Feva or Laser?

is that useful riki?

The Feva doesn't hold rig tension, its essentially an unstayed rig and the shrouds stop the rig from pulling forwards when the kite is up. The jib haliard just needs to be tight enough to stop the luff from sagging. Thats why its just a one to one purchase and the rope is pre stretch - it stops the rig from being over tensioned. The mast doesn't have spreaders (for versitility - big sail, little sail, single/double handed, etc, storage of mast in the boat) so pulling rig tension will just make the mast floppy in the middle section. This is also the reason the main haliard cleat is at the top of the mast - otherwise there is a 'bow and arrow' type effect when the haliard is taut and cleated at the bottom and the mast is floppy in the middle. We've recently sourced a side load camcleat for the top of the mast which is even easier than the old front load cleat. Theres actually not many examples of unstayed, unspreadered masts that have a haliard at the bottom (I can only think of old Solos) the Europe, RS300, Vareo, Finn, most Catamarans etc. all have their haliard fixed at the top of the mast.

Polyethylene hulls are proportionately softer than fibreglass hulls that can have local reinforcement, so any PE boat that holds rig tension requires the mast to be locked low down with a foot strut and lowers (a la Vago, Magno, Omega) or via a hanging mast foot and a high foredeck (a la Vision). This triangulates the rig loads. The Feva doesn't have these, so the extreme loads on the rig are soaked up by its softness, and the shrouds stop the mast from over bending when the spinnaker is up. Its all rather clever when you look at the nitty gritty and what it has to do.

The mainsheet is one to one as standard, but many sailors, especially youth sailors, add an additional block on the mainsheet horse to create a 2:1. The standard mainsheet rope length is long enough to do this. Both the mainsheet and kicker are upgraded as part of an inexpensive 'race pack', which makes life easier for those who are going to be using them, whilst not bumping the price of the boat up for those who don't know/care about adjusting! I guess your experience with fevas is on the Bough Beech club boats - these were supplied in basic spec - perhaps you should propose to the relevant committee that they are upgraded. The Sevenoaks School boats at BBSC have a modified mainsheet system for team racing - they obviously need a one to one.

The Feva rudder is huge for the size of boat, but gives a really reassuring solid feel, but is quite punishing if the boat is not flat or the blade is not fully rotated down. The depth of the blade means that slight changes in feel are very nticeable on the tiller, but means that the blade maintains grip to quite high levels of heel without stalling. Again, this is a versitility concern - enough control for the racers, enough reassurance for the novices. Sailed flat and fast and with the blade properly locked down, you should find the blade finger tip light. Check the boats you're sailing are rigged correctly, theres two rotating holes in the head of the blade depending on the make of rudder stock (there have been a couple of different models), and if you use the wrong one it will over/under rotate. The manual will help.

Hope this helps explain. You won't believe how much thought and attention went into designing parts of the boat might have been considered 'cutting corners', though inevitably there are slight compromises to suit the boat to a large number of people. Nevertheless it is this large number of users which creates the Fevas international popularity, good racing curcuit, squad training, etc. too.

I wasn't having a dig last night (albeit tongue in cheek ) RS genuinely wants to talk with people who have strong views on aspects of our boats. We are sailors and racers and instructors too, and our sport is driven by the enthusiasm, be it positive or otherwise, of its participants.