The Boss

Lot of comments elsewhere on the forum. Yes, the class is pretty much dead. Like all of the early UK designed "skiff types" it suffered from being based on pre amalgamation 14s. This was a style of boat the 14 class was about to utterly abandon for new construction.

Mediocre rig, mediocre hull shape, perhaps built a little bit too much down to a budget. To its credit though it did at least finish scond (admittedly a distant second) to the 49er in the ISAF trials, with the others (like the 5 Tonner) nowhere.

Originally posted by JimC To its credit though it did at least finish scond (admittedly a distant second) to the 49er in the ISAF trials, with the others (like the 5 Tonner) nowhere.

I'm sorry Jim but I think you've got the placings of the 5000 and Boss the wrong way round. I remember reading the pro's and con's in the summing up of the report y&y did and to be honest, both boats fell very short of the 49er but the 5000 had the Euro-cup in its favour but was deemed a bit of handful for lightweights. Probably not too much between the boats but the Boss didn't seem reliable at all from the boats I've seen and did seem off the pace compared to the 5000. 

Edited by 49erGBR735HSC

There were 3 polls in the trials.

In "What is your general feeling of the boat" the top scores went;

1- 49er (15 "very good" ratings, 3 "good".)
2- Int 14 (7 very good, 1 "good- not all sailors rated it)
3- Boss (4 very good, 10 good)
4- B14 (4 very good, 8 good)
5- 5000 (4 very good, 7 good)
then - FD, Mach 2 (up-rated FD), Jet, OD14, 505, ISO.

In "if you could afford it, would you buy the boat" the scores went;

1- 49er (13 yes, 3 No)
2- B14 (8 yes, 6 no)
3 -Int 14 (5 yes, 4 no)
4- Boss/5000 (4 yes, 9 no), then D, Mach 2, OD 14, Jet, ISO, 505.

In "would you select it for the Olympics" the scores were

1- 49er (16 yes, 2 No)
2- Boss (5 yes, 8 no)
3- Mach 2 (5 yes, 14 no)
4- 5000  (4 yes, 10 no), then Jet, FD, B14, Int 14, OD14, 505, ISO.

The only official race went 49er, Int 14, Mach 2, Boss, 5000, FD, B14, OD14, ISO. Reporters noted the earlier races went more like 49er, Boss/5000, Mach 2, 14 or something.

The low score for 505 was interesting.




Edited by CT249

Originally posted by 49erGBR735HSC I'm sorry Jim but I think you've got the placings of the 5000 and Boss the wrong way round.

Nope, I haven't. I can't find the report on the web though.

Originally posted by CT249 Etchells, 505s, Ospreys etc have all been pumping out myths ever since.

Yesh, its a shame ISAF haven't got the evaluation commitee's report published on the net: these things are useful historical documents. I went through the '96 ISAF minutes but all I could find was an acceptance of the report, no detail as to contents.