Martin Schöön wrote:
snip
I forgot one thing in my previous response.
Are the numbers below based on empty boat weight or sailing displacement
with crew?


Empty, I believe.
There's a sportboat forum at 'Sailing Anarchy' and they
argue all the time about what is and what isn't a sportboat,
so I'm not sure there is any real definition. Not even the
guys who design them can reach full agreement, apparently.

But I will say, I know a sportboat when I see one!



How about this for a working definition:

"A monohull keelboat that's capable of planing."


Wayne.B wrote:
Doesn't work for me, there are lots of monohull keelboats that are
capable of planing under certain conditions.

Yes, that's a very large playing field.


.... I used to race on a B-29
that was right on the cusp of almost being a sport boat but it really
wasn't. Downwind with 20+ kts it was one exciting ride however, and
we once planed at 17 to 18 kts for over 2 miles. The B-29 carried a
conventional spinnaker pole which enabled it to go lower on a
spinnaker run than a true sport boat, but also at lower speed.


It's very tricky to get the angles right, as I'm sure Martin
S will agree. You can always go faster thru the water by
heating up, but that doesn't necessarily get you higher VMG.
It is a lot of fun though!

I sailed a Johnson 18, a centerboard sprit boat that could
also plane upwind (something very very few keelboats can
achieve) and the asymmetric was a total blast. I have sailed
a number of boats with a conventional spinnaker since then,
but I'm not planning on getting serious about another
one-design without it. It's just way too much bang for the buck.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

On 27 Aug 2006 23:10:14 +0200, (Martin Schöön)
wrote:
Simple question:

What is a sport boat?
or
What is the 'definition' of sport boat?

Looking at them 'from a distance' I think I have gathered
that a J 24 is not a sport boat but both J 80 and Melges 24
are. How come? Because they plane more readily?

How small can a sport boat be without becoming a dinghy?
How big? Is a Melges 30 still regarded as a sport boat?

Speaking of sport boats, the Melges 24 world championships are being
held in Hyeres, France this week, in windy mistral conditions. Some
good pictures he

http://www.melges24.com/photogalleri...Championsh ip

http://tinyurl.com/rmagw

My oldest son is crewing on the boat in picture # 3 and they are doing
fairly well. Well known sailor Dave Ullman is in picture # 10,
blasting through a wave with a lot of wind.

Wayne.B wrote:
Speaking of sport boats, the Melges 24 world championships are being
held in Hyeres, France this week, in windy mistral conditions. Some
good pictures he

http://www.melges24.com/photogalleri...Championsh ip


Dang that looks like fun!
I've considered getting one of these.


http://tinyurl.com/rmagw

My oldest son is crewing on the boat in picture # 3 and they are doing
fairly well.

The 505 sailor? He sure gets around.

I used to race Dave Ullman in 470s back in the old days.
Very good sailor and a nice guy.



Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
Good luck to your son - hope he does well.


Ditto

Kind of reminds me of the old days with Town class sailboats in heavy
weather. Lots of memories of racing around Marblehead in those boats.

Hmmm - I need to start my life over again I think. :)


Never too late, they say.


Not to go completely off the subject of sport boats, I was catching up
on my reading the other day and the particular article was about the
Volvo Round the World race and the hi-tech sailboats they are using.

Frankly, I was stunned at the technology being used in those boats.

They really go, too. Somewhere there is a promo video, never
widely published although I can't imagine why, of a then-new
Whitbread 60 pulling two water skiers. These vew VOR-70s are
a lot more powerful and faster in a wider range of
conditions. They need to get the bugs ot of that canting
keel though.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

On Tue, 29 Aug 2006 10:15:20 -0400, DSK wrote:

My oldest son is crewing on the boat in picture # 3 and they are doing
fairly well.

The 505 sailor? He sure gets around.

He certainly does, and the old man is slightly envious at times, but
he got a *much* earlier start than I did. We took him on his first
sailing cruise when he was 6 weeks old and it apparently made an
impression on him. When he was about 5 y/o he got smacked in the head
by the boom on a friends J24 and that definitely made an impression,
but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a few stitches in the
emergency room. His mother was not amused.

He was writing magazine articles for Sailing World while still in
college and has made a lot of contacts over the years.

On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:56:35 -0400, in message

Walt wrote:

Wayne.B wrote:
(Martin Schöön) wrote:

What is a sport boat?
or
What is the 'definition' of sport boat?


Simple question, not quite as easy to answer.

The vast majority of true sport boats have sprit poles, large
asymmetric spinnakers, and are quick to reach planing speeds when off
the wind. Being able to plane implies a high ratio of sail area to
displacement of course, but it would be difficult to come up with a
hard number cutoff.

Regarding sport boats vs dinghys, sport boats have at least a minimal
cabin and sleeping accomodations in all of the cases that I'm aware
of. Sport boats will also have a ballast keel but that will not keep
them from capsizing if hard pressed or mis-handled.

How about this for a working definition:

"A monohull keelboat that's capable of planing."

That would make a Shark a sport boat....

Ryk