Bruce Roberts classic 45 Valencia, Spain |
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Rossiter Pintail Mortagne sur Gironde, near Bordeaux |
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Free mast for Merlin Rocket - has a bend! Guildford |
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List classes of boat for sale |
The Tasar v the Icon |
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blaze720 ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 28 Sep 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1635 |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posted: 25 Jul 14 at 8:11pm |
Hi Greame
A decent, sorted and fully competitive Merlin will beat a decent, sorted and competitive Icon... Not all the time of course but often enough. Upwind ? About the same depending on wind strength. Across the wind ? - Well Icon of course and not much will trouble it anyway on tighter reaches. Downwind ? - Merlin of course ... that 3rd sail must be useful for something ... some of the time surely ! ;-) The handicap ? Well now you are asking a completely different sort of question and I suspect you know the range of answers you will now elicit already. As a matter of fact I will say that Icon has attracted a number of likeable and capable oddballs so far .. not 'regular' guys and crews in most cases and quite a few really really really do know what they are doing. The boat is quick for sure in capable hands and the same crews will and have often done well in other classes in the past as well. But I'm not going to rise any further to this particular point - it has been done to death already. You should never sail or buy a boat because it has an 'easy' handicap .. because it can and will change ... as many do andwill find out. Get into classes you like sailing above all else ... and then race them and enjoy them. If handicap 'coffee mugs' turn you on then look elsewhere .. but if you like Alfa's on the road you might also like Icon and if you have never driven an Alfa or sailed an Icon ...well it is about time you tried one or other of them ! life is a bit on the short side for too many compromises. Mike L. |
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iGRF ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6499 |
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I've seen plenty of Alfa's by the side of the road with the bonnet up, what are you saying?
Is there a dinghy AA that'll fetch us back when it breaks down? |
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blaze720 ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 28 Sep 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1635 |
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No explanation is really needed ...
![]() We now know you have never owned an Alfa at least ... |
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iGRF ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6499 |
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Well today if we'd been sailing off 1000 and hadn't hit the finish mark I'm reliably informed we'd have won, as it was, we drifted across the line 2nd boat, the tide helped us kiss the mark and forced a re round, the Hornet, who'd been pursuing us with its kite up on what had been a windward finish also hit the mark, then a Phantom a raft of Lasers and the other Contender did it for us.
It had been a bit of a laugh though and we've dialled this clew first jib lark, that works well, but would be enhanced with an end fitting on the pole apparently which is missing. I'd also changed splitties and boardies, new and old so the slipping about wasn't so apparent, it's still there but less the problem it was, if this were mine I'd have to wax it. We'd had probably the worse start I'd ever performed in a favourable tide, but managed to claw back when the leading bunch went to high on the first reach, the rest of the race was shifts 180 degrees, the tail enders catching up, fetches to the mark and all the usual bollox when the wind swirls around, so again not a great test, but this boat is growing on me, lots of tactical options and we hung on to a Contender, but only because he wasn't out on the wire. I'm wondering what a fair Yardstick for this boat is, it'll battle a Merlin but it's not really quicker, and we know a Merlin is a bit of a bandit on 990 the Contenders and the Hornet have the legs on it at 973 and 980, so it's got to be between 990 and 1000, it's quicker than a Phantom, but not by much, think I'd pitch it at 995. Edited by iGRF - 27 Jul 14 at 8:00pm |
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Medway Maniac ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 13 May 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2788 |
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How was the wind down there today?
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scotsfinn ![]() Far too distracted from work ![]() Joined: 17 May 12 Location: Glasgow Online Status: Offline Posts: 284 |
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In fairness - you need to have sailed the boat and got to grips with it before you can assess how competitive it is. 990 is easily achievable once you know the boat.
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Largs Sailing Club. D-Zero GBR 57, B14 744
www.blueseaconsultingllp.com |
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iGRF ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6499 |
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It's not what you do with the boat, it's what others around you do with theirs, Ben Ainslie couldn't sail that to beat any of our club Contender sailors.
It's not a difficult boat to get to grips with if you know what you're doing and todays crew does, having said that Thursdays crew was no slouch either. They both made it go very well eventually, it's all in that *jib, but however good you may get you're not going to out perform a kite down wind, or a wire upwind I suspect. And in Answer to MM we had wind from every direction, sometimes at the same time, it's still a bit thundery. *If that jib dangly thing were better engineered, there's a lot more you can do with it, it can act like a kicker up wind as well as sail it by the lee Snipe style off wind, but it snags on the line and needs a pulley or some smoother end cap, it could also usefully be a tad longer. We played with it a lot today and it rewards the effort instantly and you can feel it. Changing the leech profile, we may also have to mess with the barber hauler on the opposite side to tighten the 'entry leech first' but couldn't manage it today, so I'm sure there is more to do, but it still won't best a kite, wire, or wire and kite. Oh and I learned how to tack properly today, can't believe I've missed that all this time, leave everything where it is and sail wrong handed a bit on the new tack before switching, a bit like windsurfing wrong footing out of a strap to strap gybe. Edited by iGRF - 27 Jul 14 at 9:13pm |
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Medway Maniac ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 13 May 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2788 |
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So, light airs, just like up here. Surely even you could beat a Contender on a day like today.
Ben A. could probably manage it in an Icon in a F.6 - I kid you not.
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iGRF ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6499 |
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Yes, i should have, but f**ked up, bad start, hit a mark and had to do turns, I nearly had him but they shortened. He however is a good sailor, loads of regatta experience, and usually wins in the light even against us in the Alto now it's sails are shagged. We beat the other one and everyone else even with the reround of the finish mark (that's two marks we hit, it's quite a bit wider than I'm used to and I always run tight to marks. Why don't you swan over and take it out for a spin, with Andrew maybe, he likes it as well, spent the afternoon out in it when the wind filled from the south. Edited by iGRF - 27 Jul 14 at 9:19pm |
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blaze720 ![]() Really should get out more ![]() ![]() Joined: 28 Sep 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1635 |
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Hi Greame et al |
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