National 12?

ignore me, not my day, i know what i mean

Doug

I've sailed National 12s for well over 30 years. They are brilliant boats. Our last was the first Aardvark Feeling Foolish and we were delighted by it. Very well put together and an excellent all rounder. Mike Cooke of Aardvark has been involved in Twelves since childhood and takes great care in his work.

We have just moved out of the class into Merlins for various reasons - the only reason relating to 12s is the fact that we will be sailing at around 25 stones. Much fun though the Merlin is I do really miss the fantastic responsiveness of the 12.

You've doubtless discovered the excellent Class website which has a pretty comprehensive design guide. The Feeling Foolish has probably proved the best allrounder over recent years though none of the other crop of recent designs has been out of contention at any of the major events. The  Paradigm design has been proven to be quick too. Really you can't go wrong with any of them - if you contact the owners' association a trial sail can be arranged.

Most of my sailing has been with upwards of 22 stone on board, yet our shelves still have a good quantity of glassware from club events, open meetings and area aggregate trophies. We never made the serious prizes at the champs but I believe that was  due to the lack of technique and skills at sea sailing and had nothing to do with the boat. My best ever Burton Week result was in the Feeling Foolish. In the Foolish we came 2nd in each Thames and Midland Area aggregate trophies in 2005 missing out on the trophy for the former by the result of the last race of the last meeting in the series. Not bad for an "uncompetitive" weight! Rick unfortunately spent so little time in the class that he really didn't have time to learn to get the best out of the boat, which needs neither the complexities of wing masts nor thuse of fully battened sails to make it a fantastic boat to sail and close tactical racing throughout the fleet.

I, like lukepiewalker, won't hear a word said against the Class which is full of very friendly, helpful people.

Go for it!

But the N12 takes away the choice of using wing masts and fully battened sails.  You could use a N12 rig on a NS14 if you wanted (except the N12 sails are too big), but you would be slow, except possibly in the really light drifters.  And a wing mast isn't complex, you just pull it through when you tack, that's all. 

I've nothinga gainst the people or the quality of the boats, but the N12 rules are a bit archaic.  Mind you, the new Jo Richards boat looks nice.