Symmetrical Spinnakers

I think the fascinating thing is that everyone is so keen to say that their class is the most tactical.

Why?

Tactics are just ONE part of sailing, yet it's the one part of sailing that everyone clamours to claim to be the best in. Very strange.

You don't see Enterprise sailors saying that they are the best in the art of keeping a twitchy tippy boat like a skiff with the mast pointing up and the centreboard pointing down.

You don't see Dragon sailors demanding that they are the fittest.

You don't see windsurfers saying that they are the best at gybing spinnakers.

You don't see Laser sailors saying that they are the best at extracting the last knot when you're doing over 20 knots.

But everyone seems to want to say that their class is THE most tactical. It certainly seems rubbish to me. Every boat demands different things. It's just no use being the world's best tactician if you're sailing a Canoe in 20 knots if you can't keep the thing upright. It's no use being the world's best boathandler in a Flying 15 in 5 knots. Some classes stress speed or boathandling, some stress tactics.

I race one class against a multiple national champ in a hot dinghy classs. He's a great tactician on confined waters. I kick his butt almost every time there's a good breeze even in confined water in oscillating shifts, and I'm not a great tactician, especially in those conditions. Why? Because in this class it's hard to stay dry and upright, and he goes the right way and then goes slow or falls over. No matter his good tactics are, he gets creamed when he falls over and even if he doesn't you can just go the same way and burn him off with sheer pace.....so tactical skill is not what counts.  I spend less time worrying about windshifts than I would if I was sailing a Laser or Flying 15 or Tasar, more time worrying about staying up and going fast, and beat him (unless it's light, when I'm dumb AND slow).

There's an example of a class where tactics are LESS important than in other classes because having 50% better tactics will leave you well behind a guy with 10% better handling and speed. It's still a great class because it has many other attributes.

If we were all in Lasers, I'd have to worry more about tactics and less about staying up (because none of us will fall over much) and less about speed (because there's not much difference between fast and slow).

I'm sure that in the classes I sail, the slow boats are more tactical, the fast boats are more about extracting speed. To me, that doesn't make the slow boats any better because getting sort of OK at tactics isn't all that hard. Learning how to extract the last bit of speed in high performance boats, now that's an arcane ability I wish I had and I'm jealous of it.

I will now try an experiment.......

"I have sailed some classes/disciplines where tactics are not important, and some classes where tactics are less important than in many classes".

Sits.....watches.....listens......waits.

Phew, the world DIDN'T end.

'Scuse the rave.


Edited by CT249

Definition of non-tactical: does not employ identical tactics to the class I sail in.

The point of class racing is to get around the course faster than every body else.

To do this you need to maximise VMG.

Boatspeed gets you going quickly in a direction.

Tactics get you going in the right direction.

You won't win in any class unless you get both right (through luck or judgement ).

There seem to be as many different opinions of what constitutes "tactical" racing as their are classes of boat, and each class is convinced that its own provides the very best... the term seems to have come nothing more than a means of sl*gging off other classes, the old cliched "Oh the xxx isn't tactical, its just boatspeed" propaganda. Personally I'm yet to sail a boat where the tactics aren't vitally important. Different emphasis in different boats, maybe, but always vitally important.

And I predict that at least half of the remaining posts in this thread will be attempted justifications of why sl*gging off other boats by saying their racing isn't tactical isn't actually just sl*gging off other boats...

Edited by JimC

Originally posted by Rupert How strange that the class that came in with the "square running system" splashed across it's advertisments now bans it?! Of course, anyone handicap racing can do as they please, but it is most odd. Puts me off the class, really.

http://www.rs-association.com/docs/RS_Nats_SIs_2006_2.pdf

See 21.3.

This came in for all circuit/national events about 1998. You can of course do what you like at local/club events. The SRS works really well and makes the boat very versatile.

It was voted on by the owners - I was against it at the time.

Rick

 

doug,

thank you for prompting me to go and look at the class rules. i cant find anything to say we cant goosewing either sail. but the 200s are banned from goose winging with or without a pole, see http://www.rsfevaclass.com/docs/RS_SI_2006_2.pdf

rule 19.3. but that was all i could find in reference to goosewinging.