Recent content by ceilidh

Hello Alex! Well, you've certainly encouraged people to come forward with a lot of helpful and perceptive replies! (This is a nice forum, with nice folks....) Here are just a few items, to add to what the others have said: 1) First off, on which end of Long Island Sound will you be sailing...

Hi Gavin, You've asked a bunch of questions, so let me try to hit them in sequence: 1) Videos: If I were a teenage Laser sailor with dreams of future glory, I wouldn't be thinking of skiffs. Instead, I'd be shooting for a foiler Moth: as fast as a 49er, probably even trickier to sail, but...

Hi Gavin, I don't know if these links will work, but I thought you might enjoy them. Here's a Cherub (British skiff) in a fairly moderate breeze: http://www.sailingsource.com/cherub/video/clips/mango_jam_2.mov .....And, here's an Australian 12-footer (skiff) in crazy conditions...

Hey sailordude! I'll try the private message thing in a bit (work is just swamped!). For now... 1) Trapezing is awesome. Once you're hooked up on the wire and watching the boat from way off to the side....there's nothing like it! In waves (e.g., ocean sailing in a dinghy) you set the...

Good question! I used to wonder about that too (how could something so ugly and bizarre be so fast?). Here's the scoop: When heeled, a scow is a little like a narrow catamaran, only one that can also readily plane. The center of buoyancy (CB) shifts far to leeward, the underwater body is...

Hi Everybody, Thank you so much for all the great replies/comments! Sailordude -- that was an awesome private message! Thanks very very much! I'll try to send you a reply later today, if I can figure out this private message thingy.... :) RobB -- yes, $15k is a lot, but if the reports...

Gavin, tell me more, please! Did you take a ride, or were you watching? And how fast was it? Catamaran fast? Dinghy/Laser fast? How could you tell -- were you comparing it to other boats in the area? Anyway, a Laser SB3 is a 3-person British "sport boat" -- it has a ballasted keel to...

No, it's an American-style scow (not quite like the Aussie Moths) -- no keel, no ballast, no trapeze. The hulls are very rounded, but with blunt bows and an essentially flat bottom. When you see them out of the water, they look really weird -- but when heeled ~15 degrees, the part of the hull...

Hello Gavin, Could you please tell me more? I've been trying to learn about this boat, but all the demos have been in Florida or the Midwest so far. Did you take a ride on it? Or was it mostly from watching? In any case, how do you think it would compare with a Laser 2 (my current...