59er sailing.

Hello,

Ok. I confess, I´ve had a 59er for about a year now and sail on the
Ammersee lake near Munich. The boat´s a real blast for inland waters
with the occasional 6-7. We weigh 165Kg, so ideal crew weight.

I´ve found out that the 59er class association is being revived and things
are going to happen.

The flipside is that I am probably the only 59er sailor on the European
mainland.

I´m prepared to travel however

Any advice? (Apart from rigging a trap (done) and reselling (forget it!)

Cheers!

Jim. GBR 103 (Slippery-When-Wet)

I would say that no one can help you  no many have got one and i think i have only ever seen one in all my sailing time

doomed i think just enjoy the boat

Thanks lads for the feedback.

@Rockhopper I do and I shall continue to enjoy the boat. Light-medium
strength wind bomb! Super for lakes and quite nice on the sea too!!!!

@Rupert My crewmate has two 29ers and trains with his kids. So I get all
his training experience in concentrated form. The learning curve is steep
but doable, luckily since I´m used to sailing a little in N12s, a boat that´s
almost as tippy as a skiff, but not quite one itself. I´ve had 14 knots out
of her in 3-4Bft, so the hull´s reasonably well driven. The first time we
were out, we easily got above hull speed (5.3 knots) in 3 knots of wind,
judging from the bow wave. You don´t notice the boat go onto the plane,
since the drag curve is linear and there are no sudden increases in sheet
tension which you get on many other boats. They squat when they come
off the plane and require proportionately much more power to go back on
the plane due to an S-shaped drag curve. That´s why you feel the
increase in sheet tension so much. The 59er doesn´t suffer from this
marginal planing drag and just keeps on going.

In principle, the 59er is like a stretched 29er with a rounder bilge up
front. Easier to roll tack than either 29er or 49er since the chines are
further aft and not quite so pronounced. Flipside is that you really have to
watch the gusts, since she is quite rank. But I love her. Forget the
sportscar, give me a skiff anytime!

Cheers!

Jim.

59er GBR103 Slippery When Wet.

PS. John Bennett is reviving the Class Association. Great!

You've been through these threads, I guess?:

http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/search.asp?KW=59er&am p;SM=1&SI=TC&FM=8&OB=1

 

Originally posted by G.R.F. Well there are a couple about up on the North Kent coast, one for certain is sailing with trap wires now, the other that I know of a couple of friends of mine occasionally sail out of Whitstable, but struggle with it. You really would be better off dumping it and buying the Alto. None of those Bethwaite boats are really suitable for casual weekend sailors with jobs. The couple with the 59 er , he has an MPS, I went sailing with him the very last time I used one and made the decision I'd been totally wasting my time. All they do is slowly but surely wear away at the confidence of otherwise good sailors to the point that eventually they make excuses not to sail. They can't turn round and admit they're not up to it, especially after a lifetime of sailing all manner of craft. So from regular sailing it becomes infrequent good condition only sailing, then the tides wrong, then eventually other things come along.. That's why those boats didn't catch on. (imho)

Well, I guess I think I can understand why you'd recommend the Alto, in view of the obvious competition from the 505. Why you'd want a boat with an S-shaped drag curve like that I don't know.

The 59er is a different class of boat, requiring a somewhat different apparoach to sailing. Luckily our combined crew weight seems to work (160-65 Kg), and our settings worked first time for the shroud tension. I think you either like 'em or loath 'em. those that can sail 'em do and like it and those that can't dont and moan. My advice to your buddies at Whitstable is to try flat water sailing first. If it still doesn't work for them, they should sell the boat and buy a standard, off the shelf water-pusher, where you'll feel safer, but wont get that speedboat feeling. In stead what you get is this rise and squat feeling when the breeze comes on a surge and then fades. Typical of  baots with an s-shaped drag curve. Typical example, an Alto, which attracts some sailors G.R.F. for obvious reasons.....

The main reason the boat didn't catch on was that there were too few people capable of sailing the thing correctly right from the start. It's more or less like a somewhat overpowered 29er and takes brains and technique as well as brawn to sail.

Now, if you'll excuse me, that's enough d**k measurement for now. I have a thread to write....

 

Edited by Slippery Jim