Originally Posted by pepin
Originally Posted by scooby_simon
[...]
Think about it this way.

When do the Single handers struggle?[...]

I've sailed on a Hurricane a couple of weeks ago. The differences at a top mark rounding without launching a spi:

- Single: I have to round the mark, ease the main sheet, release the traveler a bit. 3 controls: 2 hands. All that from the wire. 10-15 seconds.

I do this thus. Come off the wire and release travaller as I come in; if there is enough wind to wire, there is prob enough to do wild-thing with the mainsail only, don't need to sheet out much
- Double: We have to round the mark, ease the main sheet, release the traveler a bit, ease the jib. 4 controls, 4 hands. 5 seconds.

It's still quicker 2 up.

Same thing at the low mark.

Agree

What about a tack? Well:

- single: I have to round, get in, sheet out a bit, get back on the wire, sheet in again. 2 control, 2 hands. Plus a wire swap.

Put helm over, come in and across, don't trip over crew or jib sheets, hook on go out and sheet in. I can tack my F16 MUCH faster than I could tack my Hurricane

- Double: Round, no need to sheet out as the jib will pull you out (jib's on self tacker, nothing to do). 1 controls, 4 hands.

Add a spi and the nightmare begins:

Single: Sheet out main, ease traveler, head downwind, make sure lines are clear, let go of the tiller praying for no sudden gusts, pull spi up, grab tiller, sheet in main, maybe traveler, sheet in spi. Too many things to do, not enough hands.

Agree it's slower, but you have better power to weight and so will be faster down wind, the hurricane DOES get hit as it has more righting moment

Double: add two hands, and maybe sheeting out two inches of jib. Boat is under complete control while the spi is going up with someone holding the main and the tiller.

Anything goes wrong on the boat? Line fouling? Need to tie a knot somewhere? Well, when solo you have to stop. Duo, you just send your slave^Wcrew to fix it while taking it easy but still screaming at 12 knots...

So yes, I think solo sailors are at a disadvantage. Not to mention that with a crew one can drive hard while the other can keep his eyes out for tactical moves.

Accounting for that in the rating? I'm not sure it's possible. How do you quantify it?



We added "righting moment" to the rule last time we changed it; essentially it means that boats with 2 crew get hit harder as they have more RM them can move around. This helps the single handers.


F16 - GBR 553 - SOLD

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