Flat Stanley

Probably both, but remember, what goes on tour, stays on tour.

I saw Matt Cope last summer. He came down to Castle Cove for a few jars with Alan & I. He said that he still goes board sailing with Guy occasionally.

Also, good to hear from you Stuart. Been window shopping at night in Plymouth recently?

Guy's name was one to look up to when I was in my late teens - what happened to him after he stopped sailing FS?

Great to see Flat Stanley still gets the emotions going! I crewed for Guy for a couple of years in the early 90s - very happy days. Guy was amazing to crew for - completely chilled and extremely generous in helping the youngsters in the class (as I was back then...).
As for Flat Stanley, it just had a lot of character. It looked rough, but it was very strong, light, stiff and Guy sailed it extremely well. Actually it looked quite respectable in the early 90s as Guy did a paint job on the decks. Grey Dulux weathershield I believe, as that's the waterproof paint they had in B+Q.... Guy never claimed to be a technical sailor!
I do think Guy and Alex were quite innovative for the time in the UK in the way they sailed the boat. The crew playing the mainsheet is pretty common now, but even in the early 90s it seemed quite novel. At least for the UK. When I crewed for Guy it still had the extra bit of thin rope tied on the end of the main bit of mainsheet. Even then it wasn't quite long enough on a windy 2 sail reach. Guy never really used to ask you to take the main, his hand would sort of appear at his forward shoulder and he'd make a funny little noise to remind you to take the sheet. Hard work but very fast, as most people know now.
Anyway, a great boat made a legend by Guy and Alex sailing it so well for so long. The windy races are always the best remembered, but Guy also used to claim to like light wind races because he was 'lucky'. Positive thinking really, but important to the Flat Stanley legend as the light wind results all contributed to the long list of events Guy won.
If you've never sailed a Cherub, put it on your list of things to do at least once in your life. They can bite and they're certainly not always the fastest all the way round the course, but when they're sweet - wow!
Cheers,
Stuart.

I'm not trying to be arsey, it's just that there is often a lot of mis-
information on this forum, in fact one of the reasons why I don't
frequent it so much now. People make generalisations and sometes
get things wrong, however when you name a specifc boat (not even
just a class!) and say Ronin can't beat a 49er when it clearly can and
has done, then it needs correcting as it's untrue. I agree though, would
a top 49er crew have beaten Pete and Ros...quite possibly, however
make no mistake in the right winds a Cherub is very, very fast. I've
sailed a log of boats in a lot of conditions and a 97 rules Single wire
cherub in big breeze is still the fastest, although I dare say a good 2
rig day on an 18 would be pretty rapid.

WRT pole, 18 poles do not taper. You would probably be better off
trying to beef up a broken 800 mast or similar, although the top of
your windsurfing mast might make a decent dolphin striker if you
beefed it up a bit too. It needs to be stiff enough that when you rig you
have someone pushing down on it pretty damned hard, whilst
someone is on the transom to stop the boat lifting, whilst the third
person puts the pin through the bobstay/bow fitting. Serious loads!