29er, why just the kids

i know that there are pushy parents but there are very few in the 29er compared to other classes. I only came out of the 29er this year and I was the oldest being 18 (but still a youth), even I sometimes felt old when i was always the one going to the bar to buy drinks! There are alot of sailors that drive themeselves to events and training its only the younger ones that obviously can't.

In other contries the 29er is a much smaller youth class its mainly in GBR that it is considered a youth class. Especially the forign teams at the worlds most are over 19. Its a shame because it is an awesome boat.

What do people consider light weight? The optimum weight for a 29er is between 115-135kg and ideally 125kg, with a heavier crew than helm. Optimum 49er weight is only 148kg.

Originally posted by Iain C So now if it becomes the womens olympic double handed skiff, sailed in theory by youngish women of drinking age...that could be quite a social scene!

Sounds like a damn good circuit to me! 

I don't think it's the youth sailors that are the problem more the parents that trail around after them ...

When I were a lad my dad used to drop me off then go off fishing ... once I had to park my Topper outside the club gates as they were locking up - he'd been delayed betting back in from the boat.

Did me a lot of good though ...

Rick

Design, yes maybe, i.e for lightweights, but over here it was defiantly sold to me by Dave Hall as a boat that was looking to have a mix of ages in the fleet. As a caveat, this was before they had secured youth status.

If I remember right some of the early events did seem to have a better mix. So maybe it is just the RYA involvement that has scuppered the mixed age fleet. RYA, a double edged sword me thinks.

I've not sailed the 29er much and it's tended to be light winds but I've normally struggled to get enough power out of it to sit on the side so ended up laying on the deck. I'm not particularly heavy - around 12 stone - and was sailing with light crews. Admittedly I wasn't trying to get maximum power out of the rig as they were inexperienced crews but I would imagine a lot of adults just wouldn't be able to do much other than sit in the bottom of the boat unless it was really windy.