Published Hull Weights

Originally posted by transient The boats you mention that have undergone slow (or fast for that matter) incremental refinements have been a right pain in the arse to many who enjoy handicap racing. In the past the PY adjustments have been too slow to catch up. Meanwhile many have lapped it up while the rest sit and scratch their heads because Joe Blogs has just progressed from the back of the fleet to somewhere near the front in a matter of weeks because he bought a new Bleaktenduate or whatever.  As for the divide in class races that large hull weight variations create , I wouldn't touch that class with a bargepole......again each to their own.

Edited by pondmonkey - 02 May 13 at 2:44pm

so a product manufacturer, who in the main is concerned with class racing and fleet development, possibly to save the class they love from extinction;


Rather a rose coloured view IMO....In most cases the development is due to commercial reasons. They want to make a boat that has advantages over older boats so it sells more.

because some old crusty on a sailing club committee doesn't know how to use PY as the RYA intended?  

yep, like many clubs. I tried to persuade but got fed up with banging my head against a brick wall. Perhaps the Supernove class will publish a recommended  PY for the new hull. 

Surely there is enough evidence and top down support now to neuter any of these 'outlandish PY debates.

You'd have thought so but alas not. Discussions about PY banditry will persist whether you or I give a FF. Lets face it they're not groundless.

in fact that would be a far less cruel exit than bullying them with passive aggression for being a 'bandit'.

Discussing it and making an attempt to influence the powers that be is not passive.


If we going to overly concern ourselves about PY racing, (frankly, do we have to???) thus taking it far too seriously than just accepting it for what it is, which can be a fun way to go sailing with friends; then I'm afraid there's only one response.... 'RTFM'.

How seriously others take handicap racing is up to them. With the advent of the "prestigious" Sailjuice series which I believe has cash prizes + the ensuing dodgy sail debates (twice) It would appear that many take it seriously..........I could be wrong here (you've changed your ID), wasn't it you who defended those who take exception to illegal sails..... sincere apologies if I'm wrong. 

Picking up the weight reduction topic of a few pages back, on Tuesday I tested an International Canoe for Yachting Life mag. The Int Canoe (that is the non assy version) agreed in 2009 a weight reduction from 83.5 to 50kgs. Now that's what I call a weight reduction.

Originally posted by jeffers One thing we have at the moment is with the Solo. The new boats are clearly much faster than the older wooden boats and not just because they are new (sailors are upgrading boats and leaping up the fleet). Whether our learned sailing committee will do anything about this is unkown as I am not on it anymore. If it seems to become an issue I will raise it with them.

I've suspected that myself, but due to the fact that there are so many active old Solos I suspect you'll never get the averages to suggest a change. This in turn makes it very difficult for committees to make a change when there is no factual evidence to support it.

Part of the problem with the new GRP versions of 1960s designs is that to build them up to the class minimum weight actually adds significant cost. In some cases you are looking at £300 of lead and build methodologies that are constrained to ensure the original design intent, which requires significant man hours that just aren't necessary.
From a builders point of view, if they can get the buy in of the class association to reduce the min weight, then the owners may need to buy new boats for £250-£1000 less than current.
If this is well managed then its no problem, but I think the gradual continuous development has got to be favourable to a big step change if the builder can work in the improvements over a series of small changes. Hopefully the really heavy old tubs will die before the superlight boats get developed and then the progress is alway relatively small.