How To Fly A Windrider Rave

This is a long post. In practice, once you've flown it's a eureka moment wherein all the following is distilled into "this isn't so hard, at all". You might want to pretend and practice in the safety of your pilot's seat while your Rave is sitting in the driveway before actually attempting the following. You may laugh but it does help to get the procedure down cold before attempting the real thing.

Like the manual says, "Before attempting to sail your Windrider Rave on the foils, familiarize yourself with the boat in light air conditions." Truer words were never printed. Without a good understanding of what makes this unique boat work the pilot can find himself frustrated or in trouble.

First,
*Your equipment should be in good condition. The Rave is an amazingly durable boat but a well maintained Rave is easier to sail and fly.
*Make sure you understand what happens when the wand bungees are tightened or loosened.
*If your Rave is equipped with a joystick control for the rudder flap make sure you know which way to move the stick to make the bow rise or fall.
*The steering is sensitive. Don't make sudden movements at speed until you have good feel for controlling the boat
*Keep as neat a cockpit floor as possible. It's is difficult to keep a clean, orderly cockpit floor but don't let your feet become entangled in the spaghetti down there.
*Let someone know where you are on the water. This is last on the list only so that it will not be easily forgotten.

To familiarize yourself with the bungees' cause and effect, while hullborne, pull on one side and release it. Notice what happens to the attitude and speed of the boat. It doesn't take much adjustment, a short pull or release, to make a big difference in heeling and speed reduction. When flying you should make adjustments in smaller increments than you may think would be necessary.

Preparation For Flight:

KNOW THE DEPTH OF WATER IN YOUR FLIGHT PATH.
I always want six feet of liquid beneath me. Sailing in a lake may require local knowledge of the location of submerged trees, rocks, and bars.

If you have enough wind do not turn the Rave onto a beam reach (wind perpendicular to the hulls) or a broad reach until you are ready to takeoff. Rave will liftoff by herself when conditions are right, so be ready after you turn her onto a reach. You might want to head upwind with the boat going slowly while your perform the following preparation checks.

**Release all three foils to the fully extended position. You may need to pull on the bungees in order to "suck down" the ama foils. You have to be moving a little in order to generate some "negative lift" to accomplish that. As soon as the foil locks into the fully extended position, release the bungee completely.

**If your Rave has the optional wand releases (highly recommended) for the ama foils, make sure the wands are engaged/locked in the down position. This allows the wand to operate the flaps. When the wand release is released, the flaps "freewheel"; that is to say they allow the ama foil flaps to stream in a horizontal position that creates much less drag while hullborne. In order to fly, though, those wands have to be locked/engaged so that the flaps provide the maximum lift available for takeoff.

**Check your joystick and make certain it is in the straight-up/neutral (rudder flap horizontal) position.

**Bungees should be camcleated in just enough to take the slack out of the lines.

**Trim your jib. Don't choke the main. Don't overtrim jib or main. Let the jib out 'til it luffs and then pull it in just a little. Keep the slot open between jib and main. If you have a screacher don't use it until you've flown a couple of times without it. It's a powerful sail and is a lot of fun in light air but you might want to wait until you've flown a few times before adding another thing to occupy your brain. My wife hates that big screacher unless she's trimming it on a really light day.

**Relax.

TO FLY:

**Look at your wind indicator at the top of your mast and turn her onto a broad reach.

The manual says to anticipate flight at anything beyond 11mph. They are not joking. If at any time you want to abort you can simply head up into the wind to slow the boat.

The boat will gather speed and begin to heel and lift it's windward ama. Don't let it heel excessively. Pull on that windward bungee just enough to bring the ama down a bit. Too much tension to tame the heel will spoil the party.

WATCH THE WINDWARD WAND TIP. You can observe the wand tip by looking below the ama hull. The wand tips have to ride on the surface of the water in order to do their automatic levelling trick. Progressively more bungee tension will be needed to keep wands attached to the surface as speed increases quickly after liftoff. If the tips stay put onto the surface don't adjust them.

The boat will continue to gather speed in a hurry. If she feels like she can almost do it but not quite, use the joystick to raise the stern a little to coax her up. Return the joystick to the neutral position quickly if she comes up in a hurry. Don't pitchpole. You will learn to gently work the 'stick back and forth a little to ease her effort for liftoff.

Liftoff happens in as little as a couple of seconds. The boat will gather speed so quickly sometimes that it catches you off guard.

If you achieved liftoff completely into the air until the whole boat, foils and all, launches into the sky and suffered the consequent spectacular, but usually harmless, big splash back onto the water, you are going to have to be quicker about putting tension on the bungees; windward bungee first. Keep the boat in the water with bungee tension.

Now that you know how quickly it can all happen you are ready for your second attempt. Raise and lock your tray in the fully upright position and let's try again.

Rave will raise her windward ama. Modestly tame the heel with a little pull on the windward bungee. Windward hull comes out of the water and before you know it the central hull is doing the same with the bow at an angle into the sky that makes a little adrenaline spill on your heart because the boat seems as if it is coming over backwards. It won't. As soon as you've noticed the heel and angle to the sky, the leeward ama is also out of the water and the Rave is doing it's mojo thang.

Give a big ease on the main if it's necessary. A lot of surface tension has been released and your sail trim for less weight and more apparent wind may suddenly require a modified sail trim.

WATCH THE WANDS. Glance over at the windward foil and pull on the bungee enough to keep that wing submerged about a foot or so. Ditto the leeward ama. Until now you've had your hands and brain so full of bungee and ama foils that you haven't paid that much attention to the joystick and, Oh My God, the cleated mainsheet (AARRGGHH!) Be ready to pop that main and head up if you feel like you're in trouble.

**Not too much tension on the bungees or you lose your lift. Drag will bring you back to terra firma (uh, terra aqua). Not ENOUGH tension on the bungees and the whole 400 lb boat flies out of the water. Amazing science. Da Vinci would have loved the Rave.

The joystick can stay neutral (ignored) until you feel you can add it to the takeoff repertoire but it's purpose is to help you coax the boat up to a sooner liftoff and to adjust the bow's attitude during flight.

**Keep that bow down with the joystick (small adjustments!) but not so much that you risk pitchpoling.

**Scream a lot. It alerts the mindless meat popsicles endlessly chasing their tails on jetskis.

One Final Thing: Boat eats up lots of water in a short time. Make sure you have enough room for flight.

REVIEW:

Is the water deep enough and free of obstructions for the length of the flight?
All foils all the way down.
Cleat bungees to takeup their slack.
Turn onto broad reach.
Let out jib 'til it luffs; then, bring it in a little.
Mainsail should be well trimmed.
Boat aims skyward and windward ama lifts.
Windward ama lifts = Pull in a little on the bungee but not so much that you kill the liftoff. Just enough to keep the wind submerged.
Stern comes up.
Check both wand tips. Keep 'em riding on the water's surface.
Big ease on the mainsheet may or may not be necessary.
Joystick will help adjust bow attitude. Be careful not to aim bow down too much.
THAT'S THE WHOLE ENCHILADA.

Notice there may be as many as eight or ten control lines, including sheets, to handle and that you only are equipped with two arms and hands. Do the best you can to monitor everything, but the ones to keep your hands near are the two bungees and the mainsheet. That still leaves you one hand short but you'll get the hang of it.

This may seem a lot to think about. Well, if you were a common wusso you'd be sailing a Hobie! Welcome to the elite club of real multihull pilots where we don't simply fly a hull, we fly the whole boat! Thank you Dr. Sam.

How did you ever live without such a toy?