Choose between Swinging Centreboard and Daggerboard
A discussion about basic pros and cons for swinging centreboards. And dagger centreboards. Centre Board means the board is in the centre. Which is different from a Lee board which is too the side.
Performance
This performance category has a lot of quite specific material as well as general design thoughts.
As well as general Design Consideration there are two major sections on Rigs and on Foils (Rudders, Centreboards, Leeboards and Hydrofoils)
There are also articles on general issues that you can find by simply browsing the below.
Ensuring Hull strength and stiffness vs low weight. Oilcanning, twisting and torsion boxes
Making a boat light may make the hull distort more thus losing some of the advantage. But is is possible to build light without distortion. The answer is YES.
Sailing in Crisis? Is it dying out? Are basic boats too expensive?
How introductory boats that were intended to be cheap have become crazy expensive. And forced sailing to contract. Hundreds of sailing clubs have disappeared in Australia alone. Sailing is now semi professional and elitist again.
How to build very light plywood sailing dinghies – Moths and Light Plywood Structures
The Oz Racer led to the Oz Goose. There was discussion about whether the OzRacer would plane and just how light it would be possible to build. Extrapolating from the Moth Scows in Australia I made a guess.
Q&A How to Race a Dinghy Successfully the Low Stress Way.
Racing shows that what you know is what you know. It doesn’t matter if the boat is less than perfect. So where is it best to put in the effort to improve results. Boat setup, knowing how to adjust for different wind conditions, practicing skills until they become automatic, sailing as much as possible … and teaching others.
Achieve best Cost/Performance with Traditional Sailing Rigs – Balance, standing lugs and sprit rig sails
A guide for choosing cheaper alternative rigs. Balance Lug, Standing Lug, Sprit, Lateen and more. These rigs typically save a lot of money over conventional sailplans and set up right offer much the same performance. They respond to the same principles. Are boomless sails OK?
FAQ – Materials for strip planked boat or canoe in Australia – for lightness and beauty.
Ultralight strip planked boats using Paulownia, Balsa and Western Red Cedar. Superlight Eureka Canoe and Goat Island Skiff and the amazing 12lb balsa canoe
Q and A. Step 1 – Do I restore an old cheap racing boat or ditch it? International Cadet
When is it worth fixing an old racing dinghy and when is it best to ditch it?
Massive Nosedive Video, but all is fine sailing an Oz Goose – New Speed Record?
Racing Cancelled. Videos of some high wind and high speed thrills with the simple and cheap to build Oz Goose sail boats. They might look like a box but they they are quick.
Chines vs Round bilge – Is there evidence of superiority?
Traditionally we were all told that chines were draggy, induced vortices and were slow. But in restricted dinghy classes where different hull designs are allowed chines predominate. And now chines are appearing on yachts as well. Sailors seem to be voting with their feet. Is there evidence?
Affordably Priced Sails for Storer Boats
ReallySimpleSails.com saves $300 or more on your Goat Island Skiff, Oz Goose or Oz Racer.
Custom sails for other boats are also available and will represent a cost saving on your boatbuilding project.
These are full quality sails that we all have worked hard to keep the price down on without reducing quality.
S12 Club New design – lightweight and efficient plywood racing dinghy
A new lightweight 12ft plywood dinghy under development. This prototype by Canadian Rick Landreville. It won’t have a cloud of sail area,but will be light enough low drag enough to hit consistently high speeds relative to other boats of this length.
Club Racing the Goat Island Skiff – PY yardstick handicap racing
So how does a lug rig boat go in club racing? My designs won’t be outclassed in club racing. I’m really keen to find out how the yardstick (handicap) changes as George and crew get used to the realities of course racing making the boat sail faster. We end up with an estimate of PY – Portsmouth Yardstick for the Goat Island Skiff.
Just remembering a very nice Goat Island Skiff video
Nice little video showing the easy speed of the Goat Island Skiffs in moderate conditions. Venue is the Small Reach Regatta.
It also shows the standard cat rig and the optional Yawl rig.
Thankyou Malcolm Eggins, designer and builder of sophisticated racing dinghies
Malcolm Eggins, boat builder and designer has passed away.
A small tribute to one of the many people that has influenced me and many other sailors and designers. He was a part of the development of Moths, NS14s, VJs, VeeEsses and many other Australian racing dingies as a builder and designer along with his son Darryl. He won several State Championships.
How does the BETH sailing canoe go in mixed fleets and handicap racing?
BETH sailing canoe – The designer has lots of fine things to say about the sailing performance of BETH – but Andrew Barclay has been racing his against mixed fleets in British Columbia where she sails equal with Laser Radials in light wind and gradually outclasses them in stronger.
I provide some tips about getting a bit more from the boat.
The Myths of Modern Sailing Boat Performance. Started with Mizzen and speed question
OK … it IS a rant. But it was prompted by the very legitimate question about why have a mizzen sail.
But sadly I descend into a rant about how expense is a really poor predictor of performance.
Goat Island Skiff Videos – Goat Island Skiff Sailing, Reefed and Manoeuvring
Some examples of sailing nicely in the Goat Island Skiff, reversing, sailing at nice speed in comfortable conditions.
Locations are San Diego, Australia, Texas, Florida and Maine
Goat Island Skiff Videos – at speed carrying weight – GIS planing freely
A small collection of the many videos of the Goat Island Skiff Planing fast in different places around the world.
“Planing” is Bunkum – Myths about Planing, Displacement and semi Planing
It always bugged me about how people said that some powerboats and fast sailing dinghies would “plane” to reach high speed. But multihulls reach higher speed, but they “don’t plane”.
It’s illogical to have two different explanations.
Also how a classical “displacement hull” go much faster on an ocean wave. Theory says it has a speed limit no matter the power you throw in.
I worked out a reasonable explanation for all this but it shows “planing” does not exist.