Re: Dinghy sailing in bigger winds

Andy Champ wrote:
> Matt Colie wrote:
> <snip>
>> There are several issues here that have been completely ignored.
>> 1 - A cadet class dinghy is set with more sail than 75k of kids can 
>> handle in a blow <given>.
> </snip>
> 
> 
> Matt,
> 
> I must take issue with you there.
> 
> A Cadet has, according to the UK web site, a sail area of "4.55 / 4.65 
> square metres".  I assume that this is the white sail and spin****r 
> area, it sounds about right.
> 
> A Laser has a sail area of 7 square metres.
> 
> According to this, if 75Kg is too light for a Cadet with 4.55 square 
> metres, a Laser sailor needs to be well over (75/4.55*7)Kg, that's 
> 115Kg.  I assure you that most laser sailors are not that heavy.
> 
> Andy
Andy,

The big difference, is the dynamic characteristics of the two boats.  It 
is much more than the sail area to weight ratio.

There is also a big difference in the fact that a Lazer is a "wet ass" 
boat (sailboard) and can not flood.

My Lazer has very different performance characteristics than any pram. 
   It will accelerate and plane, thus both decreasing the hull drag and 
increasing the hydrodynamic load capability of the foils (board and 
rudder).   This allows me to pull the relative wind forward with my own 
forward velocity and thereby change the effective trim without moving 
anything.  No pram that I know of can do this.

There is also the experience factor here.  If both onboard a Cadet are 
as old as the class allows, I quite certainly have more sailing 
experience than any two cadets sailing.  This does matter. IMHO

Matt Colie