Hurricane Making a Comeback

Got this email from John Ready. In case you all don't remember, this is the boat design by Reg White of England. I believe Robert White sailed one in the Worrell 1000 back when it was an open. Always like the design, but never had the opportunity to sail one.
Rick

The UK’s Best value fast cat, makes a great start to the season at the 2010 RYA Dinghy Show
The 2010 Alexandra Palace boat show has been a real success for the Hurricane5.9SX Class. The Hurricane is the UK’s best value fast cat and in these recessionary times the 2010 Dinghy show has been the Hurricanes best in years reports the classes most respected sailor Andy Webb.
The Hurricanes newly elected Chairman Nick Moore is a long time Hurricane fan returning to the fleet, “where else could you find better value for money and such fantastic performance?” he enthuses. Nick bought his Hurricane ‘Stingray’ out of the sin bin at Datchet sailing club for less than the price of an F18 Jib just 6 months ago. The newly refitted ‘Stingray’ is frequently mistaken for a new boat and is ready to race at Nationals this June.
The class completed its modernisation in the last 10 months with 43 new Square top mainsails sold, in addition to the 90 spinnaker kits sold since 2005. The Hurricane performs within just a few percent of much more expensive modern designs, yet maintains is core values of low cost and virtually nil depreciation.
Class committee members signed up 25 people for locally hosted test sails at the show, with 9 more on the crewing list who want to take part in the Nationals, 4 of whom are currently racing on the RYA Spitfire Youth squad.
The Hurricane Class is famed for its welcome, competitive performance and openness. The ‘SX Rig Tuning Guide’ was released at the show giving every Hurricane sailor a detailed guide to going fast and is freely available on the classes website.
The boat show saw over 20 of its 50 boat target, sign up for the 2sail and 3 sail SX combined Nationals hosted by the family friendly Thorpe bay yacht club on June 25-27th www.tbyc.org
2010 looks set to be a year to remember for this corner stone of the UK cat sailing scene.
See www.hurricane59.com for detail and to book a test sail!
Media Contacts
John Ready
Hurricane 5.9SX Class Association Press and Marketing
Mobile: 07776 253711
Email: pro59@hurricane59.com

Nick found a crew, sold his Stealth F16 and bought a Hurricane 5.9 last year. I sailed on it with him once, it's a really nice piece of kit, easy to control, a pleasure to drive. A lot less twitchy than the Stealth for sure! On gusts the hull start lifting slowly out of the water while accelerating. Real nice™.

"Less than a price of a F18 jib" is a nice jab, but this statement ignores the fact that this boat has been rebuild as new since then with refurbished hulls, new sails, a spi kit and nice orange graphics on the side amongst other changes. I think it is worth a little more than a jib now

I thought the Hobie 20 was a Hurricane with a slightly taller mast and shorter daggerboards. Is this the same boat with a spinnaker? Or is there more than one Hurricane?

"Less than a price of a F18 jib" - There's a reason for that!

Like working on a chain gang!

The Hurricane 5.9 in question is a blow up version of a Dart 18 with centerboards added. Same overall shape, but longer and larger at 5.9m long.

No it's not Pepin! The White Formula Hurricane 5.9 was a COMPLETELY new design when first launched. The hull shape is nothing like the Dart 18 - being closer to a Tornado in shape but with more contemporary bows.

If you put a Hurricane 5.9 next to a Hobie 20 only a knowledgeable person would be able to tell them apart.

You must be thinking of the Stampede (also known as the Dart 20) although that did not have centreboards.

I sailed a Hurricane for 10 years; both with and without a kite...

On hull shapes.

The H59 has a SIMILAR profile to a Tornado; but with less rake on the bow and more volume up front. Similar mid sections and a thinner section to the stern to allow more control over pitch-poling. Both boats share centreboard profiles

The H20 is almost a direct copy (some say ;-) ) of the 59 with Daggerboards and carbon mast.


The 59 is a dream to sail; even better I assume with the new fat head mainsail; you can sail a 59 is alost anything (Some might remember the windy grafham open when the anno got to 40kts over a 10 minute period). I have pictures somewhere! Cuts thru the water real nice; drives hard and fast....

Don't think the title is quite right as it isnt really making a comeback, it's more just continuing on with everyone buying the new main.

Calm down, all I was trying to say is that from a distance the H5.9 look like a big Dart 18. That's all. I didn't go and measure hull shape

It's interesting to see this class survive with the F18 on one side and the Tornado on the other. With the Tornado loosing momentum it may fill the space as the "big cat" around the UK.

Albeit to be honest with the class changes over the last few years (Added a spi, fat head main, better downhaul) the one design philosophy of the class is stretched a bit right now, so it's good if they are upgrading the fleet (three versions: H5.9, H5.9 Sport and H5.9 SX).

