Tasar PN

Report from the NSW state titles said that some of the 45 Tasars were choosing to mix dacron and mylar....I suppose that means the Mylar is not vastly faster, just much cheaper.

Originally posted by jeffers Chris, No one has ever said handicap racing is fair. Harsh but true. There will always be boats that have a favoured handicap. I would disagree about the comparitive abilities though. I was pretty good at club level sailing in my Laser but I would hate to think how I would do against the likes of Ainslie, Goodison and co. they would trash me all round the race course and lap me several times. Were I a windsurfer of similar ilk I would imagine I would fare better as windsurfing in a breeze seems to be more demanding than dinghy sailing the base level of ability should be higher. I have windsurfed before, I didn't really get on with it. Paul

Yes, I agree handicap racing will always be harsh - some classes will do better if you rate according to the best sailors, some will do better if you rate according to the average.

The observations about windsurfers v Lasers comes from having spent a bit of time racing against Olympic medallists, world champions and others in both boards and Lasers (big rig and small), and being fairly competitive (1st-10th nationally) in both boards and Laser Radials. On the Laser, it's easy to see how to sail pretty well; just look at the best guys and copy what they do. Ainslie actually said that he  was always surprised by how fast club-level guys were in light airs.

On boards (and cats which seem to be very subtle in trimming from the little I know) it's hard to see what to do, there is less available knowledge, and the differences in speed are so high that you lose contact with the good guys before you can work out the secrets of their success. I really notice it when coaching....in Radials I can just say "put that sail control there, put X body part in near part X of the boat" and explain the reasoning, in boards I have to say "well, sort of move like this, then squizzle round here and sort of schlummock your hips till this happens....". In cats all I could say was "what the hell do those guys do to go that fast!"

It's one reason I reckon strict ODs of medium pace are ideal to let you develop many (not all) parts of your game.

This applies to course racing boards.....slalom and blasting back and forth are much simpler.


Edited by Chris 249

Originally posted by damp_freddie ( unlike stuff like cherubs or 420s where you wil have something you can't use or sell after a few years)

That was below the belt...

How many cherubs a few years old are for sale at the moment?

I bought my boat before the owner even advertised it (or indeed finished her ready for sale) after picking up on a few rumors it might be comming on the market and tracking him down. There was at least one other person trying to buy her but luckily for me I got there first.
Norweigan Blue was put up for sale at last years dinghy show because there werent any older boats available... and was collected 8 hours later by her new owners.

These are 10-15 year old boats and very highly in demand at the moment so theres no call for blind stabs like that when you have no facts to back it up.

I seem to remember at least one manufacturers 420s tend to go a bit soft after a few years so that might be more valid.

Chris,

No one has ever said handicap racing is fair. Harsh but true. There will always be boats that have a favoured handicap.

I would disagree about the comparitive abilities though. I was pretty good at club level sailing in my Laser but I would hate to think how I would do against the likes of Ainslie, Goodison and co. they would trash me all round the race course and lap me several times. Were I a windsurfer of similar ilk I would imagine I would fare better as windsurfing in a breeze seems to be more demanding than dinghy sailing the base level of ability should be higher.

I have windsurfed before, I didn't really get on with it.

Paul

Originally posted by Isis You must remember that for every new inovation a development class takes on to lower its PY, theres an increasing number of older boats who are still running last decades gear. The handicap must represent the average and not just keep pace with the most tricked-out in the fleet who would probibly be still quicker no mater how good the boat is they sailed

This is exactly why the Fireball is a bit of a bandit boat on handicap. While there are quite a few of the 'new generation' of boats outh there now there are still thousand of boats being sailed on the weekends by club sailors, this is where the PY comes from.

To add in to this some classes (most notably the Merlin Rocket and National 12) recommend PYs for the older generation boats so they can still be sailed comeptitively at handicap events.