Streaker Class Developments: Carbon Boom approved
by Streaker Class Owners Association 12 Oct 2019 14:30 BST
Streaker Carbon Boom © Streaker Class Owners Association
Streakers for many years have been a progressive one design class, the Streaker Class members happy to adopt small changes to class rules to improve the Streaker design and members enjoyment of an exciting dinghy.
The recent AGM held during the class 2019 National Championship at Weymouth approved the use of a Carbon Boom. The class had already conducted 2 - 3 years of trials with Carbon Booms to ascertain any performance advantages / disadvantages but also to investigate the cost of Carbon Booms and their availability for a small class as the Streaker.
The Carbon Boom is significantly lighter than its Alloy counterpart. In the view of Streaker sailors the main reason for having a Carbon Boom is because getting hit on the head by a Carbon boom compared to the Alloy boom causes less damage to your head!
The class in adopting Carbon Booms was also aware that the cost of a Carbon Boom is significantly more than for an Alloy Boom as produced by industry suppliers. The Streaker Class though has not forgotten its roots, being originally a boat designed by Jack Holt for home construction. As such the new rules allow Carbon Booms to be manufactured by the amateur using parts readily available on the internet. Streaker Carbon Booms can be purchased from suppliers such as Selden and Super Spars.
The Streaker Class are also conducting trials using a tapered alloy mast. Both Selden and Superspar have supplied tapered versions of the Lambda and M9 section masts respectively. The original Streaker mast was untapered mainly to keep costs down.
The un-tapered Streaker mast though has now become almost special supply as most spars supplied to dinghy classes are tapered. It is not thought that the change will result in a significant performance change. Perhaps some redesign of the current cut of sail will be needed, sails being used on the tapered masts currently being cut for un-tapered masts.
Further information on the Streaker Class can be found on the class website www.streaker-class.org.uk