junior skiff class

[phil_kirk]

The Ausies and Kiwis appear to have themselves sorted with skiff classes across the board. In the UK there doesn't appear to be a proper junior skiff unless you include the 29er  which is a youth class any way.

By proper skiff I mean light weight, single or double trapeeze and a lot of fun.

It occured to me that a 90's rig on a modern cherub hull might be a good start for a few 10 year olds .

To keep things simple and maintain costs I would suggest a one design glass foam hull and foils. 

I would still go for a carbon rig to make it possible for the little mites to right the boat.
No T foil,  Kicker and Cunningham led to racks.

Without being really serious what do you think.

[john_hamilton]

COOL
as long as its an E5 type hull with a flat deck, kids like this whole skiffy look, that the 29er tries to emulate, but doesnt quite succeed in.

[roland_trim]

one design glass foam hull and foils. 

For the pot.
- After watching kids sail the Trifle and Slug it is very clear that having less mass in the boat allows you to get away with alot more. The handle better and appear more stable.
- Would a 90's size rig allow two eddie's to twin (realisitically this would need to be Teens)?
- A slightly  bigger kite and  twin strings would be a better bet for consistent giggles.
- I'd not bother with the one design - too much hassle. A rule set would allow it to evolve.
- Foam is almost as expensive as carbon! I'll bore anyone with a few cheaper/easier to use alternative over a pint at the sticky weekend. I do agree that glass is a reasonable option even for a new cherub build.
- Carbon is definitely a very good thing to have in foils.
- To set it up as a youth class you'd need to spend a serious ammount of cash up front. The revolution that RS made could be argued not to be about the best boats, but the publicity, support of thier classes and being prepared to make a production runs before they had sold that many boats (i.e. a Push business model, it could be argued that we in Cherub land are significantly stifled by only have Pull).

[simon_jones]

For my tuppence.
Any new skiff design for youths/teens would need serious finance, you would then need to sell loads of them to make any money.
You would also have to persuade Mr. and Mrs Wallet to part with the cash for your design, which has no
youth squad potential ( you would be surprised at the power of those jacketts)
Also any potential parent/investor/customer would love to think about the day Junior Wallet out grows
the boat and what the resale value would be.
If all of the above were overcome, the boats would have to be mass produced and you would have made a 29er again.
On the other hand if you were thinking of re branding older less competitive cherubs with smaller sails
Then the cost would be less as the hulls foils etc allready exist. This may create a way of selling older boats
and introducing people to the class...

[phil_kirk]

Great Stuff.

I was wondering as John suggests if you had a common platform with the Cherub you could just make a rig change as the little ones get bigger.

it would mean more hulls for both classes.

I agree that the RS classes get a lot of manufacturer support and RYA support pushing people towards them.

It would be great to take a couple to a junior squad session and watch the kids flock to the boat.  Our experience last year was the boat attracted the bored parents a lot more than the kids. Parens that wouldn't be allowed such a radical boat by their other halves.

[ross_burkin]

Already on it Phil.

The Flying Ant. I have the plans and the facilities to build the jig/mould. It's a plan I've had for ages.

The FAs at the moment have a symmetrical kite, but this would be swapped for asymmetric.

It's going to blow a Feva or a Cadet out of the water!

[daryl_wilkinson]

The Ausies and Kiwis appear to have themselves sorted with skiff classes across the board. In the UK there doesn't appear to be a proper junior skiff unless you include the 29er  which is a youth class any way.

By proper skiff I mean light weight, single or double trapeeze and a lot of fun.

It occured to me that a 90's rig on a modern cherub hull might be a good start for a few 10 year olds .

To keep things simple and maintain costs I would suggest a one design glass foam hull and foils. 

I would still go for a carbon rig to make it possible for the little mites to right the boat.
No T foil,  Kicker and Cunningham led to racks.


Without being really serious what do you think.

For ten year olds, forget it.

If Eddie wants to crew for Luke in my boat you can trial the idea. As my boat is set up to what you are suggesting. I would suggest though, that the idea has a unrealistically small market. And involves a far higher degree of risk than would be deemed acceptable for youngsters. In the set up I have it is actually likely to be faster than the fully raged 2005 boats, due to less drag from the sail plan and reduced hull wetted surface area for the reduced crews weight. Add to this removing the T foil and you have a very fast unstable boat, without the maturity of crew to deal with any situation that may / will arise.

   

[ross_burkin]

Exhibit:

a) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HHxESkLToY

b) this is epic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E52RGCBiqaE

[phil_kirk]

From looking at their website the flying ant appears to be a light, skinny mirror with a wire and a fully battened main.

The flying ant isn't much different from the hobie 405. Appart from the type of kite the main difference is hull weight.

As I said at the beginning I wasn't being serious, just sharing ideas.

[john_hamilton]

[deleted] heck ross that 2nd video is mental!!!!!!! I wanna go  [John, watch your language on here please !]