One of the fastest Sailboats
 

You do not want to heel these more than 15%

http://www.kangwon.ac.kr/~yacht/49er.jpg

Perhaps Doug was reffering to planeing hulls.
If you notice the hiking wings are about 15 degrees.

Joe

One of the fastest Sailboats
 

(Joe) wrote:

You do not want to heel these more than 15%

http://www.kangwon.ac.kr/~yacht/49er.jpg

Why don't they just put a hydrofoil wing on the rudder so the whole hull
can jump up out of the water...

One of the fastest Sailboats
 

Why don't they just put a hydrofoil wing on the rudder so the whole hull
can jump up out of the water...



Oz wrote:
Because when they landed they'd fall apart.
The 49er is a junk boat, waaaay to heavy for its size but still not
strong. Their light air performance is horrid because of the weight.

I thought the mast was their major weak point? They seem to break a lot.

Ever sailed one Oz? I haven't. In light air it looks like a struggle to
balance the things, but when going they are faster than more
conventional boats.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

One of the fastest Sailboats
 

Oz wrote:

Yep, a few mates sons are sailng them..and spending a fortune on
maintenance.
They actually balance quite well in light air, big flat bottom helps.

The guys I've seen sailing them must not be very good then. I found the
I-14 to be surprisingly easy to balance in light air, I'd kind of like
to try a Moth.

Its a funny thing but Oz is very different to EU and the US. We have
lots of this style of boat and far less of the heavy barges like 420.
The 49er really isn't outstanding in that bunch, It was just favoured
because Bethwaite(IMHO) had a quiver of contacts.

The 420 may be a bit heavy, but give it 15 20 knot winds and it's not a
barge at all.... the one thing I dislike about them is the way they dip
the transom corner when tacking and scoop up a wheelbarrow load of
water. The 420 is the most common trainer over here and a very common
intercollegiate boat. FWIW it's much better than the FJ (sad to say, and
I used to own & race FJ's).

I'd agree that most US sailors are a bit backwards looking. The
mainstream here runs to either party barges or Cape Horn wanna-bees. Sad.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

One of the fastest Sailboats
 

Oz wrote:
I 14 is a cool boat, based on the Javelin which is ever better but
unfortunately all but dead now.

It's kind of like riding a bicycle... I had to fight the instinct to not
overtrim in light air, it's slower to dip a wing than to stall the sail
for a few moments.... it's also surprisingly easy to get a **powerful**
roll-tack.

I sailed Moths for a few years when they were scows. Tried one of the
canoe style ones a few years back. They go like the clappers but fall
over when they stop moving :-)

That happened to me a few times in the I-14... get caught overbalanced
with the sail already trimmed hard... hello human teabags!

I would like a boat that was a somewhat tamed skiff (the knees aren't
what they used to be) that didn't fall over quite so easily. The Johnson
18 is a very fun boat, but not as powerful and definitely too heavy. The
lack of traps makes it simple & tactical, racing on short courses is a
blast. But it doesn't have the skiff's afterburners.

The closest thing I've seen to this is something like an RS-400. Have
you sailed one? I have only seen pictures. You'd probably consider it a
barge ;)


Hmmm, My fondest memories of 420s is getting off em.
I'll never get over getting to the top mark in 20kts, throwing up the
chute and thinking...is that it?

Yep, it's a hankie. But they should have an option for a much bigger
one, maybe a square head main too.

Over here the 420 trainers and intercollegiate boats are built extra
heavy so they can take the banging around. A college club 420 might
weigh 110 ~ 130kg somewhere in there. But then their life is a tough one.



BTW the 29er, designed as a step up for kids aspiring to 49ers has
just been dumped as the national junior trainer because they kept
breaking. Fill in is I believe the 420
29ers had I think 5 boats at the state titles here

I've seen a few sailing here and there, but the class has never caught
on over here. I'd love to see a really good A-sail one design catch on
over here. An idea a buddy of mine had was buying up old 505s and
putting square-top mains and asymmetrics chutes on them.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King