. Below zero. Not a single leaf was moving anywhere. There were no ripples. The windex did point, but you could not feel the breath of air doing it. But on the ground and at mast level there was not enough to move anything. I came out of my canal onto the river, where the current was 1 knot on the gps. With the new square top main (6.5 oz square weave dacron) and a similar weight and cloth deck sweeping blade jib, I was able to use the current to generate a one knot wind over what the windex was looking to..and was then able to build 4 knots boatspeed on a close hauled course! No boat I have every experienced including ultralights or Canada's cuppers could do anything like that! When I came about and started upwind I was able to make 2 knots against the current, so 3 over the water with the jib. I furled it and opened the screetcher. This sail is 3.5 oz Pentax, tacked to a bow sprint 18 inches ahead of the stem and hoisted 3 feet above the hobie 16 hounds. It also is a deck sweeper and ends at the forward crossbeam as does the jib. Speed on a 110 degree reach was 3 knots, add the current and it was 4 knots total boatspeed, off the wind. And still, no ripples, no movement of leaves on the shore a hundred yards away, just enought to point the windex. My wife was aboard on the leeward tram to generate the heel that was needed and lift the weather ama. I helmed from the weather seats.
This was just a preliminary sail. I really hadn't even planned to sail, just to go out and raise the main and lower it to see if everything worked. I have not had any opportunity to fine tune anything yet, and the sheets were 3/8 inch ie, not light air sheets. No boat I have ever sailed in my experience can come near this kind of performance in these conditions. I do not know a single race committee who would ever start a race in these conditions. But the boat not only moved, it was responsive, with a nice feel on the helm, not he dead mushy feel of a cat or a dog.
For the folks who want top end thrills, go for it and enjoy it. For those who want a superb light air boat, my vote is to just get serious about completing what we have. The screecher is my off wind sail, and will not be used upwind unless cracked off. Just going to a real main, and a serious jib can do wonders, without the bow sprint. When I got my boat it was just there so I utilized it.
I should note also that my boat was fed a forced diet. It now floats 5 inches higher than when I got it. The non waterlogged amas dropped their weight by about 30%. I removed the solid seats and replaced them with double layer soft seats. The horendously heave rudder, tiller, were replaced by a state of the art aluminu frame narrow blade rudder, The 4 hp long shaft motor and 6 gallon tank replaced by a 14 pound 2 hp Yamaha and one gallon aux tank to add to the half gallon internal. The multiple heavy anchors, chain and rodes replaced by a 2 pound aluminum and 100 ft rode (adequate for my area, maybe not eveyones. Oh, I did add a battery (a small gel cell in the aft cabin), an electrical system with running lights, ship to shore, gps, depth sounder and electric bildge pump and the new sails, one more than the original boat had. I still use the same bomb proff deagger board. The net weight change has been 250 pounds less. The aft bottom edge of the transom is 1 inch out of the water when the boat is at rest at the dock.
This boat is a light air rocket! Enjoy it!
bob branch
Thanks, Bob, for the excellent description of what a good boat will do with very little wind. Most sailors will never know this joy because they let their boats get too heavy. Taking 250 pounds out of the boat is a lot cheaper than buying a bigger rig and all the beefing up it will need.
More sail may work for a while, but then the mast or the rigging or the akas get grossly overloaded and the crew need to be rescued. The Hobie 16 mast works well on a Hobie 16. but used on a boat with twice as much righting moment with much more sail it will only survive with careful, conservitive handling-not likely when a 40 footer is being overtaken or when 3 guys on the weather ama want to see 24 knots on the gps when its blowing close to 20 knots.
If you have fond memories of the VALS (as I do), give me a mail address for a study plan of the new VAL111, a 30 ' tri , wing mast, 2' longer waterline. 3' more overall beam. less weight and 136 sq. ft more working sail, designed to be the smallest boat in the naxt OSTAR- or whatever that race will be called by then. She's a smaller OCEAN SURFER. Cheers, Dick
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