Hardest nationals to win?

You want to buy mine then Jim?   All that fun for less than £2k (and it came 12th in the 2004 nationals!).

Let's face it. The Laser class needs good fleets! The boat is a piece of sh*te and no no-one would sail it otherwise!

Originally posted by Stefan Lloyd Now remind us how many boats were at the last Cherub nationals. Clue, think of  a number less than 20.

I don't think this needs to get personal... Not everyone taking part in the nationals of the minority classes is there to win! If I wanted to prove i was the best sailor I would sail a Laser or a Finn. However, I don't.. so I sail a boat which is very tricky to sail and provides hours of amusement without the need for intense racing to get my kicks!

There is more to a nationals than just sailing, think about the social side. Do I go and have a few beers and a laugh with my mates after sailing who also sail the class or go and have an ice bath with Ben and Mr $hite! mmmm, let me think.

p.s. JimC doesn't sail a cherub any more... he sails a Int Canoe

Originally posted by JimC It may well be just as difficult for the seven to win from a ten boat keelboat fleet .

Some recent Nationals attendances:

SB3 52

J24 41

Salcombe Yawl 53 - who'd have guessed that

Dragon 36

Etchells 36

The venerable XOD 79

So what 10-boat keelboat fleet were we talking about? These numbers are up there with all but a small number of the biggest dinghy fleets.

Now remind us how many boats were at the last Cherub nationals. Clue, think of  a number less than 20.  

 

 

Originally posted by Stefan Lloyd I can't comment on AUS, but in the UK I don't think you'd find the major keelboat class nationals any easier to win than a mainstream dinghy class.

You're missing it Stefan. Chris' rather flippant point is that, whereas on a two or three person boat everyne has to be up to snuff, if you've got 9 people on a big boat, two of whom are there only to provide ballast on the beats, then provided the seven who run the boat are good enough the prime skill required from the ballast is to be the right weight and talk themselves onto the boat.

It may well be just as difficult for the seven to win from a ten boat keelboat fleet as it is from a onehundred and seventy boat Laser fleet ('scuse me if I don't put money there though) but not for the other two, for whom the skills and performance required isn't that great between first and last.