best skiff

and i have heard the 18 is quite stable downwind but i know the cherub is not

Jus had a word from a friend of mine - he came 12ft sailing in a F5 a while back and was 'scared' apparently! Anywho - he went 18ft skiff sailing at the weekend in a F6, and then a F8 kicked in and they broke the mast foot - the mast went thru the bottom of the boat and it sank - a bit embarassing admidatly, but he said that even that was not as scary as mincing it downwind in the cherub! haha - i had a chuckle at that!

Its gota be tried - 12footers that is! sinking jus really isnt much fun.............

Best skiff ?  Try the B14.  Its a mini 18 footer except both crew hike from wings, so, no learning how to helm from the wire.  Jump out of your Ent, RS 400, Lark etc into a decent used B14 with change to spare.  It may be a hiking boat but its no slouch with a handicap of 880.

23+knots!!! I don't think so, you wouldn't be able to tack the boat in over 20knots with the big rig, most people change at around 16 knots. On a 49er they fully powered up in around 8 knots depending on weight, and they start to depower in over 12 so 16 knots to change to the small rig on a 18footer would make sense.

There can be no best skiff as each skiff suits different people and different conditions!

The small rig on the 18 doesn't seem too much bigger than the 49ers. Take away from an 18 one crew, about 2 feet a small bit of sail and a bit of width and it makes things really interesting, and I think that's the original concept Julian Bethwaite had? Small 18 rig on a 49er would be interesting. The 16ft skiffs have very similar rigs to the 49er, I think I even remember something about the 49er rig being a development of a 16 rig and heard of the 16 guys using 49er rigs. They get a little bit more sail area than we do, but "cheat" by having an extra crew. Plus, I think the 49er is nicer looking boat.