A brief history of everything ..on the Water: THE BOATS

Boats, Båt, Båd, Jakt, Yachts..........


Here is my breif review by size of those I have sailed and mostly won on, with some omissions for dogs.

Dinghies:
Laser
The laser is like chablis, it is like the nigerian runner, it is like a sea gull...it is unique in it's ubiquity and also it's simpliity and elegance to sail. Despite being Finn sized myself I still like to get out in a borrowed or hired laser and may buy one you never know.

I like practising roll tacks and gybes, steering in waves, steering behind my back and just making progress up wind....being this close to the water and this aware of the wind and it's effect is still an experience. Like sipping into a glass of Chablis..simple, pure, clean and rewarding.

* I also have done about 20 hours on laser IIs without traps. V. similar.



Tasar

The tasar was billed as the two man laser and probably had olympic ambitions. However like learning Bass guitar its' two sail format is deceptively simple. The crew has nine controls, the helm only three!

It is in fact very far from a laser indeed. Planes up wind and is more like being on the water than in the water. Comfier, and actually easier to sail at first it presents enough challenges to master and then compete at say the worlds. A sailing career in one boat designed to be manageable by husband and wife.

It sails very nicely in displacement mode and light airs too. Just flatten that main, easy to do, open the slot and keep the quarter wave streaming off the chine and it purrs along at all points of sail apart from it's achilles heel, the run in v.light air.

Once I was helping out a guy (as local class rep) and we were 30 stone up in what seemed maybe 22knts wind. We went up hill like scaletrix, blasting past the RS200s after a late start.

In my tasar I pulled away from ISOs and had faster starts than RS400s.

The RS400

"a lot like sailing a little sports boat" . It is maybe a suprise that a heavy as heck hiking boat took off as it did, pulling stars from the likes of the 505 class into it's ranks.

A very physical boat to sail and not that rewarding apart from it being good fleet racing. Seems to take a range of wieghts but far inferior to the mislykte 59er.

The Snipe
This boat is atually sailed by some of the worlds best sailors in their 'time off' due to it's simplicity and internationality.

It is one heavy bitch ashore, but actually quite fun to sail and v. close in fleet. Lots of tactics but boat speed is king.

Not actually a true OD- liek the fifteen it has two hull forms and two masts.

I will continue in the class no doubt for want of anything better OD wise and also the lack of any carbon to break and pay for !!!!!!!!!!

59er, B14, 29er

All more or less test sails for me, these are the type of boats which people on the coast and larger lakes SHOULD be sailing in. I mean Merlin Rockets?? All are far superior to the RS400, so much so that the twin trap RS800 is a bethwaite copy cat.

The 59er remains a perfect boat for me at this stage as far as dinghy sailing goes

Keel Boats

The Gareloch and The Piper

probably the smallest keel boats I have raced in apart from a couple of useless tours in an FF.

Pedestrian but with a classic feel. Wonderful to pack kite jammed in against the ribs of a 1936 pedigree racer!


Hunter 707

The wee 707 is a much under-rated boat outside it's OD homes because it has a poor rating allegeldy. But it has won on SBR and no doubt PY if not CYCA.

A bit slow and ploddy up wind but off wind it is a rocket on stabilisers!

Easy, perhaps preferable to short hand, the wide cockpit and transom make it easy for crew to leap around and get their weight back when it starts to fly!

Racing at 14 knts under the forth bridges in a blow, with old quarter tonners and sigma 33s looking literally as if they were sailing BACKWARDS remains a high point in my memories.

I had the idea of buying a couple to tout round the dinghy sailing schools as group trainers....super wee boats, kevlar hulls. Sobstad genesis suspect though!

The larger "hunter 808" appeared as a line drawing above the water in a 1990s Y&Y never to be realised- today a chined, no back stay flyer would fit right in! The 27X would seem to have it's place.


Beneteau 25 Platu 25

Ever wondered what sailing on a whitbread 60 was like? or a Corel 45, a farr 40? lack the bucks for a mumm? Well here is the mini-mum!

Without a doubt the best round the cans boat and inshore distance racer I have sailed on. Admittedly the example I sailed on was well looked after and various parts were upgraded ( kicker set up etc.)

