V Twin

I do agree with Graeme on this one, I would have most likely bought a Blaze with kite over the contender I am currently sailing.

If such a class were to come into existance (i.e not the 100 or D1) I would be inclined to give it a shot.

The reason I dislike the D1 is mainly the looks, with the 100 I think its not as easily driven as it should be (me being lazy)

Dan

Originally posted by G.R.F. As a wilder idea, how about one of the racks had an inflated seat and the other didn't, that might keep it on its side, or at the very least if they were both inflated, one could have the plug pulled. I mean seriously if everything on the control side had been working, there is no way it would have gone over in the first place. Everyone knows you don't just 'head up' from a broad reach head to wind in a breeze like that, only a retarded person with extreme narcissistic personality disorder...

Firstly Graeme, what mast are you using and is that the AltO jib?

Re. the inflated seat, coincidentally  my second suggestion after getting maximum buoyancy out of the mast was to fit some buoyancy to each rack. I then decided it would need to be on the topside. Immediately the though of armchair sailing came to mind which was one of the early criteria for the AltO before it was an AltO. Roger who sailed with me in the Wayfarer was having an increasing problem the arthritic hips, so the first prototype was an old FiveO into which I fitted a wayfarer type thwart for Roger. It was a non trapeze boat (Roger was 17 stone) and it was locally known as my asymmetric armchair Wayfarerer (about year 2002). That prototype non trapeze AltO still exists at Aldeburgh with of course the thwart seat. I was next going to add pipe insulating foam to the mainsheet hoop to give an upholstered back to the seat. Enough.

Moving on, I was then going to suggest that easy deflation was available on each bag so when fully inverted one or the other could be deflated thus allowing the boat to be more easily righted. The next logical thought was then that you perhaps only need a bag on one side, but it would be better to have comfort on both tacks!

....if he could just now convince 5 other folks at Draycote to sail them, then I'll buy him a pint. 

....and if  you can persuade a few of them we can do you a cracking 'fleet' price ... and I'll buy the beer. 

BTW I am NOT against asymetrics in any way, but Cirrus is a small company and we have had to, up to now at least,  avoid targetting sections of the market that are well or over-served with choice already.  We also dropped the development of a (Blaze inspired but not Blaze based ) singlehander with spinnaker when we became aware of the D1 and RS 100 developments.  We do not have the marketing clout in an age of 'brand' - and would have been badly squeezed however good the boat.  It was a hard decision at the time but was basic commercial common sence and one I'm very glad we took .... but it did bring forward Icon.   The Blaze was never going to be supplied with a spinnaker anyway and regardless of its sans-spinnaker status the class continues to grow in a very encouraging manner really on the back of third party recommendations and a very keen bunch of owners ....   

Look around the various sailing clubs and locations out there - the vast majority of singlehanders still choose single-sail racing, and not necessarily because they are incapable of managing an additonal sail as some might imply.   Could we develop a fantastic 'optimised' and desirable  hiking singlehander with spinnaker - well I think so but that is not the point. 

Mike L.

PS - Greame - I have a brand new, bare Blaze hull without deck (or fault !) available in polyester (the last ever made) that would allow you to build whatever you wanted on top of it .... yours for relative peanuts if you are seriously interested.  I was keeping it to build a one-off just to make the point myself and have a bit of (non-commercial) fun .. but sadly no time to spare !

Originally posted by blaze720 ....and if  you can persuade a few of them we can do you a cracking 'fleet' price ... and I'll buy the beer.

Originally posted by oldarn Originally posted by tickler Can thought not be given to why it fell over in the first place? Graeme, have you not worked out why you capsised your MPS, your RS500, your RS100 and your AltO? Most likely you decided it was because they are dinghies. Certainly with the AltO and I'm sure the V Twin alot of thought goes into this and since we know as human beings we will make mistakes however much capsizing is designed out , it will happen.  So unfortunately tickler, it will happen and the challenge is how to minimise the possibility of it happening and then when it does, how to make it recoverable by the crew on board. The challenge in not how to prevent the capsize but how to recover from it, 'safely' Tickler, does your dinghy capsize, and if not why not? It capsises far more than I find comfortable, the reason? The silly old fool driving it!