- Because there is no weight limit in these boats, construction drives them ever lighter, however when sailing in a windy venue, or one with waves, builders need to carefully weigh the advantages of light weight versus solid construction. Some of the boats at the White Rock Cup (RG-65 Region 5 Championship) were likely good on the home ponds, but a bit overtaxed on the heavier wind & water of White Rock. Class Secretary Earl Boebert mentioned next year, he would bring a stouter boat, for example.
- A general reminder from my Victoria days; the shorter the boat, the more important to keep moving! These boats are light and relatively short (though fast and maneuverable!); it is almost always better to foot off than try to pinch up, they just don't have the weight and length to keep their momentum.
- A full set of rigs is a must. Several skippers were bounced out, or suffered, because they didn't have the right rig for the conditions, which ran the gamut from A to D over the course of the regatta. Further, C and D rigs should have relatively low aspect sail plans. The idea of the C and D rigs is heavy weather sailing, to have a high aspect rig seems to counteract the premise of a small rig to bleed off over-powering. For example, Chuck LeMahieu's low aspect C rig gave him much better controllability in the heavy air, than Eric Rosenbaum's equivalent high-aspect rig, as Eric widely noted.
- Fractional rig boats are competitive, obviously, one won the regatta. My own view is, like the Marbleheads, the Swing rig is best in A and B conditions, it might be worth the engineering issues to create a boat with high aspect A & B swing rigs, and low aspect C and D fractional rigs.
These boats were fun to watch, and most handled the conditions surprising well, Roo and I can't wait to get some of our own going!
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