'Weight on the Wire'

Tom FRP boats are not faster and have a much shorter competitive life.  It just happens that most of the new GP's sold nowerdays are Speed boats, therefore more modern boats out on the circuit.

I still wouldn't say they are faster, a wooden boat was second at the last worlds for a start... I think there are more of them so they stand out a lot more now, but I think it is more to do with the people sailing them than the boats.

Originally posted by tmoore The GP14 handicap has stayed the same even though the new FRP ones are clearly faster!!!

Calling FRP GP14s new is stretching the imagination a
little. They were introduced over 10 years ago, back
when Tony Blair was a fresh-faced young beacon of hope
and nobody had heard of Osama Bin Laden.

Originally posted by Guest#260 Originally posted by I luv Wight Originally posted by Guest#260 The development classes have shown a resonable improvements but I suspect a big chunk of that improvement has been through significant rule changes rather than development within the rules. The Moth class has had no significant rule changes for 30 + years - any changes have been restricting. The real sail area has actually been reduced by ~4% due to more restrictive and accurate measuring methods. ( and the foiler deveopment is within the rules too - with PYs in the 650 region on a good day, - making the moth class the biggest reduction ever in PY without a rule change )  ie from slower than Solo to faster than a 49er. The Cherub class however has had major rule changes to allow more sail area, narrower hulls etc. N12s have had minor rule changes re self draining. Merlins ? dunno, not much change, but not much PY change either. I would class the following as signfiicant rule changes: - Lowering hull weight - Adding self draining floors - Allowing carbon rigs - Making spinnakers bigger - Making spinnaker poles longer - Allowing film sails - Allowing carbon booms/poles - Increasing upwind sail area - Adding trapezes

As far as moths go :

No min hull weight  - therefore no change
self-draining - no change
carbon rigs - no change
spinnakers - err...  no spinnakers on a moth
spin poles - irrelevant
film sails - no change
carbon booms/poles - no change
increasing upwind sail area - actually a 4% decrease
Adding trapezes  - this is the same int moth that we all know yes? - no change ( not allowed)
and the biggest development so far -
 flying hydrofoils allowed -  no change.

so there are no significant rule changes for this class.

( Development class rules allow anything not specifically banned, closed rules only allow things that are specifically allowed. The moth rules used to be on one A4 sheet, now 2 , compared to the Optimist which has a rule BOOK of 40 ish pages.)

No trapeze on N12s or merlins AFAIK.
But maybe some of the above applies to N12 and merlins -
Cherubs have indeed had big rule changes ( 2 wires, bigger sails and more length)

Originally posted by Guest#260 The development classes have shown a resonable improvements but I suspect a big chunk of that improvement has been through significant rule changes rather than development within the rules.

The Moth class has had no significant rule changes for 30 + years - any changes have been restricting. The real sail area has actually been reduced by ~4% due to more restrictive and accurate measuring methods.
( and the foiler deveopment is within the rules too - with PYs in the 650 region on a good day, - making the moth class the biggest reduction ever in PY without a rule change )  ie from slower than Solo to faster than a 49er.

The Cherub class however has had major rule changes to allow more sail area, narrower hulls etc.

N12s have had minor rule changes re self draining.
Merlins ? dunno, not much change, but not much PY change either.


Edited by I luv Wight