Sweeps upwind like a well behaved keel boat and down hill like a super light dinghy!

Crew friendly, nice to move around on with lovely touches like the jib cunningham and barber haulers. The rig can be tweaked on the bottle screws and forestay, but a medium setting allows the backstay and powerful kicker to give flexiblibily in powerin or taking it off.

Left: SUPER IMPOSED : A MUMM 30 over the 25.

We mixed it with Dehler 33s on the water and beat IMX 40s round the cans on corrected while having the glory of beatin Knut Frostad by default! but at least sailing ahead of academy when it went into a hole at Ask.

sleeps two, boom tentable and outboard in a well.

Give me a 28 foot version with an inboard!

Beneteau First Class 8 (8m)

Much, much faster than I expected. Started on a windy round cumbraes with better up hill speeds than a sigma 33, high 6s and sevens in the steep clyde swell. Survived a black squall under kite at 47knts recorded!

Bit too broachy for it's pretentions. Looking very dated as per DS37 and various other 1980s OOD match racers. Dunno why it was superceded with the Platu but the 7.5 does make sense.

Winter Series win and various race wins. Case of a reasonably good helm, very promising actually who didn't get a competitive crew together...cautionary note.

Hunter Impala and Laser 28

Atually similar vintage, overlap in production anyway, these were the middle class mans E-types of the early to mid eighties.

The impala is a great racer, just a bit rolly polly DDW. Lovely feel on the helm and a bendy mast which responds to kicker well. Won my first ever race the first ever time on the helm from A to B! (TWHW tobermory race 2001)


The laser 28 is a bit too good to be true. It's weakness is up wind in a blow. All round it beats the impala apart from "soul" up wind. Too littel a keel for my liking. But I'd have one or the Redfox which boasts a good IRC.


Beneteau Figaro/First Class Challenge 9.14m Mast Head "T'jig II"

Before the bene 25 this was my ideal boat. Big cockpit, powerful kite, nice controls, sleeps it's crew, inboard.

actually the other boat i'd buy the 31.7 is derived from the hull.

race win class 1 cumbraes 1998.

The Sigma 33

The smeg is everywhere from the channel islands to shetland, whitby to dublin bay. I think 300 odd were built, making it the most successful cruiser in the UK probably ever, contessa 32 being it's nearest rival in numbers. Only the snotty sold more from the David Thomas pen and it is probably the biggest phenomenon of it's time.

But, the smeg is based on DTs elisabethan and 3/4 tonner or half tonners and all this dates it back to the late 1960s. A seventies top sides and bow followed by an eighties renewal on the coach roof and deck quality couldn't really hide that it was an old british design from the old school. Problem being the rolly-polly DThomas issues- the tucked up stern with no real "bite" to stop rolling DDW.

So in force 4 or 5 DDW in a sea they become quite unwieldy and start to broach and chinese gybe.

As crew, expect to come off black and blue from that deep cockpit and huge toe rail. It doesn't get any better for helm and main man as I found out. Cramped space at the back end where it all starts to get narrow!

Also it only really sleeps 5 in any comfort- one seventies variant has a double bed on the dining table though. The pilot berth makes for seven and two very close pals can sleep in the single quarter berth (could easily have had both sides berthed up instead of the huge locker on Stb side)

Despite my efforts and those of Neil MacGregor and many other keen, young and talented crews it remained the usual suspects in the top 4, with however clyde boats dominating. The usual suspects were St.Joan, Vendeval and Phoenix - rupert occaisionally at the heels with both Carmen and Kevin Aithken's Shite Stuff doing well after 1998. I had some good sails on Oddessey of Harold Hood and they did get a good few wednesday night wins anyways.


Numbers peaked in 1999 with quite a few cruisers putting on their gloves again to fight before the fleet dwindling to lose most of their OD starts by 2007. Many boats headed to Ireland where they are no doubt gettign thrashed and tatty in the salty wetness of Dublin Bay.


The 33 was for the better word - my apprenticeship and in 4 to 10 knts breeze they were manageable enough inshore. Good value / bargain cruiser now!



The X332 and 362-Sport

The 332 appeared in the nineties and was a modern, IRC freidly performance cruiser raer. It established reasonable fleets and won on CHS later IRC, being about as good over the water as a smeg 38.

