Don't mention the War.

[dave_ching]

Also in this country the 29ers are very popular so I can't see anything like that working.
Our 97 rules boats are along the lines you talk about and we keep trying to boost interest in them.
I think our average wind is lower than yours which does account for the bigger rigs.
A 97 in a blow is still the most fun sailing I have had especially with twin wire and no T foil.
But an05 boat delivers a good sail more of the time. On Sunday for example we were apparent wind sailing at speed in less than 10knts. 12 foot skiffs don't really work here with the greater variations in wind strength we can get in one days sailing.

[HighwaytoHelm]

Does the dog meet the aussie rules? Or were the boats at the 95 world's not on equal terms?

[WOP2821]

Ah, I always wondered why 12's exist there.
The 29er is the Cherubs main rival here, it has the backing of the YA as the lead into the 49er so it has been tough, but there seems to be a bit of a groundswell rising against the control that the YA has had over what clubs sail in it's pursuit to obtain Gold medals. (it benefits so few in the long run)
A lot of our very good junior classes and in turn the clubs have suffered due to the range of boats the YA has said they must use in order to get funding and coaching assistance.

A lot of clubs are now moving away from the YA model and back to the more traditional Australian sailing scene and the Cherub is very much part of that.

Funny Jim mentions Flat Stanley, Wop is actually still racing here in WA, she is a bit soft and heavy due to the deck mods received over the years but believe or not still managed to finish nearly half way up the order at the Nationals a couple of years ago (so how far have the new OZ really come?)

I have been sailing Moths over the last 4 years and will be finishing up with them this Xmas so am looking at the next project, that will most likely be a Javelin ( a big comfy Cherub) one of the reasons being that we have Interdominion Championships with NZ and I will be able to line up against my old mate Phil McNeil (Foreign Affair) for a bit of a rematch, should be fun.
Do you guys have Javs in the UK?
 

[JimC]

No, and then again yes. In the UK a Javelin is a long thin boat, between a 505 and an Fd.

[WOP2821]

Ah yes, have seen those, don't want one.
The other Spencer boat we have here is the Flying Ant, the 10'6" little brother of the Cherub. They've just made the conversion to asymmetric spinnakers, getting that to happen was like pulling teeth but now it's done the class is taking off again, a great trainer, it's got trapez and all.

[Tim Noyce]

The Flying Ant is an awesome ship. My 1 year old twins are in line for one when they get a little older! (we don't have them here... yet)

[dave_ching]

how many can we fit in a container?

[MK]

how many can we fit in a container?

One year olds or flying ants?

[Neil C.]

how many can we fit in a container?

I had a look at their website:

www.flyingants.org.au

There isn't a great deal of technical info on there at the moment, but it looks like the original John Spencer concept was that you could knock one of these together from a couple of sheets of plywood and some glue. A few spare fittings from that box of random boaty stuff at the back of the garage, and Bob's yer uncle, a Cherub feeder class is born!

[Neil C.]

I have emailed their class president to see if any plans are available......

[WOP2821]

Great to hear you guys could be keen on the Ants, we used to step easily from Ants into cherubs once around 15-16yrs of age (depending on how fast you were growing at that stage)

If your kids are in Optis don't make the same mistake that has been made here and keep them in them too long. They should be out of Optis by 12 and have a good 3-4yrs up their sleeves in Ants.
They can start as crews in Ants easily by 10yrs old, and will have a ton more fun and have much more relevant things to learn. And now they have Asymmetric, pull one string to set spinnakers, they can't wait to get out there.

If I can recommend anything I would suggest that you make the spinnaker a bit bigger than what we have here at the moment(even though it was increased over the old symmetrical one), it seems that  it's so much easier to manage that it could have been made bigger. The rule here is simply 9m max perimeter, could be 10m.

At the moment Ants have the old front bulkhead up to the foredeck setup, but have always had a false floor cockpit. At this stage we have been fitting spinnaker chutes through the foredeck and out through the bulkhead into the cockpit (John Ilett I sail Moths with made a mould) with a small net sock to contain what spinnaker comes into the cockpit.
Spinnaker pole is made from a used windsurf mast, the base of the mast is the launcher, goes from bulkhead to out the bow and the top of the mast (which should fit inside) becomes the pole.

Hope the Ant association gets back to you soon.