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What defines a Skiff?

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ham4sand View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote ham4sand Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: What defines a Skiff?
    Posted: 07 Oct 11 at 10:44pm

i dabble in sailing silly boats like cherubs, that some may term as "skiffs", but does it even matter what they are called, i still enjoy sailing them

John Hamilton
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grimupnorth View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote grimupnorth Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Oct 11 at 8:32am
Stop press ... breaking news ... The UN has renamed Sydney Harbour Bridge, it will now be known as the Noteveryoneagreesorevencareswhataskiffis Bridge.

Then the 18footer sailors can just Get Over It.

Ba-boom. :-) :-)
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Jack Sparrow View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Jack Sparrow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Oct 11 at 8:01am
No shooting from here.... light is a very important part of how you should describe a modern skiff.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote maxibuddah Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Oct 11 at 11:07pm
Originally posted by alstorer

My favourite post in this thread is Chris249's well lubricated ramble. Read it. Digest it.
I was well lubricated (as in drink not any other form) when I finally found his posting and I've got to agree with you, it is a very well written description of how the skiff classes of Aus developed over the last 100 years or so.

The trouble is with protagonists like myself is to whether you interpreted the original question as it was intended. You can answer the question as "how is the current definition of the skiff dinghy defined" or "how is a skiff defined". I'm sure that it is the former obviously, but we pedantic sods can cast the net further to the latter definition. 

"Skiff" - a inordinate amount of money thrown at a blooming quick boat in the hope of going very fast while creating as much spray as possible and generally getting in the way of slow old tubs and hoping that the re-writing of rules will occur to suit the kind of course and sailing angles that we so desire. 

Having never sailed one though, I would imagine that they are damn good fun boats and I wish I was a lot lighter and knew someone with one so that I could be scared witless on one. 

Seriously though, the definition of a "light boat" that has been used from the past still holds some water. A lot of the modern designs that purport to be a skiff have the correct shape but are too heavy relative the sailplan that is hoisted up the mast. Not an exact science but rather a feeling about what is a skiff.

I suspect that I will be shot down on this... :(
Everything I say is my opinion, honest
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alstorer View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote alstorer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Oct 11 at 9:28pm
My favourite post in this thread is Chris249's well lubricated ramble. Read it. Digest it.
-_
Al
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Rupert View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Oct 11 at 7:55pm
We had that answer, in a different form, several pages ago. Trouble is, it doesn't actually define the useage of the word, merely its origins.
Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686
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Menace View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Menace Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Oct 11 at 7:46pm
Originally posted by Skiffybob

 
A 12ft Skiff is a skiff
A 16 Skiff is a skiff
A 18ft Skiff is a skiff
An I14 is an I14
A Cherub is a Cherub
A B14 is a B14
An RS800 is an RS800
A 49er is a 49er
etc.
 
Do you think that does it?
 
Spot on Bob, lock the thread now Mark, that's the answer!
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Post Options Post Options   Quote oldarn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Oct 11 at 9:55am
Originally posted by Isis

Skiff: A marketing term designed to make relatively average boats apear more exciting.

 And for young kids coming out of Mirrors, Cadets etc. peer pressure and, as you said Isis, clever marketing pushed many parents into buying one!
After his Mirror, my son wanted a 29er. There was one in the Club, and it looked cool. That year he was going to crew me in the Firefly Champs at Hamble River S C. I decided to  crew for him. He was 17. It was a fairly windy week and he loved the boat, the tactics and the friendly crowd. He has now sailed three or four  Firefly champs and never mentioned a 29er since.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote tickel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 11 at 8:01pm
I think it's in the word. It is onomatopoeic......skifffff....When i was a child I heard of rowing skiffs and they sounded slick, slim and fast.

PS I hope I spelt onomatopoeic correctly.
tickel
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Isis View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Isis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Oct 11 at 5:38pm
Skiff: A marketing term designed to make relatively average boats apear more exciting.
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