B14

After about 3 sails I found the bag kite on our 5k just as quick and easy as a chute kite to drop. Admittedly it's a bit more of a pain to hoist as the helm has to pull a bit of a string, which wouldn't be an issue if the helm did the halyard as that runs really smooth, unfortunately we see to be set up for the crew to do the halyard.

Bag kites shouldn't be a put off for a boat, they have their pros and cons. Some of the pros being; Super smooth halyard hoist (seriously, hoisting a dry kite out of a bag is like pulling line of the reel and the chandlery!), never having to shimmy down to the bow to sort out a kite that wont go in/come out of the chute and not having a big wet lump weighing the bow down.

However they do mean the helm has to pull some string on the hoist (although a few chute boats have that as well) and they are pain when you capsize as you have to stuff the kite back in the bag with the boat on its side.

29er has a much better circuit, although that's not that important because I'm not all that serious as a racer, I'd do maybe 2 opens and the Nats tops. One of which at home... Likewise, B14 generally draws 11ish boats to events, not as many, but not to bad an issue.

29ers are a bit unstable, it always feels like the most important bit of going fast in them is staying upright. Don't know what B14 is like in that respect, shall have to try one out. 29er has trapeze, but i can sail a trapeze boat anyway, so no great educational loss. Hmmmmm decisions decisions decisions :)

 

Jaws, Cherub crew weight is somewhere between 120-135kg according to the Cherub guy at the boat show, although much heavier people do sail the boat. International 14 wise, wouldn't look at anything older than a Bieker 3 or a Morrison 11 and wouldn't go near a I-14 without a T-Foil, especially on the sea. We had a M12 for a while and it was a fairly easy boat to get on with. The newer I-14s are much easier to sail than the old ones in my opinion. Saying that though, you would get a really good B14 for the price of an okay I-14 and the B14 is a lot less hassle and just as rewarding a boat to sail. The B14 is a fair bit quicker than a Cherub also, anytime I've seen a Cherub sail well, they've sailed to their handicap mixing it with Laser 4000s and RS400s. Have you thought of a Laser 4000, good sea boat, reasonable class, cheap and as good, if not better performance than the 29er and Cherub? B14 is at another level of performance to the 29er but not necesarily that much higher skill level for you to master, try to get an Ovi B14 if you go for one.