Picture of the V3000 at Carsington SC

The V3000 made its debut at the first class meet of the year, at Carsington SC on 13-14 May. There are more (amateurish) pictures in the race report, click the Carsington topic in Recent Articles on the left of the homepage at:

www.3000class.org.uk

Photo Credit: Mike Shaw, www.pixelviews.co.uk

I helmed and crewed races on the Saturday, and other class members got the chance to test her out, racing and fun sailing, on the Sunday. General concensus:

Sorted!

the kite is taller and narrower, with a flatter cut, with the intention of making it better suited to club sailing with close reaches ... it's actually a slightly smaller overall area

i was surprised how little difference the larger jib made upwind (we had one long tack paired off against a Laser 3000 ... the boat could point higher, good for starts (where the Laser 3000  with the Hyde sails used to drop down onto higher pointing boats) but it slowed down more than it gained in pointing

the jib worked better freed off a touch where it did very gradually overhaul the L3K (with a 30kg lighter crew), the battened shape really driving ... the jib really is a thing of beauty (by North)

we had a fair bit of mast rake dialled in (our top club sailors settings) and the boat was perfectly balanced ... off-the boom sheeting loads were very light and it was easy to oversheet the main ... the boom about 6" off centre seemed to give best speed/pointing

the most impressive thing was the accelleration with the lighter hull ... the relationship between hull weight and sail area seems spot on ... it's a pedigree race boat now

the Laser 3000 SMOD design struggled to compete on handicap in anything less than a F7 ... below F3 it lost out big time to hiking boats, and from F3 to F6 to more highly developed trapeze boats ... the V3000 (and to an extent a Laser 3000 with the new sails) will definitely redress that balance

the PY question is TBD but at the moment the class wouldn't recommend a separate PY ... if the V3000 consistently beats the latest generation Fireballs we may reconsider, and Ken Kershaw at the RYA has offered to list Laser 3000s and V3000s separately if this is the case

can't wait to see a good light-medium weight crew in a V3000 at a major event in a F4-5, it'll be a flying machine

the only downside is that, with this build quality, demand could outstrip supply very quickly!

... and the V3000 only won 2 of the 6 races at Carsington, tactics in a shifty F2 conditions and error free handling having far more impact

could be a very different story in planing conditions though, especially transitional displacement/planing sailing where the lower weight will bring it up onto the plane sooner, which could build 50-100 metres or more over the course of a race

yup you're right.  Shall just have to eat extra chips for lunch or take a crew with me.

I'd been hoping to single hand the thing and see if I can sheet the main off the boom (same hand as tiller?) whilst looking after the spinny with the spare hand and trimming the jib with a free foot or something.

need one of those tricky off the boom cleats from a swift solo

main problem on first single handing attempt at the weekend was the thing accelerates so quickly you have to keep your back foot well braced to avoid flying off the back when the gusts hit (and saturday's gusts were not big). 

For man used to SMODs this thing is LIGHT.