420 light air performance

How does a well sailed 420 go on the water against equally well sailed Lasers in confined waters and light winds? I know the 420 prefers a breeze, but can it hang in with say a Radial in 5-8 knots or glassy patches or will it be left minutes astern?

I’ve seen a couple up against Lasers recently but both have had very heavy adult crews with no real dinghy experience and the static rig tune etc has been way off the pace, so they aren’t proper yardsticks. I’m trying to do a long-term plan for our little club and need to look for a boat for teens. It’s either Aus Cherubs ( even more one-dimensional than a 420), a minor local ply boat similar in performance to 420s but
Dying as a class, or perhaps Tasars.

Cheers.

By UK standards none of those boats are great in light airs. When I was doing the major open handicap events the 420 was mostly only reckoned to be competitive in F6 and above.

Originally posted by CT249 How does a well sailed 420 go on the water against equally well sailed Lasers in confined waters and light winds? I know the 420 prefers a breeze, but can it hang in with say a Radial in 5-8 knots or glassy patches or will it be left minutes astern? I’ve seen a couple up against Lasers recently but both have had very heavy adult crews with no real dinghy experience and the static rig tune etc has been way off the pace, so they aren’t proper yardsticks. I’m trying to do a long-term plan for our little club and need to look for a boat for teens. It’s either Aus Cherubs ( even more one-dimensional than a 420), a minor local ply boat similar in performance to 420s but Dying as a class, or perhaps Tasars. Cheers.

I think the 470 is even more extreme. More hull to stick in the light stuff, more length for windy stuff. I can remember lapping 420s and keeping up with 470s in light winds in my old rules Graduate. Now there's a light wind boat, especially a new hull and big rig!

Otherwise, just go for 420s, ignore other boats in drifters and see how they do as a OD fleet.