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The Foiling 101 |
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JohnJack
Far too distracted from work Joined: 12 Mar 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 246 |
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Topic: The Foiling 101 Posted: 23 Nov 16 at 3:34pm |
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It's interesting the conversation which is running in the background around bringing new people into the sport and keeping them.
As said people seem to want instant success and sailing is a very strange sport in that sense. Other sports I have competed in the likes of tennis, rowing there is an ability based system of competition where in reality you are competing against people which are within the same perceived ability as yourself. Rowing has a "division" type system and tennis has ratings. In sailing you could have someone who has sailed for a year competing against sailors who are as much as professional and maybe sailed since before they went to school and have spent years in the "squads". There is the Gold/Silver/Bronze fleets in some of the bigger events, however there is lack of numbers to really make this work properly. There seems to be an acceptance that people leave the sport when they don't see instant success. Sailing is a relatively difficult skill set to achieve competence in, with differing conditions, a fair bit of "theory" and allot of feel. Essentially it is like learning to drive, then expecting to race in the BTCC the following week. For newcomers in a sailing boat, there is a fair bit going on, which us more experienced sailors tend to manage subconsciously, again very much like driving (remember how fast the first time you did 60 on a dual carriage way felt like, where after a year or two it feels normal). With this in mind, is the way we introduce people into the sport wrong? The RYA path of pushing single handers and getting everyone to helm straight off. To the point that when they come to racing, they end up sailing by themselves around at the back of the fleet with everyone dissapearing off into the distance. Having taken up sailing in my mid to late twenties, and having this happen to me in my Laser. It is a bit soul destroying and leads to the point where I question myself if I was really having fun, and only if somebody was as bad as me. I have spent the last 5 years mainly crewing for better more experienced helms, most of whome came through that squad, coached system. In that time I have had some great close racing, some very decent results and allot of fun. Is the older way of introducing new people to the sport, through crewing for others not a better way into the sport?
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Jack Sparrow
Really should get out more Joined: 08 Feb 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2965 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 23 Nov 16 at 3:53pm | |
Because these guys are working back form a principal of making a foiling moth easy to foil. Having the out riggers allows you to roll the boat on top of you to the correct lift off angle without stability issues. Putting foils on the outriggers has some major structural considerations that would turn the boat into a completely different beast. The wand position is irrelevant - it's a SMOD. As with all SMOD's - of which all have things in the wrong place, that 'thing' makes no difference because everyone else has the same. It looks one hell of a lot better that the Fly Port-a-loo, that's for sure.
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Cirrus
Really should get out more Joined: 29 Oct 15 Location: UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 590 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 23 Nov 16 at 5:04pm | |
There will always be keyboard critics ... with differentiation based points to make or score. It is a SMOD but is well thought out, looks durable and is of course rather good looking. The wand position is not that relevant - it is not competing in a loose (open) rule based development class but the point does serve as a debate 'diversion' for some.
The real questions that should be asked cannot be answered until it is simply tried out on the water by a wide range of people. It hardly targets the Moth community or the exisiting hard-core there. But with more ('easier') foilers like the F101 coming along the Moths might find a few more people eventually come their way from these classes. You can see 'new' things as either an opportunity or a threat.... Are they a rival to be knocked .. or are they in fact 99% complimentary and to be encouraged and worked with ? Having seen it in development at Whites for some time it is even better looking than the photos doing the rounds. It is VERY striking - an intentionally highly different and alternative approach. The team behind it do know a fair bit of what they do of course. Will it build a real following ? Time will tell ... but if I can scrounge a 'go' in moderate conditions I'll not refuse ! Edited by Cirrus - 23 Nov 16 at 5:05pm |
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Jack Sparrow
Really should get out more Joined: 08 Feb 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2965 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 25 Nov 16 at 3:19pm | |
This thing seems to go fine with wands on the trailing edge...
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Oinks
Far too distracted from work Joined: 24 Oct 14 Location: Bandol Online Status: Offline Posts: 267 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 25 Nov 16 at 11:51pm | |
Like I said on page 2...
Knee-jerk response... Not at that price Not on my small lake Not if I want some proper competitive racing Another niche craft, in a niche market, with not very many niches left. But mildly interesting. |
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Oinks
Far too distracted from work Joined: 24 Oct 14 Location: Bandol Online Status: Offline Posts: 267 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 25 Nov 16 at 11:57pm | |
Cirrus
Really should get out more Joined: 29 Oct 15 Location: UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 590 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Nov 16 at 9:53am | |
... and so those 'Moths' with a bits of foam in the outer part of the wings/tramps are what exactly ? eeer it is starting to edge up to that grey border with multihulls surely ?. The 101 is not really intended to have its wings in the water very often either....The Moth foam (yes - and I know not all have it) is not there for any other reason than to provide additional buoyancy / stability as well !
Not knocking Moths (or the 101 here) but foilers themselves could be argued to not be 'true' dinghies either to some traditionalists - and non-foiling boards to actually be closer to those 'true' dinghy roots. Perhaps the forum even needs a 'foiling' development area now ? Edited by Cirrus - 26 Nov 16 at 9:53am |
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Chris 249
Really should get out more Joined: 10 May 04 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2041 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Nov 16 at 10:48am | |
If foilers become a big enough part of sailing, they may well become as separate from "seahuggers" as kites and windsurfers are, or as cats are from dinghies.
In fact, if we listen to the overblown rhetoric of some of the marketing hype, foilers are already a separate type. It's interesting to see what happens in other sports. In the ones I've done, the various types of kit are basically totally separate; different clubs, different events, different magazines. In some ways it doesn't seem to be a bad way to do it - it means the proponents of the earth-changing new style can take over the world without being held back by neanderthals (as they see it) and the rest can keep on doing what they love without a bunch of people biatching at them.....and they normally seem to remain the most popular branch of the sport. It's interesting to see that in sailing, new craft that create their own breakaway movement seem to become more popular than those that try to change the establishment from within. The only problem is that so few take the latter course that there's not much of a sample to look at.
Edited by Chris 249 - 26 Nov 16 at 10:50am |
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The history and design of the racing dinghy. |
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blueboy
Really should get out more Joined: 27 Aug 10 Online Status: Offline Posts: 512 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Nov 16 at 5:12pm | |
Good grief. Too many categories already. What it actually needs is a lot more people posting. |
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Cirrus
Really should get out more Joined: 29 Oct 15 Location: UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 590 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 26 Nov 16 at 7:07pm | |
Good grief. Too many categories already. What it actually needs is a lot more people posting.
Not sure 'quantity' is really the problem ... |
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