Tiger Trophy 2015 results

At 16ft long and a light narrow hull I was surprised to read that the RYA PY is as slow as 975. I presume all those chines must really slow it down when not planing.

50+ years of development means they work well, don't break and are brilliant fun right through the wind range. Altos, 4ks, 800s just aren't anywhere near as good.

Isn't the 800 aimed at the Fireball demographic? I think the open sailmaker/supplier thing really helps keep a class vibrant as it constantly stays up to date and gets marketed from multiple sources.

470s are great, but they go soft too quickly and have the 5 ring curse.... No loss to the UK sailing scene when there's fireballs in abundance.

Well done to the class for fielding some top competiton to this event and delivering a result we can talk about. It's certainly nice to see a class being met with pretty much unanimous admiration on this forum for once.

Maybe one of the enduring attractions of the Fireball is that it has remained a happy performer for RTC Club sailing. The 505 used to be top dog in this category, but when they went for the big kite, the inability to be a superb reaching machine, whilst at the same time taking a hefty hit on the PY, saw a rapid demise. Maybe the bigger surprise is the failure of the 470 to create a niche in the club scene here in the UK (ask Winging It if you want to know how good a 470 can be) and the other potential player, the Hornet, missed the opportunity to modernise and now risk being pushed ever further out to the margins (where the long grass of the dinghy park beckons). But.... just a little but, could the attraction of the Fireball be that it offers that all too often missing ingredient - a huge helping of FUN - and at a very good 'bangs for your buck' price positioning!

D