| Author |
Topic: Perceived Advantage vs Chequebook Sailing |
 |
Pete Lindley |
Posted: 18-May-07 15:28 |
|
|
|
Ok debate time:
IF you were in the situation of buying a boat, would you want to;
a) buy a boat that is fully set up, tweaked up, with little mods here
and there so you don't have to do anything but learn to sail, race an
d win.
OR
b) Buy a boat cheaper and apply what mods / tweaks yourself that you
think you need to help you get to the top of the fleet, as well as lea
rn to race and win?
There are pro's and con's for both options. But the reasoning behind
this debate is 'perceived advantage' verging on 'chequebook sailing' -
Rule 1.1 of the ISO Class Rules http://www.isoracing.org.uk/rules_reg
s/index.htm
As an EXAMPLE 'Spliced Continuous Kicker':
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Someone who has a spliced continuous kicker, has a 'perceived advant
age' because when the crew uncleats it on a tack, the helm can re-clea
t the leeward side whilst hiking on the windward side, they also do no
t have to worry about centralising the kicker in between races so they
always have enough to let off when rounding the top mark (for those n
ot aware - the splice is so strong that it can be used under full load
without breaking).
Now you have to ask yourself - is this a perceived advantage or just
a luxury? Why not learn to remember to centralise the kicker between r
aces and avoid uncleating it on the tacks!? Will a continuous spliced
kicker make you go faster? Will it make you go the right way up the be
at....? Is it one less thing to worry about? etc...
As a newcomer, what do you do? You can't splice, and you have limited
cash - hence one of the reasons for buying an ISO. You have a couple
of options:
- Forget it and worry about sailing / keeping upright until it cause
s you a problem,
- Save up and pay a company to splice you a kicker - may mean leavin
g your boat with them and them still getting it wrong,
- Ask a ProAm partner how to splice in return for a beer - this way
you will learn how to splice for £1.50 (Chew Valley beer prices), then
when at home you can purchase rope and splice to your hearts content.
We all want to be on a level playing field out there, although wind a
gainst tide makes it a lumpy playing field! In my eyes, the only thing
s that make a winner are:
- Boat - not leaking, and fittings fixed firmly,
- Sails - good condition and set correctly,
- People in the boat - People ensure boat goes correct way, and sail
s are set correctly as per course of boat etc.
To 'assist' in the above, we add tweaks such as purchases, take ups,
righting lines etc.
Your thoughts and opinions on either:
a) splash the cash & buy it all ready tweaked up so you can learn to
sail - forget learning to tie knots and splice etc
OR
b) buy a boat in good condition and add your own tweaks if you so des
ire.
Debate open!
[Edited by Pete Lindley on 18-May-07 15:31] |
| |
|
Tim |
Posted: 18-May-07 19:09 |
|
|
|
Some people like boat fiddling and others don't! If you do then more than likely you will take all the previous persons 'tweaks' off and do your own. Otherwise buy one with the tweaks!
Also keeping the tweaks on the website helps those who aren't/don't attend events as often. Share the knowledge and help out us non-tweakers make our boats better.
On the subject of 'chequebook' sailing and the kicker example.
If the change allows the same task to be done in the same way without altering shape/weight etc.. then why not? It then just comes down to your routines in the boat. If your routine is to centre the kicker then is there an issue with not have a continous one? It hasn't changed its job after all. Like the double purchase jib sheets, same job different way so why not?
It could only become an issue if people start tweaking and not showing/sharing, can't ever see that happening in the Iso fleet. After all most of the tweaks are cheap and for the price of a beer then you can get some extra knowledge to make them.
But as an extra note I think Graham's gucci sheets should be banned as he likes them a worrying amount!! Surely some kind of advantage?!? |
| |
|
Bob Ladell |
Posted: 18-May-07 20:07 |
|
|
|
The real relevance of the 1.1 words is the forward reference to section 3 which then permits the various things set out there - which we have all discussed at length and agreed over the last several years.
This does take the ISO from "strict" one design through an evolutionary path to the boat with personal variations ( "tweaks" ) that we have today. Had we stayed as the original "strict" one design a) we would still be sailing with flakey mylar sails, b) would not have some of the original blocks that have become obsolete, c) be into cheque book sailing by having to buy consumables ( ropes and blocks ) from the Licencee ( Topper as was ) - and then pay for and wait for delivery instead of just getting on with the pleasure of sailing with readily available bits, d) probably not have a Class to sail as everyone would have got bored silly with the old kit and it's problems ages ago.
Continuous kicker, take ups in different directions, different manufacturers blocks and all the other various O&S don't seem to me to get any one sailor an advantage. They do make sailing the boat easier and more pleasurable - instead of ending up with a load of highly frustrating tangles and in some examples increased wear on expensive equipment - e.g. kite halyard inside the mast.
