Why is the Capri 14.2 so slow?

U

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I'm referring to the Portsmouth rating of 99.8-100.2; which is significantly slower than very similar boats (such as the Lido 14 with a rating of 98.3-99.7).
The Capri looks so sleak and fast, it's hard to believe that it should take such a speed penalty just because it's 30 pounds heavier (especially since a lot of Lido's are 30+ years old and probably carrying a little more than their original 310 pounds). Am I missing something? Are you Capri sailors sandbagging?
I ask because I'm downsizing from a Flying Scot and the Capri looks great. Just wondering about the sailing characteristics.
BTW: What's the chance of getting one onto a plane (and I'm not talking aircraft)?
Cheers.
 
I have never raced, but I had ours on a plane once. It was exilerating. I would only attempt it off the wind though, some of the racers might know a trick or two though. I think theoretical hull speed is about 5 knots, any faster than that and you must be planing somewhat. Another time we were doing 8 knots with just a reefed main cause we were in a storm. I would not reccomend this. I use a little garmin GPS to tell my speed.
 
Gee, where do you start? Short waterline length. No adjustment for the inboard/outboard position of the jib car. Doesn't have a real traveller. Undersized main. Oversized jib. Built for speed, it ain't. It's very enjoyable to sail, but you're pretty much talking about racing against other 14.2s, if there are any in the area, or Sunfish, or in the right wind conditions, Club 420s. I'm being a little sarcastic, but only a little.

I'm pretty new to the Capri 14.2, but I really enjoy sailing the boat in light to medium winds. It's very comfortable, and easy to get from one side to the other, etc. But in my limited experience, when the wind gets above 15mph or so, it starts to get hard to tack the boat. I haven't had a chance to experiment with different techniques or determine exactly why this is, so there may be ways to improve handling in those kind of conditions. I'd be really interested to hear other people's experience with this.
 
I came back to stir things up a bit.

Yeah rating sounds nuts...

I bet with new sails, and locking in the traveller (as the tuning guide recommends), and fiddling some with the jib settings you can alleviate SOME of these things pointed at to give it such a high rating.

Honestly I think waterline is THE PRIMARY reason it is rated so high. If you sail a 14 foot boat with 2 people as designed, and take say a 16 footer, or 18 similarly, the longer boat wins.

Will the boat plane? DUH yes! Is it hard to plane? Define hard! I used to single hand the boat all the time... I got it planing a decent amount of times. Reaching, the thing is mad at planing. Hell my brother in law and I (now I am 250, he is easily 320) took the boat out before a Thunderstorm, winds were 20 gusting to 28mph. We were on a reach coming back and we pushed 10knots at one point with a massive 3 foot wake behind the boat! HELL yeah it'll plane.

Another time I ran main alone before a thunderstorm, chasing my brother, and nephew in snarks around a lake. Before I went in (yes this is dumb), winds were pushing 25mph on me alone DEAD DOWN WIND, I don't know how fast I was going (no GPS that day), but I had a nice 2-3 foot wake and had deep concerns about "beaching." I wound up reaching until the last bit of fetch, then changing to close reach, before letting it all fly, and flapping the hell out of the sails to stop. It was too wild a ride and not something I'd try again, but darnit was fast, and certainly WELL above hull speed.

I learned that without GUSTY winds, the boat can be pushed well above hull speed with 1 person in it, reaching. YOU can stand it up nearly to filling the cockpit, and it just keeps going faster until SPLASH.

It's a shame the boat isn't setup better for single handling because that is when the boat REALLY shines. I used the "sunfish" technique to keep it flat. Holding the mainsheet and paying out or sheeting in, to keep a level heel. It worked OK for keeping speed up.
 

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