Phlipnhel as in “Flip’n’hell”

Design by Phil McNeill, built by Phil McNeill and Neil Deverall

Result Highlights

South Pacifics Champion: 2008-2009 & 20012-201
Sanders Cup Winner: 2004, 2006, 2014, 2015
New Zealand Nationals Winner: 2006, 2009, 2013, 2015
Kingham Trophy: 2006

 At the time of building “Phlipnhel” what were your main design objectives?  And how did you plan to achieve these?

My goal was to build a Javelin that was fast in all conditions and have the downwind speed advantage of “No Name Required” – my first Javelin design.  I wanted it to be safe in the breeze as No Name Required Jav 359 was a bit of a handful in the breeze as was Bax’s boat The Unknown.
To make it safer, I used lots of rocker and a very narrow transom.  The rocker helps to avoid nose diving and the narrow transom allows you to sink the back of the boat, lifting the front and reducing the tendency to nose dive.
Most skiffs are designed for maximum water line upwind in a breeze and flat aft sections for speed planning downwind in a breeze. To achieve this with a Javelin requires minimum rocker and high chines at the mid length measuring point, which makes them prone to nose diving and they stick in light weather. I designed Phlipnhel with the front half of the hull for light weather and the back half for heavy weather. The rocker allowed me to either sail on the front half of the boat or the back half of the boat depending on the conditions. The front half has very U’ed sections that provide a lot of bouyancy with minimum wetted surface. It also has the advantage that the boat is happy to sail bolt upright in semi wiring conditions, whereas a V’ed hull such as No Name Required wants to flop either to windward or to leeward, making it difficult to maintain speed in semi-wiring conditions. The only consideration to heavy weather sailing in the bow sections was to keep the chines very straight and narrow to help cut through waves.  The back half was designed for heavy weather and is straight and flat.
I believe that the change that has made the biggest improvement, was significantly lowering the chines at the mid length measuring point.  This has resulted in flatter sections in the middle of the boat, which allows the boat to carry weight much better, and again reduce nose diving.  This has also help get her up on the plane earlier, and she stays there longer.

The Kiwi team discussing tactics, and Russell showing his secret “tummy weapon” (South Pacifics, Perth 2003)

378 “Phlipnhel” going downwind, Invitation Race. (South Pacifics, Perth 2003)

“Phlipnhel” proving they are pretty photogenic (South Pacifics, Perth 2003)

“Phlipnhel” New Zealand. (South Pacifics, Perth 2003)

Phil McNeill & Matthew Smith (NZ) in “Phlipnhel”, another new kiwi boat, to Phils own design. Note: the location of the jib (South Pacifics, Perth 2003)

378 “Phlipnhel” showing its fast up, as well as downwind. These guys ended up 3rd overall in a 2 month old boat, thats quick tuning. (South Pacifics, Perth 2003)

Phlipnhel (NZ Nats 2014)

Phlipnhel (NZ Nats 2014)

Phlipnhel (NZ Nats 2014)

Phlipnhel (NZ Nats 2014)

Phlipnhel intermediate tensioners (NZ Nats 2014)

Phlipnhel – Lowers Attachment (NZ Nat 2014)

Phlipnhel (NZ Nats 2014)

Phlipnhel (NZ Nats 2014)

Upon launching and sailing “Phlipnhel” how did she go?  Had you meet your design objectives?

The light weather design objective was definitely met.  The boat was very fast in light weather and will carry big crew weights. Even with the likes of Hamish Hey up front at 110kgs, I still expect Phlipnhel to win light weather races.  The boat did not perform downwind in a breeze as well as I had hoped. It is fast but I believe No Name Required is significantly faster. However having a Javelin that doesn’t want to nose dive all the time is awesome, so it is definitely safer in a breeze than No Name Required.  Originally we struggled in choppy upwind conditions in 8-10 knots.  I’m not sure if this was due to a rig issue or our fore & aft trim, but we seem to have overcome that now.
The midpoint lowered chines created more lift forward, which tends to make the boat plane with the bow up and stern down, so we have to move forward in the boat to counteract that, although it didn’t seem to slow it down, it just looked and felt wrong.

Since launching “Phlipnhel” have you made any modifications?  What was the aim of the mods?  Were they things you needed to change, or somethings you could see you could get more out of the boat?

Since launching Phlipnhel, I have lowered the chines at the transom by 10mm to try and improve downwind speed but I’m not sure if it achieved anything because the change was so small.  Before we head to Perth at Christmas, I intend to widen the transom to make it more like No Name Required and hopefully to achieve the same speed. I’m hoping it won’t negatively effect the boat handling but as we seldom sail in really strong winds anymore, I don’t expect it to be a frequent problem.  Unfortunately the modification will add weight to a Javelin which is already significantly overweight.

What are her good points?  Are there conditions where she really goes well?

Her best point is that she is easy to sail fast, with smooth transitions between modes.  She goes well in all conditions with no particular favourite condition.

Are there conditions where you feel she under performs?  Or are their any instances where she jumps up and bites?

The best thing about Phlipnhel is that she never jumps up and bites.  As far as Javelins go, she is easy to sail in every condition.

What are the 3 key things to get right in building and setting up a Javelin to sail?

One of the biggest challenges to a Javelin, is to get the layout of control lines and sheets right. Every boat is set up differently so there is no tried and true system to follow.  Since launching, I have changed a few things, but I’m very happy with how everything works with the current lay out. In saying that, I still have a few ideas to try.
The other key thing is to get the rig right, especially the correct mast stiffness..  Phlipnhel has suffered since launching with mast issues and after a decade of experimenting we finally seem to be on top of it.
What makes the biggest difference is simply time on the water, trying to improve everything from boat handling to gear changing to boat speed testing and then of course the racing tactics etc.  I learnt a lot of that through my 470 sailing, but in recent years the biggest improvement has been in my tactical racing.  I wish I had known this stuff when I was racing 470’s! Unfortunately for you young ones ie those under 50? I think that as you get to the geriatric stage in life, you start making up for your lack of physical ability with brains and deviousness.  Or it could be that I am confident in our boat speed in all conditions, which lets me relax and think smart, see what is coming and play the chess game accordingly.

SPEED MAKES EVERYONE A TACTICAL GENIUS!