RS aero

Originally posted by SimonW99 Originally posted by rich96 Originally posted by SimonW99 Lets start this again. What we are seeing is that catching a wave or gust that the boat next to you cannot creates a big speed differential instantly and thus a big gain - more so than in a laser. This mean boats are swapping positions more because of the enhanced responsiveness. in a group of average club sailors with similar abilities and fitness, more position changes means more 'nip and tuck' racing and its good fun. Perhaps its easier to look at it the other way round. Same group sailing wayfarers. Once the start and first beat is dealt with, significant place swapping is only going to happen by making a tactical call or mistake - tide, overstepping mark, wind better on the other side, covering their spinnaker etc.This is because boat speed is always going to be pretty similar. Or take it to a bigger extreme folk boat racing which is almost entirely tactical as speed variance is so small. I would expect dzero's to be seeing similar. No one is saying its some sort of miracle, but to us its noticeable and people on this thread are asking for aero owner feedback so thats all this is doing. If you want to disagree, then fine, but go try racing one and see. This light boat = close/nip and tuck racing etc is nonsense - is that why team racing fleets are all such light boats ? No Light boats = greater speed differentials = bigger separation Read the post, same level sailors = more nip and tuck. Doesn't mean less separation with variation of skill.

Read the post - if your arguments are correct why do we race heavy boats in team racing.

Boats that are limited in their ability to plane away on a wave will remain closer than those that can. As for relying on tactics to pass each other ? - isn't that something that applies to most classes ?

Take the ultimate 'light' boat - Moth - how close is their racing over the fleet ?

Perhaps with a new boat there is seemingly closer racing but why possibly would there be more of it than on Solos, Lasers, Oks etc ?. Perhaps, as yet, people are learning their boats and so everyone is a similar level currently ?

The closest racing on the Olympics was not in the lightest - it was the heaviest the heaviest (Finn & Star).


Suggesting a new 'nip and tuck' racing style after the boat has been out just a few months is perhaps premature ?

Originally posted by sargesail Well it seems to me that Simon is experiencing what we did in the early days of the 300 and still do to a great degree today.  That is that the 'new' characteristics mean that you can exploit gain factors at the micro level (gusts, lulls etc) to get past other competitors in a way that was not available in our earlier fleets.  Both views expressed are correct - it's just that in the 'heavier' boats the gains available from separation when shifts act on the fleet are proportionately higher, and since the difference in speed is less, other the more likely 'passing' option.

Jamesd,

Edited by Peter Barton - 11 Feb 15 at 5:53pm

Originally posted by SimonW99 Originally posted by sargesail Well it seems to me that Simon is experiencing what we did in the early days of the 300 and still do to a great degree today.  That is that the 'new' characteristics mean that you can exploit gain factors at the micro level (gusts, lulls etc) to get past other competitors in a way that was not available in our earlier fleets.  Both views expressed are correct - it's just that in the 'heavier' boats the gains available from separation when shifts act on the fleet are proportionately higher, and since the difference in speed is less, other the more likely 'passing' option. At last

Still sound akin to Emperors New Clothes to me.... If either the Aero or the Zero can deliver half the quality of racing that the Laser does, then it should consider itself successful.

Sounds like the perfect boat for you! Have fun and please report back how you get on