"Jeff Morris" wrote in message
...
Maxprop wrote:
wrote in message


I never said it was ugly. In fact, I think it has nice lines.


It's a Bill Luders design, from the hand of the man who designed winning
America's Cup racers in the mid-20th Century. His designs were all
rule-beaters, and this boat is no exception.

Luders was a great designer, but America's Cup was not hs best genre.
Weatherly was a rework of a Rhodes design (built by Luders), and might
have lost to the faster Gretel were it not for the aggressive handling of
Bud Mosbacher.


I agree completely with the rest of your comments. IIRC, Mate gushed over
the Luders 34.

We were a bit like BB, I'm sorry to admit, when a SS 34 became available.
We looked at the numbers and concluded it must be a slug. But then we saw
Mate's writeup and decided to give the boat a look and a sea trial. Blew us
away, it did. What BB and others fail to realize is that those CCA boats
had long overhangs, and when heeled the effective waterline increased
dramatically, effectively allowing a faster hull speed. Downwind the short
waterline length is an advantage w/r/t wetted surface area minimized.

Rating rules are calculations based upon measurements, and such rules can be
beaten. For example, my boat has a 7/8 fractional rig, which gives her an
even greater rating advantage. Luders relished beating the rules, and even
when he showed the ratings gurus where they had loopholes, they ignored him.
So he beat them at their own game regularly. The SS 34 is easily as quick
as a Catalina 34, which is probably why they do so well in handicap racing.
Her PHRF rating is a gift, compliments of Bill Luders.

Max