Alternative class names...

Originally posted by Martin Wadhams Originally posted by allic I'm sure most of the RS400 owners will have noticed the "Gemini II, designed by Phil Morrison" plate under the foredeck. I can only assume that Gemini II is the name PM gave to the design before licensing it to RS. Can someone from RS confirm the history here?  AlliC Going back to the original question... When we first developed the RS400 with Phil Morrison and Spud Rowsell the future of RS was completely unknown so, as we (RS) owned our brand name they felt it prudent to have a seperate name on the design agreement in case RS "failed" and they wanted to carry on with the class. Same applied with the RS200 a couple of years later. Since then the situation has become more relaxed and only the RS names appear on the agreements!

Thats interesting!

because I owned one of the original Gemini dinghies (003) for a short while in the 1980s

 it was the best £200 i ever spent!

16 foot long, bit like a narrow 505 but with a tall rig and huge tall symmetric kite.

twin trapeze too !!   It was painted all white, I think so that the construction costs could be kept down with no fancy woodwork showing.

My god it was heavy and tippy downwind but great fun.We drilled a couple of holes in the thwart to hold the toolkit so we could lash things back together on the way round.

I'll see if I can find a photo. In fact I think I know where the hull of number 002 is!

Originally posted by gary145 Originally posted by Martin Wadhams Originally posted by allic I'm sure most of the RS400 owners will have noticed the "Gemini II, designed by Phil Morrison" plate under the foredeck. I can only assume that Gemini II is the name PM gave to the design before licensing it to RS. Can someone from RS confirm the history here?  AlliC Going back to the original question... When we first developed the RS400 with Phil Morrison and Spud Rowsell the future of RS was completely unknown so, as we (RS) owned our brand name they felt it prudent to have a seperate name on the design agreement in case RS "failed" and they wanted to carry on with the class. Same applied with the RS200 a couple of years later. Since then the situation has become more relaxed and only the RS names appear on the agreements! Thats interesting! because I owned one of the original Gemini dinghies (003) for a short while in the 1980s  it was the best £200 i ever spent! 16 foot long, bit like a narrow 505 but with a tall rig and huge tall symmetric kite. twin trapeze too !!   It was painted all white, I think so that the construction costs could be kept down with no fancy woodwork showing. My god it was heavy and tippy downwind but great fun.We drilled a couple of holes in the thwart to hold the toolkit so we could lash things back together on the way round. I'll see if I can find a photo. In fact I think I know where the hull of number 002 is!

 

Cor!  I'd like to see those pics.

Originally posted by turnturtle That's right Andy- they had a couple based out of Rutland, really weren't up to much iirc. Personally I didn't like the 405 either, especially the very early ones which had symmetric kites- they were like dumbed down Laser 2s, I got stuck in the front end for an MDL challenge- one of my worst weekend's sailing ever! The asymmetric wasn't much cop either... quicker to goosewing the bugger and terribly slow compared to a well sailed 420.

wasn't the 405 aimed at a younger age group to stop the
cadet class practice of a max age helm effectively
single handing it and a foetus as crew

the problem was the crew weight ranges for the 405 and
420 overlapped somewhat in and inthe days of the 470 + FD
as the olympic double handers the asy 405 was a litte
out of step ...

this is however a bloody long time ago my little ferrets
!


Edited by zippyRN

Originally posted by patj I was thinking about posting a recipricol topic - should any exisitng classes change their name to something that better describes the boat. The Jollyboat - should have been the Fairey Barracuda. Think elongated Albacore with kite and trapeze.

Even faster than an Albacore!!!

the 505 was originally called a "Caneton", and as a previous poster on this thread says was renamed when one of he french atlantic clubs (was it La Rochelle or la Baule?) asked for a shorter version to be produced for them to use locally.

The Caneton was 19 feet long, I think and a sortof cross between an FD, and an National 18.  So they shortened the design, kept the flared gunwhales and it ended 5.05 metres in length.