* "Yo, it's the situation, dude!" Jah, mon! Cool story, about the resurrection of a really OLD (a.k.a. "classic") J/24. Skipper David Heisserer and accomplice Dillon Hodapp sail the J/24 THE SITUATION,
hull #15 built in 1977 (the math means it's 34 years old!), and race in
J/24 Fleet #1. She has picked up the infamous nickname “Red Boat” -
strangely fitting for the Russian components on-board.Skipper David and accomplice Dillon have designed and built a digital compass that uses nixi tubes - a cold war era vacuum tube that produces a glowing number. Inside they use an extremely precise
Honeywell
two axis digital compass chip. The precision is on par with high end
sailing compasses on the market. The compass displays lifts and headers
by displaying a plus or minus and the degree on each board. The windows
are laser cut with a J/24 polar diagram on Starboard and a map of Lake
Minnetonka on Port.“We were looking for an outrageous aesthetic without sacrificing function.”
The boat is back from the dead after 20 years of neglect, every part of the project has been DIY. THE SITUATION races at WYC in Minnesota and is creeping up from the back of the fleet. The club will be hosting the 2013 J/24 Nationals where they hope to make an appearance.
David an artist/designer and Dillon a mechanical engineer, are recent winners of Red Bull Creation an invention contest in New York this summer. Their company Mixed Media Engineering does product design and experiential marketing pushing always for artistic and unbelievable builds. They have been featured on CNN money, are in the November issue of Popular Mechanics Magazine, and have been featured on psfk.com, techcrunch.com and coolthings.com for their creations.
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