X1 Dinghy

....the iCON, given the latter boats lack of rocker (personal feedback from someone who has sailed it, who knows I am interested)

Sorry but we really have to respond here !!  The Icon design is intentionally low rocker - a very considered and very deliberate choice.   The NS heritage underlying Icon evolved this way as, to put it very simply, it proved faster after 50 odd years of development class work on the race course.   I'm betting the Aussies got this absolutely right as well as development classes there as here are brutal to shapes that don't quite do 'it'.    I'm afraid effective roll tacking round the course is one of its strengths and that is always more than a function of raw rocker. 

I've got absolutely nothing against the X1, and we are delighted to see any new designs including this boat reaching this stage but second hand opinion based upon very limited experience in limited conditions (of the production hull even ??) should not really be paraded as possible fact.

Mike L.  (aka Cirrus Raceboats)   

Build the boats, see if anyone buys them. If so, great, if not then you won't be the first to suffer such a disappointment... Using the rocker in isolation in an argument tells us absolutely nothing, unless everything else is otherwise identical. On that basis I'm going to argue that a GP14 is slower than an International because it has a centreboard rather than a daggerboard. Yup. Clearly that is what makes all the difference...

On roll tacking and low rocker, when we finally got the technique down in detail my last regular helm and I found we could roll tack a Bistro design Cherub very effectively. Compared to that the Icon is a positive banana...

Originally posted by Peaky Originally posted by rich96 Sounds to me like the X1 woulkd could be great foir thos light wind days that we all regularly experience (esp in the summer eveneings). Why oh why burden it with 'River Boat' ?. That particular expression has me thinking of a steam driven , timber built launch complete with wicker picnic hamper and lashings of ginger beer. I'm sure that the X1 would be equally suited to the inland lakes (on which there must be far more active racing clubs than rivers) ?   I tend to agree with you about the "riverboat" name, but actually I think it probably is better suited to rivers than lakes. I'd see this as being really well suited to the sorts of places where punts and raters sail, where you can fairly well guarantee light wind. At 15m, the X1 looks to have a very large sails on a very, very tall mast and not an especially wide hull, so you'll be fully powered up in about 8kts. That's ideal for the Thames or the Broads, but not Grafham of Yorkshire Dales SC.

Well.....I think that is a bit harsh Mr Fuller. Some people rather like homespun cottage industry and tend to distrust marketing hype. Laura Ashley (deceased) once described herself as an enthusiastic amateur and look where it got her, apart from falling down stairs that is. I suppose plastic ironing boards need quite a lot of promotion.

This Riverboat looks jolly but it would not suit our small lake as when it blows up here it really blows. I like the idea though.