Hybrid !

That is not a decision that has been, or needs to be, made any time soon !  I sold my interest in building / marketing boats a couple of years back (very thankfully given the current market).   Hybrid is currently just an indulgent bit of pure interest on my part at this time - because I wanted to try some ideas out of interest and do not need an immediate commercial justification to do so.  It is something of a hobby alongside still racing in two other classes !  However you never say 'No' completely and if any builders that may remain in the 'new normal' were interested in something like Hybrid you'd surely not turn them away either ?  But build or launch a new class by myself now ?    No of course not !

 

Though Hybrid might make a cracking entrant in something like GRFi's supposed all comers formula class he's proposed occasionally  ....

Edited by Cirrus - 19 May 20 at 9:41am

However - is there really demand for ANY new trapeze single hander class (either).  The Musto skiff  is now the de facto 'standard' modern take and the Contender remains a powerful focus for the 'traditionalist'.  As a segment it is still however very very limited in the current world.  Those who buy new boats are also disproportionately 'mature' and many clubs are not ideal for trapeze boats either.... Possible real world 'new' buyers are therefore far less likely to buy an alternative trapeze boat.   It is a particularly interesting segment to address, of course, but perhaps only from a technical point of view for the foreseeable ....

 

Might not stop me from putting a trapeze on Hybrid either at some point - or trying out other possibilities already considered but not yet involved.  That in a nutshell, is the beauty of an ‘off piste’ development like Hybrid.  You learn new stuff all the time - and then revert.

Edited by Cirrus - 19 May 20 at 10:20am

Originally posted by maxibuddah Originally posted by H2 On the lake I sail on the shifts and gusts make hiking dangerous at times! I laugh at your shifts and raise them (in a northerly at our club). But I know exactly what you mean. If I sailed at the coast then I'd want a trapeze boat but on a pond hiking wins every time. That said Chris Hampe in his canoe did sail it around our pond at our Icicle open for a couple of years until even he'd had enough. Stayed upright, mostly.

Very impressive !

Hats off to him

I wonder why there is a reticense for more classes to support on the fly forestay adjustment, I couldn't imagine racing a board without altering the mast base, never mind raking the rig. It's part of the joy of the Solution that you can at least rake the rig to get you out of jail if the wind gets up. It also facilitates slakening the shrouds so the boom can get back far enough to sail by the lee. It was when I found out it wasn't an option on the Contender which finally reversed my decision, if ever a boat needs adjustability on the raking angle that does. Then I found they don't allow it on my Farr either, really does make you wonder why not, I can't think of any logical reason not to.
In my dreams of racing dinghy perfection a longer sliding mast base track features high on the list ,not that it would help the Farr that much at least not as much as two foot more waterline length.

It's such a drag, if the boat designer doesn't get it wrong the class association will come along and make certain many given designs suck.


PS, I do 'get' why traps don't work on small inland water I'd never consdier the Farr down our lake, but there's a lot of big res's like Grafham, Rutland, Derwent up north (not the lakes), Estuarys, where they might, I'm not advocating it as a sole solution, but it does save your knees and is so much nicer than hiking on long beats, I guess coming to this sport late and taking forever to get to grips with it muddles my thinking,wire comfort is such a panacea for lack of gym time.

Edited by iGRF - 19 May 20 at 1:55pm