Now it looks just about as dated as the smeg 33, compared to the newer J's, benetubs and the X35. ABout half a knot faster up hill than a smeg, and more manageable it must be said. Offwind a stable DDW VMGer unlike david thomas's designs. Competant for 10 knts under white sails alone! Impressive enough. But tight cockpit and big toe rail once again marring it.

Now it is off into cruiser world with even X99s holding fleet where 332s venture out in paltry numbers ( UK, norway, sweden, germany at least) The newer 36 foot cruiser racers are comfier below and the racer-cruiser have better cockpits.

The 362S is a bigger, faster affair with tunability to put it up against bigger cruiser boats. Big cockpit, aft shower, more room below and a solid rig and ballasting make it a better combination boat than the 332 which is better off cruised IMHO.

tbc

the SIgma 38

This was my biggest disappointment apart from the space downs below in the boat.

I got bummed off a boat once for misdemeanors and maybe the owners (chocolate kettle) daughter not liking some of my comments. In truth he was a cruiser sailor who never should have taken up something he wasn't preparted to learn in. I liked the size but on the rail it was fairly uncomfy.

Later we got kindly picked up to complete the scottish series after a mast break on the overnight. I got to sleep on the boat and got a lot of really bad attitide from some skinny dick of a contender sailor who got so drunk one night he vomited in the gangway, a little out of character..... anyway we went like shit off a shovel and pulled out some reasonable on the water results in IRC 2 against X332s etc.

I did winches and they are KUNTs on the big smeg. THe boom can bump them with too much backstay or late runner. Not sutiable for a wookey. THe 400 rectified the sitation but died in IRC inshore. Offshore boats the both of them, with the 38 not stripping it's no.1 until 25knts true!

Real Thoroughbreds

The corby 35 was an out and out CHS thoroughbread. It was well put together and pretty much well slept it's core crew. Big, heavy bulb a defo displacement racer. Tacked through little more than 70'. Still not exactly exciting to sail like a sports boat.

( the later skippers RH-man, simon martin - obviously a lot better than that wanker Jonty who put us on the wrong side of the tide up the Irish sea with hours to pay for it! )

Good to put some ISORA race wins under out belt, but much of the competition didn't stand a chance.

Learnt that winners are not that far above loosers:

1. Boat prep and boat choice in the first place
   
2. New sails
3. good crew
4. off the start fast!
5. listen to info, take action early
6. mistake? get out of it ASAP
7. go the whole mile- focus and lash your crew to the rail and winches

The J125



This is the perfect boat...a stallion in carbon fibre and epoxy.....9.1knts up wind at around 41' in , wait for it, 11 knts wind. off wind performance - many spinnaker reaches/runs at 25knts. Maxi, volvo/whitbread 60 performance in 41 feet with only 6 on board...

Ramp on a little check stay..like a gear change on a bike, woohhoo an extra half knot immediately as the main deepens just that couple of inches.

Why it was dumped? Production costs? no real development of an OD class? Poor on IRC and PHRF most likely.

Toray they go in for swing keels and square top mains to get this performance...sod it, after the recession bring back the J125

The J109

This is the one boat which has suprised me most above 33ft. It points pretty good, chonks on if you crack it off a little in waves and surfs readily despite it's weight ( 2o% more than an X35), dead rise and keel design. Competitive on various schemes- designed as an IRC optimised boat in FRANCE, yeah not a true Johnson boat, and cruisy / difficult enough that some dicks keep the perf' related Lys in check. It goes off 1.28 / 9 on lys but could be jumped up with gorillas and do ok at even 1.34 !

I can see why the bigger Js are better on space but hell this does it all fine- feeling a little more like a 32 footer than say the 362 for some reason.

The only poor thing is the winch positions which are located far back for the helm to utilise in shorthanding. Mistake for me, but enough people do this! Doubling up with a deck winch would have been good. Main needs a gorilla like yours truly- although it is quite friction free until under very heavy load. Kicker on Jambo was maybe not enough purchase as it didn't eleviate the main friction at say 17 knts wind true.

More than competent- a true thoroughbread in the displacement cruiser racers.