Ktaba-time

The Ktaba 20 continues to evolve in the hands of its builder, Craig Ktaba. Last time I wrote about it, it wasn't quite ready for primetime; Now it's getting close. Let's see what's new...

Relaxing

There is a new and improved spinnaker pole. The spinnaker itself is also much improved, and it now has autotrim. I am sure some people like that. I know I do. It's perfect for cruising. For racing I will most definately want a spinnaker I can tweak for max performance.

Moored at Tradewinds

As you can see, the boat still looks great. In my last post about the Ktaba 20 I didn't show the mast in detail. Why? Because it wasn't really finished. It was just a stick with a set of spreaders and that was it. It was also a little too short.

The much improved mast

That has been fixed. Now, it is a pleasure to look up, when sailing the Ktaba 20. Thank you Craig. It makes the experience much better. However, there's still a few details. For one thing, the vane up there always points backwards when sailing, - even on a downwind course... Looks kinda silly and makes the vane useless.

The Ktaba 20 under sail

Here she is under sails. Not sure what kind of monster it is, that I see down south, but luckily the virtual world has no smells or scents. If only we could have a few buttons to click and select only the good ones. Flowers, the ocean, freshly cut grass and freshly baked bread. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Then guys could activate diesel, whiskey, tobacco and maybe also channel no. 5 and similar. Anyway, I can easily imagine the roar of the huge engine - and also the smell of burnt fuel. Eeew.

Top down look

A few minutes later Craig joined me. Nice guy. His conversation quickly made me forget all about the stinkpotter. We talked about the boat... lotsa little details, and I won't repeat them all here, but one thing deserves mentioning. The Ktaba - like many of her virtual sisters - she floats a little too high. It is easy to fix.

Starboard?

Especially when heeling it is obvious. The waterline comes up on the windward side, but it doesn't really dive down on the leeward side. Like I said... easy to fix. I am glad to report that Craig said that too. In the shot above the waterline is hardly present, but that multihull monster is. He slammed right into us...  Virtual sailing is great... we didn't break anything.

Back home...

Oh, one other truly wonderful thing... This baby has both BWind and WWC support. Two windsystems in one boat! Why is that so great? More on that in a later post. This is really it for now. Can't wait to sail the next version. It's already close to perfect, but as Craig says: We aim to please. That must mean the next version is even better. Aim high...

More on the Ktaba 20.