Fastest dinghy?

Fair enough.

A 29er rig in 35 knots, I admit doesnt last to long. The masts have a weak point were the vang attaches to them and they usually end up bending there, 4 masts got bent at one in 1 squad weekend at the same point on thw mast! .

I guess your talking about Tom Smedley or Stevie Wilson??? I didn't say that a 29er would last long in over 35 knots though!!! I don't think that many boat can sail over 35 knots, you say an 18 can, a I know a 405 can. There can't be that many others that could?

And  A class (yes they can survive) Unicorn s  can excell with a heavyweight in strong winds (and waves)  Would rather be on a cat any day in a blow .

 

At a recent mid equinoxe regatta the comittee boat recorded 40 to 50 knots ,

 

Albacores , GP 14s , toppers, Boss ! , Tasar , Merlin Rocket all survived (just ) couldn't exactly call it racing though !

Yep Tasar sailers are true grit superheros , eat raw beef for breakfast and drink nitro for kicks , unfortunately sooo fat don't go very fast .

we call our wind instruments anemometers here probably explains erronous readings

Glad to hear you are amognst the worthy , fek all (trans lates - not a lot )around here but sheep and rocks and only a 1970's back issue of Y&Y for solice.So I'm slightly miss informed .

Reckon though there's a good number of boats of all types can handle a breeze.

Well, Simon, the guy who posted those pics and sails that Tornado sails at our club. The Australian champ he referred to as being in the same conditions also sails at our club (he was one of the two guys who beat us in the club champ.) and his boat was formerly crewed and part-owned by my crew, who did the Tornado worlds with him.

So I'm very familar with both crews in your example.

Yet at our club, we stop at 22 or 22.5 knots, true (which incidentally translates to gusting to 30-32, with higher peaks in the gusts because you don't count the
needle flicking for a second or two to a higher reading; a needle flicking to 35 for a second or two translates to 20 knots or so IIRC).

Is it because we have a pussy race secretary? Well, I don't know about that, the race secretary is the current national Tornado champ...one of the guys mentioned above.

I know the wind we cancel at, because (1) we do better against other T4.9s in the big stuff so I want to race when they want to cancel (2) when it's strong I sometimes go windsurfing in front of the club or regatta site when racing is cancelled, and therefore I know we can sail dinghies in those conditions.

I've been with both the Ts mentioned above at regattas where the whole fleet (including Bundy and Forbes IIRC) was held ashore because of winds in which we would sail Lasers (at that same club).

Chris,

 

So what was the Gusting wind and what was the 'true' wind at Sail Melborne ?

I was just using it as an example.  We usually use the max gusts (over a given period - usually the time it takes to eat a bacon sarnie and drink a cup of tea or coffee) to control when we stop sailing.