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Weta tri


nacrabat

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Thanks Humungus2 for the kind words.

 

As we all know there is nothing more fiercely debated in mixed fleets than yardsticks/CBH!   Add to that the somewhat quirky Weta and the argument gets even more heated it seems.  Is it in the Multihull Division or should it be in the Fast Dinghy Division?   In my limited experience I believe the latter is the best fit, but try telling that to "Fast DInghy" Division sailors!   The Weta IMHO behaves more like a centreboard boat and a dinghy sailor would feel right at home.  Interestingly the USA and UK experience has the Weta's participating with the Fast Dinghy Divisions.  

 

VYC suggest a tentative handicap needs to be applied using the SCHRS measurement method.  This gives an unreasonable result, because it is not a catamaran, of 811 - Hobie 17 area - which in VYC 81.5.  

 

It has been suggested the Weta should be somewhere in the range between a 29er and a Fireball.

 

At the recent USA Nationals a two-up crew won the event against one-up boats.  So the one-up/two-up handicap argument might be a furphy.  Admittedly the two up crew had a very fine pedigree, but as previous comments in the thread mention, the handicap is measured as if the crew were "World Class".   I would suggest, to my knowledge, only the designer - Chris Kitchen - would fit in that category in the current fleet.

 

Changing the subject slightly.  As a wrong side of 50 sailor I do enjoy the stability of the Weta combined with its dinghy like performance.   It is a good fun boat and I think it will appeal to more "mature" dinghy/cat sailors who want to stay in these classes but have something a little more forgiving.  

 

Only an opinion so don't flame me!

 

Good sailing!

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  • 1 month later...

That's very generous. My estimates of 88 (1-up) and 93 (2-up) are holding up to scrutiny in some data.

Timed results of Jervis Bay regatta available here:

http://www.jervisbaysailingclub.com/images/docs/2013/2013octoberregattadiv3.pdf

The boat to consider is Glenn Marnes, who as I recall it sailed race 1 2-up, race 2 3-up, race 3 1-up, and race 4 2-up.

At Wallagoot we had a single-handed Weta win a pointscore race with the yardstick of 88, by 5 minutes. I sailed a PT 2-up on yardstick 95.9 to 2nd, and various ancient windrush and maricats filled out the field to 8 boats. The Weta was assisted a bit by the wind, which eased from 12 to 5 knots after he took line honours.

 

If your Weta is pacing Tasars, tell him to stop pinching, bear off and get some wind into the sails. Probably don't tack so often, and use the kite to bend the wind, rather than catching it like a parachute. Our guy took that advice and cut 10minutes of his race time.

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  • 2 months later...

Hi all, just joined up to this forum so I could comment on this thread..

 

I have sailed a Weta at Gosford for the last few months, usually with my daughter or son (7/5 yrs respectively, so I'm not pushing really hard). From a performance point of view, if it is breezy we usually match or beat the best fireball in the fleet and beat the others. If it is light, the fireballs beat me and I finish a bit ahead of the NS14's. However, the courses are usually triangle/windward return/triangle/windward return and in light winds the others catch us on the downwind run.

 

I think a yardstick similar to a Fireball would be about right - then it just depends on the wind conditions as to whether you are going to do well on handicap or not.

 

I have sailed at Hobie 16, not as a regular thing, although I did do the Philippines Hobie Challenge in 2013 (awesome event by the way) and for what its worth, a H16 is WAY faster than a Weta. I had never sailed a H16 before this event and was surprised how quick they were!

 

Anyway, that's my input, opinion only of course. I am yet to sail against another Weta to find out if I am quick or not

 

 

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The Fireball appears to have a yardstick of 101; suggest you push harder!

The Weta might match them upwind, but then ought to have massive speed advantage with the spinnaker working.
I reflect again on the Weta 1-up passing myself and Ian Marcovitch (2010 World Champion) on Paper Tigers at Jervis Bay. We left him behind going upwind, but he flew past on the reaches, sailing about 45degrees to true wind, even on the downwind leg.

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Hi again, little addition to my previous post...had 2 races at Gosford earlier today, it was the windiest we had been out in, probably 15-18 knots. beat both Fireballs comfortably, (by several minutes in both ~40 min races). 7 year old crew getting braver! Geez it was good fun, great days sailing.. so i think the Weta definitely faster as it gets windier, but on a light day, long square runs are its weak point. For me, its the best boat I have ever sailed, from a versatility point of view: take a small kid or 3 out, or go for a blast single handed..  My dad (58yrs) ordered one today! Hope he is not quicker than me!!!

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Hi, that sounds like fun! Occasionally Gosford has a 'no race' day if they are hosting a big regatta (eg Etchell State Titles this weekend). if I can make it up there I will. My wife is about to give birth to our next crew (sorry, 'child') so I'll have to wait for the dust to settle after that. Cheers

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