The origional Dart designer (Rodney March) also designed the first Tornado if I'm not mistaken, so you're both right.

I always thought the P19 was the US cousin of the Hurricane. Always wanted to sail one but never seen the boat in the states.

"Calm down, all I was trying to say is that from a distance the H5.9 look like a big Dart 18. That's all. I didn't go and measure hull shape :)"

"a distance " you would have to be sooooo far away you wouldn't be able to tell it from a turnip !



Jees Pepin how long are you going to slander the once love of my life??????

Even with one eye closed looking through beer glasses my granny could spot the difference in looks between a 5.9 and a Dart for feks sake

about as similar as an oppie and a 49er !!!!!!!!!!!!

once heard that Reg white when producing the hurricane adapted one of his tornado moulds changing the transom section - smaller so would sink for tacking and added more bouyancy to bows for power offwind , with the rest of the hulls left the same, if you look carefully you can see the change at the bow and stern where it starts , , or perhaps he modified a dart , chopped the beams for towing , Reg I guess was most flattered (or Not!) when hobie copied his design in the miracle 20

Don't get me wrong ole peppy . such talk in our dinghy park would have caused a rumpus in the ole days , hand bags at dawn and the likes , but just havin a bit of fun here


Think the P19 was developed over in USA similar time similar concept (more user friendly Tor developement) hence its similarity , though in bow more tornado than 5.9 , unlike miracle 20 whose hulls and even beams look identical






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Aren't you riding riding a blown up Stealth these days? I guess the various love of your life are all blown up versions of the real things then.

Sorry couldn't resist mate, the joke was too easy

Th H20 is a direct copy of an Alado. Same hulls foils, everything except with an H on it.

Nope!

That was the tiger

We had this discussion about 6 or 7 years ago. The Hobie 20 is a copy of the Hurricane 5.9. According to the Whites, they cut up a Tornado and stuck it together again as a H 5.9. Scooby was around at that time. The new rig has worked very well, unlike the spinnaker stuck on the Dart 18. The Irish fleet has certainly been revived. Gave the Tigers a run for the last few years - although the top 5.9 driver has moved over to an Infusion this year

It is a Stealth !!!!!

just not a 16 , I was blowing up its hole other day right enough though , you been watching me in my man shed ?

Hurricane 5.9 SX
Length overall 5.9 metres
Beam 2.43 metres
Sailing weight 192kg
Mainsail 17.5 m²
Jib 4.563m²
Spinnaker 21m²
SCHRS 1.007



192 kilos... no thank you! and i thought the f18 was bad enough...

The 5.9 is a very successful Twin wire SMOD. The weight has gone UP TO 192Kg from 180Kg and the sail area has gone down. This has enabled the boat to remain competitive in SCHRS handicap fleets. The design is an excellent all rounder with build quality that was so good sailors didn't need to buy new boats. I think the original quoted weight was 167Kg. Mine is an early boat and now over twenty years old. Despite that it is still a stiff boat and I still grin when I sail past a pitchpoled F18. The bouyancy in the bows is very reassuring when sailing in extreme conditions. Also you will struggle to find a cat that remains competitive with such a wide range of crew weights.

If you're fit enough to sail one of these cats properly 12Kg is nothing. Get your crew to spend a few minutes in the gym!

Cheshirecatman

There was one here for one of the Barton races. Curry raced it with the owner.

OMG! whatever you do... don't let macca or wouter hear that adding weight makes a boat more competitive.... they will have KITTENS!!!!

But it does seem like the class is exploiting the rating system to their advantage. not sure i really like that concept.

If I had a Spitfire (ex grandfathered F16) or a Viper I might feel a little hard done to accepting a box rule minimum weight. The sailplan upgrade to the 5.9 just keeps a good old design on the water for minimal cost. It is not state of the art and still has the Tornado style low profile kick up boards. It is however still a lovely boat to sail, it's even more user friendly now and it's good to mix it with the latest designs for a reasonable cost. The upgrade has been a great success and will hopefully stop the boat joining the 'dead boat society' for some time yet.

Now the weight issue, should we link this in to the F16 forum?

Cheshirecatman

Sin Bin- now I like that attitude about obtaining a shiny new cat.
Wait---- maybe that actually describes my back garden already.

Hey..I'm a Hurricane sailor. I changed the gear from the standard to the full SX last year. Great improvement, was it only for the handling. It is also a nice cat..one that has a nice design with beatifull lines. No big problems to keep pretty up with several cats such as the (older) inter 20 and F18's. But you need some practice, focus and good winds >4 bft. It is a tricky cat with trim..and you should sail it with a smile. You will not win the catbattle with it..and it is not meant for that.
Fot that battle you need a 30.000 euro brand new cat with banana features..these cats are fully optimised to have the best handicap-weight-sailplan balance, and do sail faster, but not necessarely nicer. For nice and fast sailing you need the Hurricane;)