Nacra 430 with spinnaker!!

[John Dowling]

OK - great - sounds like the 84.5 we used was in the ballpark. And if they rigged a kite we would take 3.1% off - so maybe round out at 82.

[cruiser]

There you go, they have put me on 85 at Tinaroo.

John is fairly good at rating by those figures.

Mind you, I've still got a long way to go with it. Hopefully I can get to mannering Park for the 14' regatta and see how it all goes.

Thanks for the input,

Chocko

[Slowpoke]

One has even been seen sailing at Lake Samsonvale in Brisbane. Looks good.

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/106372595925977737525/20100321#5460290936955265842

Gary

[HooD]

Originally posted by John Dowling:

Good question Hood. If we used measurement rating in this country it would be an easy question if specifications for the boat were published. As you know, YV yardsticks are performance based so until enough boats are sold to get data against a range of other boats we won't get anything reliable. My guess is the season after next as there will be little data with enough comparative validity from this season to allow anything much to be published for next year. Things are moving again though at YV after the retirement of John Donaldson. Four ratings for Cats were changed thius season for example.

I have news for you John and it's all bad John Donaldson is still sitting in the chair even though he is retired. no one has stepped up to the plate (as of 2 weeks ago) The bic open does not have a VYC either and I was curious if there had been any progress. So its not likely your going to get a VYC until some one actually takes over the job.

I think its time Yachting Australia stepped up and took on this important job. it should be a national body that handles the handicaps for the nation.

[John Dowling]

Mmmmm - OK, for someone "retired" John has done a fair bit of work then. As well as the cat adjustments for this season, a few slugs have been changed too. Good luck with the desired move to YA - they haven't done anything much useful in recent times IMO.

BTW good to see you'll have the fastest A in AUS down your way soon.

[Pointed Reply]

The 14ft cats tend to use the Koonawarra Bay Sailing Club Yardstick as set out on their website.

They actively seek out results and adjust the Yardsticks....but only for 14ft cats !!

[HooD]

Mr Donaldson was actually very helpful, he looked up the bic open on various handicapping systems around the world and found no reference to them anywhere. a little surprising considering the class is ISAF approved and has held a world titles already.

Stevie's boat should be here already, if its not it cant be far away. Steve is supposed to be coming down in September for a training weekend.

[John Dowling]

That's fine if you are only dealing with racing amongst 14ft cats. The reality is most clubs have a much wider range than that on a week to week basis and need a system to compare all cats and even slugs in some cases. Is the data collected at Koonawarra sent on to YV so the wider sailing community can get the benefit?

Hood - You're lucky to be able to get Stevie to do some training - he has great A experience as well as being pretty slick on F18's and is very thoughtful about what makes sails work.

[mferguson]

I've just ordered one. I'll let you know what it's like in a couple of weeks.

[joclo]

Great news, where are you going to be sailing ?

[mferguson]

Lysterfield lake east of Melbourne near Fountain Gate.

[cruiser]

Just had our May Day regatta at Tinaroo Sailing Club, Warren from Briscat showed what the 430 is capable of with a decent sailor at the helm, not some softie like me who retires with muscle strain. He was playing with the larger cats (hobie 16, 16SQ) and consistently beating the hobie 16s.

Absolute top boat in big winds, seems the stronger the better.

Here's a pic as sailed by Dane Mouldey.

[This message has been edited by cruiser (edited 05 May 2010).]

[mferguson]

One thing I am very keen to find out is how well this boat will point without dagger boards. What should I expect? I get killed on the lake every week by paper tigers and an arrow because I can't get the windrush to point and it goes upwind like a crab. I should have heaps of speed on them but I need to do an extra tack or two upwind to make the marks. It seems that the boats with dagger boards (or a centre board) have an advantage. Any thoughts?

[NACRAJON]

I haven’t sailed a 430 but I raced a 4.5 super sloop for two years which appears pretty similar. IMHO on a flat lake is where the performance of a skeg hull is closest to a daggerboard boat. In flat water I was able to have a slightly ‘bow down’ attitude upwind to get the 4.5 to point. Once the chop got above a couple of feet in height and I wasn’t able to bury the bow as much I couldn’t get it to point as well as a Windy.

[mferguson]

Thanks. The lake I race on is very flat so that won't be a problem. I try to keep the bow in the water during light winds so that the transon doesn't drag. When it's windy, I try to get me weight back so that the bow doesn't dig in. (trying to avoid it doing a cartwheel). On Saturday it was light, around 10kts. I got slaughtered by an arrow. I am hoping this new boat will have a lot more speed and can point higher and not move as much sideways. Any tips on getting a W14 to point?

[cruiser]

Lets not kid ourselves, there is no way that a skeg will ever out point a Boarded cat. I can say this about the 430 though, the stronger the breeze, the harder it goes, no need to "power down" just keep it to it and it will go hard.

You will absolutely flog most 14's down wind in anything over 15 knots, it will keep going until you lose steering from not enough rudder in the water, even then it will keep going, but briscat advised me not to keep the nose buried too long, not good for hull longevity....

The 430 is the best fun, and greatest comprimise boat ever made.

It is a perfect balance between performance and fun.

I had a mate skipper mine today and the only other time she's had the helm was the last time i threw her in the deep end. Her daughter saw us sail past and then jumped on too, with 3 of us on board, she kept going and moved along nicely with the kite up.

To get to the point, it is a mini F18 that needs to keep the skeg in the drink as deep as possible to go forward. Don't Try and point, she'll slide into oblivion. Get it going first, then point.

[This message has been edited by cruiser (edited 10 May 2010).]

[This message has been edited by cruiser (edited 11 May 2010).]