The RS400 Rumours thread.

Originally posted by Peaky Sounds like a 59er Jim?

No, to my mind the 59er kite is too extreme and I wouldn't have the masthead rig - too much tuning complication. I'd guess a safe fractional could be made with a little more hoist height - its quite conservative, which was sensible bearing in mind early ISOs used to lose masts.

Were I planning it I'd probably start testing at 15m2 for the kite and 13.5m2 for main and jib: total fractionally less than the current 13.94 kite and 14.76 white. The 59er has 13.5 white sails but 23m kite, and when they get to that size the hoists and drops really take it out of us more mature/unfit crews.

Edited by JimC

Originally posted by JimC Originally posted by RS400atC 900 (800? whatever) or so potentially competitve boats in the UK Steady on, they've only made about 950... I would bet that well over half of those will be sufficiently tired that they couldn't be brought up to decent spec (good as new ropes, gear, sails) without spending more money than a better second hand one would cost anyway. Personally, and I've sailed the things a good deal at club level, I'd have a smaller main, bigger kite and plastic stick - oh and better mainsheet system: its ridiculously heavy. Were it a major makeover involving the deck mould I'd shorten the jib foot, change the jib sheeting and junk the gybing pole. The limiting factor on kite size will be hoists and drops: they're easy and low friction now (provided blocks aren't tired) which you wouldn't want to change. That affects both luff length (=extra pull) and area (=fit down chute). That means the kite can't go very much bigger, but hopefully enough for a bit of oomph when it sets.

There are boats with 4xx sail numbers that don't have boatspeed problems. To get to the front of any fleet you need newish sails, in general the boats I see cannot be judged uncompetitive just by looking at the sail number. I know there have been a few quality control problems along the way, so maybe some boats in the middle may not be capable of getting in the top half of the nationals?

Where are all the boats that couldn't get into the middle of the nationals fleet, given a good hull finish, newish jib and kite and an adequate helm and crew?

I'm sure a few boats have been destroyed after short hard lives in sailing schools etc, but how many?

At the top of the fleet, like any other, the most committed people find the money for a new or newish boat, but you can't buy your way out of the tail enders with a new hull.

I could afford a new one if I really wanted too, but I can't see that I would get enough extra value out of it. It would be nice not to have any 12 year fittings etc to refurbish but the gain in boatspeed would be piddling compared to what I throw away by not sailing as well as the top guys.

 

As for the changes you propose, if you are going for a clean sheet of paper, I'm sure the all-up weight could be reduced by building it to a bigger budget, bearing in mind that what were advanced techniques 15 years ago are now the run of the mill. There was a piece in the association comic about building the RS200, all brush and bucket, not even a vacuum bag in sight.

I don't think many club sailors have the urge to buy a new boat in a new class right now, so it's probably not a great time to launch a new design against established competition. I wish the Icon luck, I think its different enough to succeed.

Originally posted by Norbert I have it on very good authority that from April 1st next year the class is set to adopt the trapeze in an attempt to level the playing field for the lightweight teams. You heard it here first

Don't you have to do the joke actually ON 1st April for it to count as an April Fool?

Originally posted by Merlinboy Why is the 300 excluded??

I assume the reference is to the change in sail aesthetics,
even though the performance remained the same.

Originally posted by G.R.F. And in another perverse but commercially sensible decision imagine those fools that build the Vega, releasing a pucker built fast version, what a great boat that might be.

I didn't think you rated the RS500?