The World's best race boat

Yup - sorry all, I hadn't intended my comments to end up as a development vs smod thing.  There are clearly good and bad on each side of the equation.

My definition of the word "race" was about a boat being able to perform across the wind-range.  At all points of sailing.  And a boat that challenges crews both tactically and on straight line speed.

To be fair, most SMOD designs (my opinion only, please note...!) tend to have a hole in their performance somewhere.  So if you take the 29er - clearly the light wind performance isn't the same as that of heavier breeze - same as a 420. 

Look at a 49er/musto skiff/700 and the like, and you see capsizes allowed for in the handicap..!

That to me is why fireballs/505's and FD's are more thoroughbred performers - usually a result of a more flexible / adjustable rig, and several decades of development.

Also, SMODs can't have it both ways.  Their marketing always alludes to....bang for buck...., so it does stand to reason that for greater cost you will probably get more thoroughbred kit.

Appreciate that this is my view only...!

CW

Well Im not certain about THE best but the Topper has done very well considering it is generally childrens first boat they learn to sail in and the fleet is now 250+  who race competitively and the top end of the fleet are awesome sailors....even though they have the most experience in a Topper they are so good that they can jump in pretty much anything and you see them performaing well after a bit of practice.

This whole debate shows up the futility of the best/worst debate. Freddie may be right - it may be the 505, for Freddie. For me, I'll live with the rude comments of ignorant people, I'll live with the logistical nightmare of getting the boat under cover to work on it, and I'll live with not having fleet racing at my club and small fleets at Opens. Why? Because NOTHING feels like an FD! Sure there are faster boats, and boats with bigger fleets (even one or two faster boats with bigger fleets!) but no other boat gives me the same feeling.

If there was a "best", surely everyone would sail that? Best for me is not the same as best for Freddie, but both our opinions are valid. I guess we would use different criteria, so that might lead to another thread: How do we choose the classes we sail? What is important and what is completely irrelevant?

Neil

Here is what SA wrote about the I14 when they awarded it the best race boat category. Seems to me that last point is then one evry class is looking for. Touch it and your hooked........

International 14 dinghy class today seems like a great fix for fast boat blues.  The class is solid, the competition can be found in many places, including Japan and Hawaii, the class managed to control the boat’s development while allowing its member to play with the foiling systems that allowed the crews to try different options with the rig and sails.  It seems to be that everyone who touches this dinghy gets really excited about racing it and that puts it on top of our list.

yes......smods offer a great product (and great racing) within finite limitations.  I won't deny the envy of turning up at Grafham to see over 100 RS200's competing in their inlands last October.  So clearly the majority think so too.

However, in terms of racability (the best race boat) does the simplicity of a boat like the RS200 (just an example - please hold the firing squad...) make it the best boat to race?

As an example of just 1 current development class discussion - in the 505's we are currently considering hound heights.  The German Rig (recently dominant) has hounds (and spreader bracket) about 4 inches lower on a stiffer mast section (so the mast tip doesn't disappear over nose on the first wave) .  Thus the GB rig has more rig movement in its middle section - developing potentially less power in 8-12 knots, in exchange for more performance in the breeze & waves.

So would you say that a class that never considers it's rig control to this level was giving it's sailors enough of a challenge?  A boat where you just "pull on XYZ control until the rig flattens off totally"? (not the RS200 - but there are many classes where this is the case)

Personally not...although this is all horses for courses, I would struggle to support a boat where there are flaws that can't be minimised as the ultimate racing boat.

Chas W

(PS the rs200 is a fabulous example of a decently designed smod, with a well run committee etc)