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Has it all gone too far? |
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Windspirit1333
Groupie Joined: 10 Sep 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 71 |
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Topic: Has it all gone too far? Posted: 10 Oct 06 at 3:06pm |
it depends what your looking for in a boat! my personal opinion? got out get spanked! if you havent got wet you havent pushed it far enough... sailing for me is all about pushing yourself getting wet laughing about it getting back in and doing it all over again! If i hadn't pushed myself i'd still be sitting in an Enterprise on an inland lake, rather that getting totally violated in my 14 and loving every moment! its the adrenaline buzz that keeps me going! I say kudos to the guys that go out in their 49ers/Int Moths/14's/Cherubs etc etc... and get spanked every week... as they're learning and how many of those guys come off the water without a big grin? not many... as long as they're enjoying themselves who are we to judge.. let the pitchpoling commence!
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'The Original Pitchpole Princess' Wanna race your Trapeze and Asymm boat against others? check out www.TASA.org.uk
I14 GBR1333 'Windspirit' |
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BigFatStan
Groupie Joined: 31 Jan 06 Online Status: Offline Posts: 78 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Oct 06 at 3:21pm |
All a bit strange this thread... While I agree that it does seem a rather extraordinary viewpoint to suggest that the 49er is flawed because some people can't sail it properly (errr me included), it does seem no less fatuous than to suggest that boats at the pinnacle of our support SHOULD be difficult to sail. Difficult to sail well? perhaps. Difficult to win in? Well that depends on the opposition not the boat. Difficult to sail off the beach in reasonably benign conditions? I'd take some convincing of that one.
The pinnacle of dinghy sailing is (sadly perhaps) the Laser class in the Olympics - strict one design, global blah blah blah. and I pretty much guarantee the Laser will still be there when the 49er has given way to a new fashion (foiling something or other?) It's still a cool boat though (49er not the s*dding Laser - that just has cool racing). |
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Stefan Lloyd
Really should get out more Joined: 03 Aug 04 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1599 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Oct 06 at 3:46pm |
Our sport doesn't have one pinnacle. That's one of the things that makes it good. Laser, I14, AC, VOR: any of those are arguably the pinnacle IMO and everyone will have a different list. |
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mike ellis
Really should get out more Joined: 30 Dec 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2339 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Oct 06 at 3:52pm |
the 49ers havent gone too far untill absolutely NOONE can sail them. they are an olympic class, they should be hard to sail, they are there for the best to compete in. just because you see a few people falling over while they are still learning the techniques doesnt mean its gone too far. i am not suprised if people couldnt get them off the slip at weymouth, in the early days of 49ers, the windward mark was ignored by most of the fleet as they struggled to get these boats off the wind. i suspect when you were watching it was a westerly wind like it was at the southern zone championships. while we were sat ashore waiting for the race officer to realize that a feva isnt hard to keep under the rig in 20 knots i saw a 49er trying to get off the slip way and just not bearing away. the guys looked like they were trying their hardest they were pulling vvarious bits of string and letting others go and god knows what else but the boat wouldnt bare away. i dont know who was sailing it but when they did get away from the slip and got into open water and put the kite up, that certainly made me want a go. 49ers havent gone too far unless they scare everyone out of them. good try at making a point though. |
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600 732, will call it Sticks and Stones when i get round to it.
Also International 14, 1318 |
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Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Oct 06 at 3:52pm |
That's my point.
It is percieved as the very pinnacle of the sport. Aspirational I look at it in the boat park and I just want one Can't imagine anyone not wanting one. Just like that Musto Skiff, a beautiful looking thoroughbred. But, it has to be feasible to be used in more than just the billiard table that is Weymouth harbour and on more points of sailing than upwind and straight down - surely. So hyperthetically if something came along that was easier to sail and faster would that then be condemned because of its ease of use? This elitist marketing can sometimes be very flawed. |
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fizzicist
Far too distracted from work Joined: 06 Aug 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 305 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Oct 06 at 3:53pm |
May I suggest that the guys falling in a lot weren't Olympic aspirants? Far more likely that they were people who sail Olympic classes. There are countless people who cannot keep a laser upright in 15 knots. Does this mean that the boat is too extreme? Garbage. The 49er is bloody difficult and bloody fast. It is the pinnacle of one design sailing and as such should be difficult to sail. There are not many people in the world who can sail one quickly in big wind & waves. They are the best in the world and can handle it. Just like there are only about 20-22 people in the world who can drive a Formula One car quickly in any conditions. However the great thing about sailing is that you or I can go an buy the sailing equivalent of an F1 car (yes I know about I14/Cherub/18footers etc etc but 49er is up there) for about five grand and go scare ourselves. Just because it looks damn near impossible, doesn't mean it's a blind alley - look at the Moth class.
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Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and
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mike ellis
Really should get out more Joined: 30 Dec 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2339 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Oct 06 at 3:54pm |
but nothing is coming along that looks faster and easier to sail. so your point is not valid.
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600 732, will call it Sticks and Stones when i get round to it.
Also International 14, 1318 |
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aardvark_issues
Really should get out more Joined: 24 Jul 05 Location: Weston-Super-Mare Online Status: Offline Posts: 505 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Oct 06 at 3:57pm |
Watching from my prime seat on the side of my capsized foiler at Weymouth Sailing Academy as the windsurfers went off to play, and having spent the previous evening with a new windsurfing buddy, also a better mothie than me, comtemplating the trials and tribulations of windsurfing and why everyone seems to fall off all the time.
I have to say, my opinion is it has gone too far. If Shortboard riders cannot even get on the water without getting wet, you have to wonder. We reckon those board things would be better served as supports for cups of tea and cake then at least they wouldn't keep falling over. It was flat water, blowing less than 15 at the time, and once they got their sail out of the water they looked great, but watching what happened when it goes wrong, especially when it happens right in front of the club house. Doesn't do much for folks desire to go windsurfing, thats for sure. Now and again most sports go down blind alleys, sailing had round the time of the GP14 and Heron I reckon windsurfing is it. A blind Alley Time to pause Me and my fellow mothies came to the conclusion that Speedweek is far too expensive and the courses rarely suit our boats. Its fine if you like tight reaching, but our best speeds are set very broad to the wind. Edited by aardvark_issues |
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SetSail
Posting king Joined: 06 Oct 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 100 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Oct 06 at 4:06pm |
Spot on I'd say |
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RS821 - Now for sale, PM for details
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Guest
Newbie Joined: 21 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 0 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 10 Oct 06 at 4:06pm |
Kite surfing - not thats gone too far ... I have even heard tales of some geriatric loons doing themselves serious injury on the land
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