New women's Olympic boat

The skiff 'trials' were held in ideal conditions - flat water, light-medium breezes, no short tacking, so therefore not representative of the average conditions upon which the PY system is based.

PY results over the years either have the cherubs doing very well when conditions suit, or near the back if not ( ie most of the time).

Cherub performance varies much more than other boats for different conditions - ( wind, wave state, type of course, tidal effects ) so if you take the favourable condtions, then a PY in the 800s is fine,- but in unfavourable conditions, then a PY above 1000 is also reasonable.

Originally posted by Strawberry Originally posted by BBSCFaithfull Originally posted by Strawberry Originally posted by BBSCFaithfull Right i raced suicide blonde in weymouth this weekend and even when the breeze did finally fill in they were no where to be seen! And this weekend some 14 sailors proved what 14 sailing is all about when they beat simon hiscocks over the water. By a LONG way! Hee hee oh and we SPANKED the 12 foot skiff  I'm sure your Blue Peter badge is in the post... So lets get this straight forumites. Cherub sailors are more than happy to boast how quick their boats are especially the skiffs. And how they can take 9ers and 14s. But when it comes to it they are found wanting in a big way. Oh btw stu already got mine thanks, but your order of humble pie could soon be ready You just don't get it do you mate? Yes 14's and 9ers are normally a hell of a lot quicker round a course. That's not really any suprise. But it is the reason, that when conditions are perfect, and you really get it right, driving hard into the groove, and you spank it past a faster boat, it feels so good. If I wanted to get round the course quicker I could go and buy a catamaran. But that wouldn't be much fun would it?

 

Surely that can be said for any class (every dog has its day),  I also cant imagine waiting for that 1 perfect day a month to get the right conditions is much fun either.  Dont bother with a cat, just buy a 14 lol

I'm sensing a 1980's windsurfing thing going on here with the Cherubs.

Cherubs as a design are all about booting it off downhill, marginally out of control, but keeping it on the rails.

If you want to go upwind sail a int 14/505/fireball/FD etc. or any other class, frankly (T-foil will clearly help with some of that though).

I see the Cherub is a bit of a Jamie Oliver class (Lifestyle)

Truth be told, we never hear about how great the boats are to sail upwind..!  In fact, that's probably why they don't win the big races, as some point of the course usually will bury them on handicap.

This isn't to decry the design.  However, from an innovation perspective, how about the Cherubs going for a timed slalom downwind time trial as part (or all) of their nationals?  Cherubs have always been about innovation, after all.

 

Originally posted by Ch505 ...why they don't win the big races, as some point of the course usually will bury them on handicap.

Cherubs won at least their fair share of big events in the 90s. It will take some time for people to get the new boats sorted out, and for various reasons I think most upgrades will never really be competitive, in the same way that pre amalgamation 14s were never competitive again. Like the post amalgamation 14 the post 2005 Cherub is essentially a brand new class.

Edited by JimC

Hang on chaps, there seems to be a lot of talk of Cherubs being...

A. Handicap bandits
B. Going as fast as X or faster
C. Being all about going downwind
D. Not going upwind
E. Etc, etc.

The thing that needs to be put in perspective is the class has had somewhat of a renaissance over the last 7 years. After the previous 10 years before being a bit out in the wilderness where a lot of these labels were picked up.

The reasons they were out in the wilderness? Quite a few. From internal rangerlings with our Australian friends over rules, to lack of energy / exhaustion from the main members in the class to drive it forward after a expensive and disgruntled Worlds. The fact that the boat had become very 'binary' i.e.. Dog Slow or Mentally Fast and nothing in between. And had become dominated by individuals and there view of sailing.

What has happened over the last 7 years is a ton of rule changes, a change of membership and a business like approach to running the class. Some of which I am pleased to of been involved with.

The thrust behind these changes was to deal with the some of the issues like - the binary nature of the boat and to make the boat a much more of an all round boat that pushed the performance envelope to new heights for lightweight crews. This was in response to market pressures and class members wishes. These changes have been a great success.

The process of development to the new rules has really only just begun. So a lot of what is being talked about is TRUE (a) but  only for the very latest boats ( let's say 5, I'm not sure of the exact numbers ). But for the majority of the boats in the class it is very much NOT TRUE (b).

Hopefully the class will go from strength to strength and refine even more over the next few years. Becoming in essence ( although I shudder to write it for the flack I will probably get from someone ) an i14 for lightweights ( I did last time I said something similar ). And throw off the historical labels which have held back the boat before 2005.



(a)

go well upwind in all conditions
go fast downwind in all conditions
PY needs looking at
Certainly on the pace / sometimes faster with / than other twin wire boats

(b)

slow up wind, unless plaining
Fast downwind
PY acceptable
Will still look like a bandit at a handicap meeting in the right conditions


Edit: spelling


Edited by Jack Sparrow