Cirrus Icon Development

And on those points:
I have jib cleats ready to fit if needed, but shall certainly be trying without to start with (I've already sailed Mike's like this several times)
I am using a slightly smaller, dagger style rudder on 004. Personally I find dagger rudders easier to raise and lower, as well as lighter to steer when partially raised.

It is not only the rudder. I would suggest that the Centreboard also looks much bigger than it needs to be if the boat is as fast as you are suggesting.

Funnily enough I was talking to a friend who sails a Scorpion this weekend and he thought the board was too small - as in not deep enough. But the Icon is not about out and out speed, it is a fast boat in a simple to use package and that includes not having ultra deep foils. Ultimate speed is compromised for better handling an a high average speed (less prone to stalling).

My NS daggerboard was very long and I doubt whether I could sail it at Chew at the moment as the water is quite low. But having said that, in my experience the Icon can out point most things, so I'm not sure how much extra would be gained by going deeper anyway.

I thought that the Icon was supposed to be a strict one design with all parts coming from the manufacturer? Is it already deviating from this ?

Hi Jeremy

You are correct.  But we have held back tooling for the foils for a while and it is therefore still possible to modify the standard offering.  In summary virtually everything is a compromise in any boat - if we wanted even more efficient foils we would have developed something along the NS14 dagger board lines but a 6' dagger would have severely limited the user location possibilities, have been a right pain for the crew and been a great weed cutter (or not !).  The projected length of the currently used centreboard is approximately 1030mm below the hull and given Icon's relative size is quite reasonable - ie about the projected length of an RS400, Blaze, Phantom etc.   

The pivot point is intentionally high in the case so that even a slight change from vertical moves the centre of effort backwards in a slightly exaggerated manner relative to the rake angle.  The reasoning is that as wind speed increases and windward planing is possible it helps to move crew weight and the centre of effort back a tad but you can do this with less actual centre-board rake being required.    This has come about because the pre-production boats have TWO pivot positions that are about 6cm apart (fore/aft) and what is best in light winds is not the same for when it blows - the higher pivot point now used can give you some of the best of both worlds with just one pivot position - ie to enhance all round performance in all winds.   However well grounded or not this 'theory' is ... in the real world of comparative testing/racing the new boat set-up works and Icon goes well in both light winds and decent breeze.

The point is that the centreboard may appear to be larger than is optimal to some but what you have to know is how much is actually in the water when fully down ! .... and it is a fair bit less than you might imagine.    As I’ve said previously Icon is plenty quick but not necessarily exceptional  … but is does have a much  better average speed around the course than a great many classes.  We have worked hard to optimize this aspect across a range of typical conditions and have not sought to optimize performance in any one condition.   No point being stunning in a F5 and then being sluggish in light winds or ‘hesitating’ in the inevitable lulls  between the puffs.

The other point about the rudder is straightforward enough - the boat is rather well 'balanced' and does not need, imo, the size of the current one on 03.  The helm is light and precise and we have never felt it 'under' sized.  We have a smaller, slimmer, pivoting alternative anyway and Peaky is also trying out a vertical ‘cassette’ one directly off an NS14 again with a smaller foil.   Whatever is ultimately selected in the next few weeks it will be 'standard' but it is far better to go through this (possibly long-winded) comprehensive and very thorough pre-production testing process than rush into full production.  We and our customers would then have to 'live with the consequences' perhaps for years .... we've all seen that happen before ...   

Mike L.

Edited by blaze720 - 22 Jul 11 at 11:26am

Looking forward to the maiden voyage on Sunday, the forecast looks perfect!