Do you buy a boat ready tweaked ?? Up to you - and what's on offer. Makes little difference that I can see as both boats I've bought have been re-tweaked to our liking pretty quickly.
Do you pay more for it ?? Doubtful - as Tim says, the tweaks cost a couple of quid and the odd beer. Judging by the Classifieds this Winter price depends more on boat number than the level of tweaks.
Perceived advantage - well where do you start and stop ?? Everyone made the same mutterings about the carbon boom a couple of years ago - some have taken it up and others not - and still achieving good results. Surely there's a much greater perceived advantage with new sails ( Hyde or Sobstad ) than with ancient ones ???
Cheque book sailing - well apart from buying the boat, insuring it and in most cases paying a club boat park fee, the biggest cost of sailing is getting to an event, accomodation, some meals and then sustaining the bar bill. Most other bits ( blocks / ropes / shock cord ) come to less than the cost of a tank of juice these days and certainly last a lot longer !! Sails being the one big exception - which thankfully last several years.
Biggest advantage I perceive that the lead crews have is a heck of a lot more years on the water than I have - that neither tweaks nor cheque book will resolve.
Oh yeah - and one more thing. They aren't eligible for a Saga holiday either ..........  with a few exceptions !! 
Just enjoy. See you at the bar
Bob
|
| |
|
Richard 553 |
Posted: 20-May-07 11:50 |
|
|
|
As someone who tends not to tinker with their boat, nor invest in it, the biggest advantage you gain is from time on the water and a boat in which everything works. I have been at the front end of the fleet with an old boat, still with many original Ronstan fittings, and can still make the boat perform. Yes this year I have invested in a new set of sails, mainly as the old ones were so knackered I had to, and yes that will make me go faster, but that is true in any boat.
Most of my sailing has been done in “strict” one design boats as I find that is the cheapest way of getting good competitive sailing. The ISO fits that category wonderfully. The minor tweaks we do, such as a continuous kicker (one of the few tweaks I have done) I see as available to everyone at minimal cost and not breaking the fundamental one design rules.
If people want to put expensive Harken block on their boats, then yes that can do that. I bet I can still beat them with my old, longer lasting Ronstan ones. I don’t have a carbon boom as I see it as expensive and minimal advantage in having one. My first alloy boom lasted 11 years!
I still see the ISO as a strict one design class and we a long way to go before we get to cheque book sailing. Yes some people will have more money than others and will always have new equipment, but you can still compete competitively with old equipment as I and others have demonstrated in the past.
Richard |
| |
|
Colin Snook |
Posted: 25-May-07 00:46 |
|
|
|
As a confirmed tweaker I would like to point out that wasting money on expensive harken blocks and carbon booms has nothing to do with trying to go faster. That just shows that you non-tweakers completely missunderstand the point of tweaking. I like spending money on the boat just for the engineering enjoyment of trying to get systems to work better or feel nicer in use. The original systems worked well enough on the whole and any improvements have at best a tiny effect on performance. This in no way puts me off tweaking and it is probably true that I would switch class if I wasn't allowed some tweaking. In fact, when I first got an ISO I just ignored the rules and changed the bits I didn't like anyway since no one worried about it in club racing. The only thing that has ever made a noticable difference to performance is buying a newer boat (and that was probably mostly because it had newer sails).
Tweaks that have made a big difference to how I feel about the boat (but no real difference to performance) are:
1 carbon tiller extension (because its so light to hold)
2 the main halyard tweak (because main always used to drop a few inches during a race before this)
3 better ratchet blocks (just feel nicer)
4 spinnaker sheet flyaway (don't waste time trying to gather them out of water up the beat)
5 spinn halyard outside mast (coz it used to jam while hoisting)
6 carbon boom - a bit of a dissapointment, didn't really notice much difference, except it doesn't hurt if you get hit on the head during a gybe.
|
| |
|
mmoncia |
Posted: 25-May-07 09:01 |
|
|
|
Hi, I fully agree with Colin.
The thrill you get from knowing that your crew can fall in the water if the splicing you just did does not work properly (Pete, don't let the Crews Union knoow about this) is a good reason for replacing the steel trapeze wires with dynema spliced ones, even beeing sure that there is no impact on performance and that a knot would work the same way as a splice shorter that the splice you ever did....
When I was younger I used to spend a lot of time working on the boat, and this was probably a disadvantage because every time you had to change the way you had to act on the boat, but that did feel me well...
Now I can spend just a little time tweaking; Last year I bought a boat (from Ian K.G.) already fully tweaked, but still when I'm at the sailing club and there is no wind I look for things to mess up in different ways.
Regarding the Iso I feel that it has the right balance between being "strict" one design and being too open.
|
| |
