A few thoughts on bandits

Ok, now i know that several of you read the title and thought "oh no not this again" - to clarify i'm not interested on listing which boats are bandits, why their PY is wrong, what should be done about PY's, moans about being beaten by bandits etc, etc....

I sail a Phantom and last night in a F3-5 screamed around the course and won on handicap, to a few friendly digs about bandits. 

We talked through the evenings sail in the bar and how everyone had been struggling with the high wind start, lull to a F3 in the middle and then back up to a F5/6 finish (it was an hour long average lap race). It was only driving home that i had a thought that made me think about "bandit" boats.

Basically it boils down to the fact that last night i wasn't struggling.  When we set off in a F5 i dropped my rig back into powered conditions, tensioned up the lowers added a load of kicker and went sailing.  The wind dropped halfway through so I reset my rig to searching for power (more stood up and more rig tension).  As it picked up at the end i subsequently dropped it to overpowered (rig tension very low, kicker to leave the boom end an inch above the back of the boat).  I'm not saying i wasn't hiking hard (my legs this morning were like jelly) but i wasn't fighting the boat/conditions/lack of fitness and at no point did i think i was going to capsize.  This is the greatest thing i've found since buying the Phantom; I always feel in control but from discussions with everyone else they were mostly struggling with too much wind then not enough then too much again.  I know that Merlin rockets (another so called bandit) are also fully adjustable and seem to go out no matter what the weather.

So my point about bandits is this, is it more than these boats are much more adjustable to the wind conditions allowing them to sail competitively in a much wider wind range.  In this respect rather than these boats being bandits is it not that other boats maybe just have a more limited optimum range of conditions? 

This would explain why on handicap they are seen as performing above their number as they are not limited to the "well it was xx class weather/course today so i ddin't stand a chance" as they can be adjusted to suit many more conditions.

I know its very likely to be me spouting rubbish but thought it may be worth hearing a few more opinions from the vast wealth of 'knowledge' in the forum.


Edited by fish n ships - 31 Jul 14 at 2:40pm

Fish n ships

Originally posted by JimC But on the original point, in the new web system increased adaptability will simply be reflected in the number that's spat out.

I appreciate that the numbers will change with time which seems fair to me. I was just wondering more as to the why these certain boats seem so quick in most conditions to earn the bandit monicker. 

Its interesting you mention the three elements of carbon spars/frp/plastic sails could it be that rather than making a boat fast they just make everything easier which has an side effect of the boats able to be sailed faster? 

I know that having a well sorted boat makes things much easier and allows the boat to be sailed easier - something i find entertaining when people complain about being beaten by bandits.  When you ask why they looked to be sailing with no kicker, outhaul or cunningham and get a reply of "well the kicker was on fully, the outhaul is so stiff i can't pull it on and i don't have a cunningham..."

Adjustability didn't seem to 'benefit' (i.e. reduce) the Laser PY when the XD kit was introduced, did it? At least, I can only ever recall the Laser PY going up.

Or could it be that the "talent differential" is greater in these bandit classes ie the best sailing talent in the class is significantly greater than the average sailor (on which the PN is supposed to be based). So good+ sailors in the class will find it increasingly easy to outperform its PN.