yardstick

[Spectre]

What's the yardstick for super sloop??

[humungus2]

Koonawarra say 90

Mannering Park 90

So the conclusion is 90.

What do you think Rodney?

[Pointed Reply]

I hate simple answers !!

Koonawarra: Cat 94, Sloop 94, SuperSloop 90

VYC: Cat 94, Sloop 92, SuperSloop 88

This seems to indicate that the Cats are slowest and the SuperSloops are fastest BUT we all know that is not exactly true.

But what is the real situation? It all depends on who is sailing what and how each boat is set up. That includes the age of the hulls, the sails and tuning. But most importantly the skipper (and crew) and the weather conditions.

At the most recent Nationals a GRP Sloop was at times faster than the GRP SuperSloops but slower than most of the Foam SS and Cats. At the States a foamie Sloop was faster than the foam Cats but in light wind the GRP cat beat the foamie sloop and the GRP cat beat the foamie cats.

You can go out and buy a brand new foamie with the lastest radial sail and still come last. And the Pirate can get two planks of wood and a bed sheet and win.

I think they are all pretty much the same.

[Spectre]

OK it's All over the place.

I asked the question so that if I wanted to race down here (apart from friendlies) I would know.

Was intrested in PR reply re VYC yardstick.

My calcs show a yardstick of 90 from VYC but I am not sure if I am doing it right.

If the yardstick for a cat rigged Mari is 94 and I put a jib on on then I improve the yardstick by -4.5% (according to VYC). This makes it about 90.

But, if I have a slooped rigged Mari the yardstick is 92 and if I don't sail with a crew then does the same -4.5% apply?? This would make it 88.

Compounding the whole qusetion is the H14 Turbo. They don't have a 2 person sloop class so how come their yardstick goes from 94.5 down to 88.5 which works out be about -7%. I guess that is what their race results show.

I am therefore wondering whether the Assoc. should get the data from super sloop racing at club and titles events and get a real yardstick.

At 88 I wouldn't bother unfurling the jib. At 90 I would have a chance.

[This message has been edited by Spectre (edited 05 May 2008).]

[Pointed Reply]

An excellent complicated reply from Spectre.

I think I can do better !!

I have all the times for all the boats for each of the 10 races sailed at the nationals. There were all types, except a foam sloop, all sailing off the same start line. I have collated all the results and related them back to a common base.

I know it's very sad that I would even think about doing such a thing.

Now you need to remember that the results are based on the boats and sailors who were there for that particular regatta.

The sample was 4 foam cats, 1 foam SS, 1 GRP cat, 1 GRP sloop and 4 GRP SSs.

Some boats were eliminated from the data as they were significantly slower than the others.

If you assume that the Foam Cats are 100%, then the foam super sloop was 99.81%, the GRP cat was 109.81% the GRP Sloop was 105.34% and the GRP Super Sloops were 106.28%.

So what does this mean ? I'm not sure.

BUT I agree with Spectre. The Yardsticks do not favour the SSs and if you are after race results then go for Cat or Sloop.

But people sail their closen boat configuration for all sorts of reasons other than racing. Some people sail SuperSloop because they have trouble tacking, others as they like to use a trapeze, and others because everyone else in their club/group does.

I sail Sloop because I greatly enjoy sailing with my kids and teaching them to sail. But I sail cat when by myself.

And that is what is so good about Maricats, you can sail them in any configuration and have lots of fun.