Sail flat, sail fast...

dancrane said:
I thought about an Albacore

...but it looked like particularly hard work when beating, let alone singlehanded...
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I find it less work than a Phantom, partly because most Albacore sailors don't really seem to hike hard anyway.

The good thing about an Albacore is that you can depower the rig massively and therefore in non-racing mode there really is very little reason to hike hard. I sail it singlehanded in surprisingly strong winds. Anyway water under the bridge for you...
 
Mavanier said:
...make sure you use monel replacements, and slather on some duralac between the aluminium and other metals.
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Hmm...looks like Duralac is £16 for the smallest tube, which nevertheless contains enough to last the average sailing club ten years...or me alone, several lifetimes. Maybe I'll buy a tube for the club and let 'em buy me a couple of drinks in the summer. Duralac is described as seriously dangerous, carcinogenic stuff. Couldn't I alternatively pack a section of thick rubber band or insulating tape between the rivet and the mast-fittings, as the rivet is driven in?

rb_stretch said:
The good thing about an Albacore is that you can depower the rig massively...I sail it singlehanded in surprisingly strong winds. Anyway water under the bridge for you...
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...well, maybe. But I haven't had the full Osprey experience yet, so I may come ashore one day having made a definite decision to downsize, for the good of my health. I hope not!
 
dancrane said:
Hardly a drift, mate. And any discussion of the Bonezzi boats is justifiable, ad nauseum...

View attachment 39172

For several years I read about how the Contender could be tuned for a wide range of helm-weights. I know most designs (except the Finn) make that boast, but following forum-threads between Contender sailors, I got the distinct impression they agree that being on the tall, heavy side is the way to tame the beast in a breeze. Pity about the low boom.

I did see a very competent-looking lady-helm sailing a Contender at Bosham in the 'eighties...couldn't have been over 65kg. I wonder how she coped with 118'sq in a force 5.
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When I first started sailing at my club in the early 2000s there was a very nice Asian guy who sailed a Contender and gave me lots of help with my £250 Rondar snotter which I bought. Quite unusual in dinghy sailing, it's usually just white guys who are stupid enough to get dressed up in rubber and get freezing cold sailing dinghies at the weekend! Anyway, I digress...he passed away sadly but his boat stayed at the club, he cannot have been much over 5'4" and 60kg. He flat wired pretty much everywhere, and whilst not as fast as me in a blow, he seemed to get much more out of the boat than I did. As has been said before, especially for inland clubs, most of the time it's light winds, so you'd probably be fine with one.
 
rb_stretch said:
Fitted out by Vandercraft, but an Ovington epoxy foam hull with Selden carbon rig and north mainsail. Lovely boat to sail.....
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I had two Phantoms - both wood - in the early '80s. Both were built by Paul Young who is now the MD of Rondar Raceboats. Had some success with them. I then bought a Contender, but I never really got on with it.

Happy days! :D
 
Lakesailor said:
I don't know if this makes it any clearer. It's blown up from the original pic. There seems to be a further strop leading aft along the boom. Is it merely a device to stop the gooseneck pulling off?

Classboatrace_34.jpg
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That's Jimmy Hoyle.
 
I'm a little surprised that no-one seems to have mentioned (and I apologise if they have and I've missed it) that dinghies and yachts generally have quite different underwater profiles.

Dinghies are designed to be sailed flat. In most circumstances allowing them to heel will create a less favourable underwater profile and will slow the boat down. There are occasions the benefits of a slight heel will be greater than the penalties of the poorer profile. For example, in very light winds where heeling slightly to leeward will help to retain sail shape or when dead-running when a slight heel to windward will reduce tendency to broach by aligning the centre of effort of the rig with the centreboard.

On the other hand the underwater profile of a yacht is designed so that it doesn't change much with limited angles of heel so there's little disadvantage other than in terms of crew comfort to allowing yachts to heel. When the angle of heel becomes too great it's the sails which stop performing properly with the wind beginning to escape towards the top of the sail rather than towards the stern: it's then time to reef and return to a more upright stance. As has been mentioned this often results in an increase in speed, possibly because it has been delayed too long.
 
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