Performance Factors

Originally posted by Guest#260 Interesting, but I am not sure how much I care about the relative performance of a class to another ... what I care about is: 1) is the boat fun to sail 2) is it good for class racing 3) are the people nice to hang out with ....

True enough, but that's not really answering the original question about weight, length, sail area etc.  Anyway, many of us are unwilling or unable to travel the country to get some fleet racing.  So you may as well sail whatever tickles your fancy in the local handicap fleet.

Not sure how to do a 'double quote', but in response to Smight's comments:

N12s are light by most standards - 78kg all up.  Okay, that's more than a Cherub, but still...  Anyway, to clarify my point, a 12ft boat can't have a high maximum displacement speed (some times called hull speed).  Max displacement speed is physically related to boat length, so a 12ft boat can not be as fast a 14ft boat of equally good design.  However, light air performance is also determined by wetted surface area, and 12s are pretty good from that point.

Well that's true.  I stand corrected about the 12.

Chew my RS Thanks for putting that together it does help in getting the factors into relative perspective.  It reminds me that Frank Bethwaite went into this in his book which I'd better aquaint myself with again.