NS14 - Are they Good?

My only time sailing against Tasars on the water showed them to be both about the same speed. bearing in mind the extra two feet a Tasar has on a 12 thats quite a shock really...

I'm sure the Tasars would just love a 12's handicap ... however it there was any real breeze somebody was doing something really really wrong !!  They did not get their punitive handicap for nothing and I've yet to see an N12 plane upwind alongside the Fireballs and 470's anywhere ..... also the 12 is a bit of a handicap bandit in very light stuff

Blaze '720'

 

Having had a chat with a Tasar sailor at the dinghy show, who sails both N12 and Tasar, interesting to hear that he thought there wasnt much difference in performance. My only time sailing against Tasars on the water showed them to be both about the same speed. bearing in mind the extra two feet a Tasar has on a 12 thats quite a shock really...

Loco Perro may not have the straight line top speed of other recent Cherub designs, but at the end of the day that is not where the Cherub is lacking!

Originally posted by JimC Originally posted by Chew my RS NS has smaller sails than the N12 but is much quicker Yes, but the point is the two are virtually head on for the same sailors. The NS is a glorious boat, but the N12s are great too, are probably more versatile for puddles and rivers than the current NS shapes and so on. As for speed, its pretty much irrelevant - N12a have outnumbered Cherubs 2:1 since the 1980s and it sure isn't anything to do with the Cherub being slower. Emotionally sure I'd think it nice if the N12 rig rules were freed up so that they bacame more like a baby NS, but it wouldn't make me buy one and I doubt it would grab them many sailors frm the RS200. So realistically I don't think there needs to be another box rule class in between the Merlin and the N12, no matter how good it is, and much as my heart says it would be great if those classes were to loosen up rules so that they were more like the NS, my head suggests that it might be detrimental rather than good for them. I'm sure if either class starts to hit significant numbers problems in the future then loosening up rules is the sort of thing they'll look at as a possible fix, in the same way that the spinnaker free ICs are looking at that option. Of course in some circumstances tightening rules ratherthan loosening them is the correct response to a numbers problem, it just depends what the problem is.

Those are good points Jim and I think I've made my views on the N12 known on a previous thread. I'm not a big fan, but they are well suited to pond/river sailing.

I like Merlins very much and they are extremeley popular, but they cost so much that they are simply not affordable to many people (I know there are always secondhand bargins to be had if you look hard enough, but thats not really the point) and the hassle of conventional spinnakers appeals to fewer and fewer, even though they are the quickest thing for boats of this type.

The RS200, Enterprise, GP14, Merlin and N12 all occupy this middle-of-the-road position for two man, easy-to-sail boats. They are all popular, with big turnouts at events, so thre is demand in this sector. But most of these classes are either stuck in a time warp or restricted by old fashioned rules, so I'm sure that a modern alternative would appeal to many. Good riddance to the GP, Ent and 12, I say!

I'm only dreaming, but it would be nice...

Originally posted by Chew my RS NS has smaller sails than the N12 but is much quicker

Yes, but the point is the two are virtually head on for the same sailors. The NS is a glorious boat, but the N12s are great too, are probably more versatile for puddles and rivers than the current NS shapes and so on. As for speed, its pretty much irrelevant - N12a have outnumbered Cherubs 2:1 since the 1980s and it sure isn't anything to do with the Cherub being slower.

Emotionally sure I'd think it nice if the N12 rig rules were freed up so that they bacame more like a baby NS, but it wouldn't make me buy one and I doubt it would grab them many sailors frm the RS200.

So realistically I don't think there needs to be another box rule class in between the Merlin and the N12, no matter how good it is, and much as my heart says it would be great if those classes were to loosen up rules so that they were more like the NS, my head suggests that it might be detrimental rather than good for them.

I'm sure if either class starts to hit significant numbers problems in the future then loosening up rules is the sort of thing they'll look at as a possible fix, in the same way that the spinnaker free ICs are looking at that option. Of course in some circumstances tightening rules ratherthan loosening them is the correct response to a numbers problem, it just depends what the problem is.

Nope, none in the UK to my knowledge. There's a lot of overlap with the National 12, which I rather suspect has bigger sails than the NS14.