For those of you that think non-Hobie manufactured Wave sails will kill the class due to their superiority, check this out:
*of the top 5, 3 were stock Hobie sails
*of the top 10, 6 were stock Hobie Sails
*of the last 15 (worst finishers), 9 were non-Hobie and only 6 were Hobie Sails.
By the way, this year's Hobie supplied boats had much better sails than they had supplied in the past three years, both in sailshape and material. Could it be that a bit of competition is making them try harder?
Is there a leader of the other sailmakers that is superior to others? In the top boats, sails were by:
Hobie, Greiner, North, Calvert, Saber and Smyth.
You see, setting up rules and then measuring the sails makes for much more of a one-design and level playing field. Sure you can have a fuller sail made, or a flatter sail made. But little Sharon Woodruff needs a flatter sail, while a bigger guy like Norm Freeman needs a fuller sail.
Hope this is all starting to make sense.
Thanks for listening,
Rick
Rick White
Catamaran Sailor Magazine
email: rick@catsailor.com
Hi Rick, Here is a supporting post by famed cat designer, Bill Roberts, that I brought over from the other forum.
Re: One Design
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Posted by Bill Roberts on December 05, 19101 at 20:05:33:
In Reply to: Re: One Design posted by Bob Hodges on December 05, 19101 at 17:25:16:
Hello Bob and Chris,
The list of one design boats you just named are excellent examples of true one desing racing sailboats. Anything that touches the water is locked up tight with rules. The sail plans are set and the rig, mast etc, are all limited and covered by rules. The sheeting arrangement on any boat does not change boatspeed and therefore can be variable as a matter of convenience and personal preference. For example one could rig the mainsheet to be trimmed by the crew and the jib to be trimmed by the skipper if that is what you prefer. It doesn't change boatspeed; it is only a matter of choice.
It has been proven in many different international one design classes over the years and in the Olympics that allowing the sailor to tailor his sail cut to his own personal weight leads to tighter and better competition. Only the area and plan form of the sails need be the same. Small people need flatter sails and bigger people need fuller sails for each to sail to their best in one design sailboat racing. You see, PEOPLE ARE NOT ONE DESIGN! Therefore there needs to be a way to correct for our lack of one designness and the sails are an excellent way to do this. When a factory class says that in the name of one designness, all sails shall be of identical cut and supplied by the factory and only this cleat may be used here, etc. They are not trying to be more one design. They are trying to make more money by hiding behind the words one design. They are actually ripping the sailing public off and providing the sailing public a poor version of one design sailboat racing.
There is an unspoken major conflict going on here. All of the international classes and Olympic classes except for the Laser class allow variations in sail cut to compensate for differencies in people size and weight. Factory boats are supplied with one cut of sail because this is more one design. One of these last two sentences is not correct in the context and intent of one design sailboat racing. There is nothing to stop the factories from producing flatter cut sails and medium cut sails and full cut sails except for the additional inventory work. Such a shame to waste the opportunity to improve sailboat racing over a simple thing like inventory.
Good Sailing,
Bill
I agree with both of you!
Mike Fahle - Toledo
Mystere 6.0. , Mystere 4.3 , 2 Hobie Waves
Rick,
As one of the
back of the pack
using a fuller Greiner sail I felt that the lightert material allowed me to see the telltails better than the darker Hobie sails.. I also felt that our competition during Nationals was so good that one mistake often caused 10 boats to pass you.. two mistakes you were out of it.. but needless to say the last third of us raced each other in spite of no rest between races..It was a blast.. The sail measurements allowed many of us to compete for the good of the class..If one believes his equipments is better and they have the desire to win they will in the long run. Now if we all weighed the same it would help..me that is...but I just came to sail and sail is what I did.. Keep up the good work..
sailing into my wonder years