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New Laser Performance Boat? |
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Sam.Spoons 
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Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3401 |
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 Topic: New Laser Performance Boat?Posted: 29 Mar 22 at 3:41pm |
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Racks/wings don't address the problem of the hull shape/volume unless there is extra ballast added for light crews. It seems to work for the RS800s (and did for the L4k for a while). All the other attempts seem to have either fallen by the wayside or been abandoned by the class.
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Spice 346 "Flat Broke"
Blaze 671 "supersonic soap dish" |
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eric_c
Far too distracted from work 
Joined: 21 Jan 18 Online Status: Offline Posts: 382 |
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Posted: 29 Mar 22 at 4:28pm |
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Don't forget, the basic idea is to have 3 classes by sail size, then use the racks to fine tune a little. All of which is structured around junior/female/athlete kind of weights. The Porkstar 8 has two thresholds, with 78kg being 'light' and 83kg being heavy. It's not trying to let Phantom sailors race against little girls, it's a little tweak to even out people who are already 'similar'. Max beam is 1.9m. Min is 1.5. Not clear if wing position 2 for 'heavy' is the same as min beam, that seems a big change for a small change in weight. I have my doubts about that, I think it might be quicker to be tall and relatively thin, especially if the toestraps are as per pictures. Maybe short people are not the desired iamge.
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eric_c
Far too distracted from work
Joined: 21 Jan 18 Online Status: Offline Posts: 382 |
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Posted: 29 Mar 22 at 4:31pm |
I thought the concept had been kicked out due to unhealthy attempts to be in a light category in the 49ers? And found to not impact results much? Most of the other equalised classes have more or less expired.
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Sam.Spoons
Really should get out more
Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3401 |
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Posted: 29 Mar 22 at 4:34pm |
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My point is that the extra leverage wouldn't make a Phantom an ideal boat for a 65kg sailor and more than a big rig makes an Aero suitable for 105kg (however much they claim it will).
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Spice 346 "Flat Broke"
Blaze 671 "supersonic soap dish" |
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eric_c
Far too distracted from work
Joined: 21 Jan 18 Online Status: Offline Posts: 382 |
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Posted: 29 Mar 22 at 5:18pm |
It depends what you mean by 'suitable' and 'ideal'. I reckon a 105kg bloke in an Aero 9 can do well at club level, in most sports if you want to win above club level, then Mr 105kg is going to need to diet. For the small % of people who are 105kg and not over weight, that's unfortunate. The 3 flavours of ILCA/Laser sail seem to provide good racing for a fair spectrum of weights. What this looks to be about is taking say the Laser radials and doing fine-tune equalisation among that weight range. That seems to me to be a sensible goal. Trying to pitch Finn sailors against Europe sailors on a first across the line basis will only work in one class. RC Lasers. Two questions: 1) is weight equalisation worthwhile or necessary? 2) is this boat a good approach to equalisation? I'm not sure about either, but I think trying to make the equalisation work over small bands is a lot smarter than adding a hundredweight of ballast to a lightly crewed L5k. Maybe someone familiar with the weights and skills of say top 20 radial sailors might be better placed than me to see if the whole thing is valid? Are people who should be winning really held back by being just slightly too light?
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Sam.Spoons
Really should get out more
Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3401 |
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Posted: 29 Mar 22 at 6:12pm |
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Lots of good points all of which I agree with. Weight equalisation can, I guess, widen the range of weights that can be competitive in a given boat/rig combination but like you I don't think the difference it makes is sufficient for the extra complexity it requires.
FWIW my chosen class (Blaze) discarded weight equalising very early in it's existence and it doesn't seem to have suffered as a consequence. I don't know if I'd have bought one if they still had weight equalisation as I was looking for a relatively simple boat (in this context I mean, no trapeze or kite) which I would have half a chance of sailing to it's handicap. I certainly would have seen the WE as a negative .
Edited by Sam.Spoons - 29 Mar 22 at 6:13pm |
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Spice 346 "Flat Broke"
Blaze 671 "supersonic soap dish" |
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eric_c
Far too distracted from work
Joined: 21 Jan 18 Online Status: Offline Posts: 382 |
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Posted: 29 Mar 22 at 7:35pm |
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Blaze needs to equalise the weights of the hulls and rigs first.
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Grumpycat
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Joined: 29 Sep 20 Online Status: Offline Posts: 497 |
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Posted: 29 Mar 22 at 9:59pm |
Are you IGRF sock puppet
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Sam.Spoons
Really should get out more
Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3401 |
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Posted: 29 Mar 22 at 10:00pm |
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Compared to several other classes Blaze is a paragon of virtue in this respect
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Spice 346 "Flat Broke"
Blaze 671 "supersonic soap dish" |
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eric_c
Far too distracted from work
Joined: 21 Jan 18 Online Status: Offline Posts: 382 |
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Posted: 29 Mar 22 at 10:37pm |
I think they call that 'damned by faint praise' or zummat.
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