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Poppy

By Poppy
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Poppy

Poppy

Posted
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Posted
2 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

I understand that there is a Broads RCC being built with foils for next summer. Can just imagine that going through Horning during the Three Rivers Race.

Not sure that would come within RCC rules - although some people seem to be able to get anything through !

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TheQ

TheQ

Posted
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Just how do you avoid a competitors foils when you can't see them under water? The rules implications are just part of the problem.

You'd need the foils to be totally removable to be towed from venue to venue, if the hire craft can't avoid other boats they certainly won't miss foils sticking out..

No foiled boat would work around Horning, every time they go behind a tree or house they would crash down into the water. Even most planing hulls don't get to plane on the broads, not enough clear wind to work.

If you built a foiled cruiser every time you went past the trees  or club house on Wroxham broad you would become a displacement dragging large amounts of foil to no effect.

You would need the foils locked down before rising onto them, for much of the broads you'd be aground... and the weed is just getting worse..

I think that covers why we won't be seeing foils on the broads.. Except for the odd international Moth on a big Broad when the wind is in the right direction..

 

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JennyMorgan

JennyMorgan

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If we take Raisena as an obvious example then it's becoming increasingly clear that more than a few RCCs are wholly impractical cruising boats. Cruisers are fast becoming out and out racing machines. I don't envisage Hugo Boss style foils but  I do see a 30' maxi Moth with a cabin as being entirely feasible if not exactly practical. 

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SPEEDTRIPLE

SPEEDTRIPLE

Posted
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13 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

If we take Raisena as an obvious example then it's becoming increasingly clear that more than a few RCCs are wholly impractical cruising boats. Cruisers are fast becoming out and out racing machines. I don't envisage Hugo Boss style foils but  I do see a 30' maxi Moth with a cabin as being entirely feasible if not exactly practical. 

Maybe it's time to implement some strict rules on the term "river cruiser". Say hveing a fixed number of berths per ft,  min / max draught, have compulsory fully functioning toilets etc etc etc. Maybe even restricted to boats which can immediately be cruised as a holiday cruiser WITHOUT any immediate modifications?. 

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Vaughan

Vaughan

Posted
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6 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Cruisers are fast becoming out and out racing machines.

Unfortunately they have been many times before. The old A class yachts from between the wars, of which Maidie is the last survivor, were racing machines. So was Ladybird, a radical design in 1938. The "big rig" began to be introduced into the class in the mid 70's, at about the same time as GRP and carbon fibre were allowed as building and rigging materials. Since then it has been a bit of a free for all.

I am very much a traditionalist when it comes to River Cruisers but I can understand that the introduction of new designs has definitely kept the class alive and healthy, where it otherwise may have faded away, as the old wooden boats got older.

This does seem though, to be a step into utter impracticality. I am still a member of the RCC but have not seen anything about this design in any publication. Maybe it will feature in their next magazine?

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Vaughan

Vaughan

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5 minutes ago, SPEEDTRIPLE said:

Maybe it's time to implement some strict rules on the term "river cruiser". Say hveing a fixed number of berths per ft,  min / max draught, have compulsory fully functioning toilets etc etc etc. Maybe even restricted to boats which can immediately be cruised as a holiday cruiser WITHOUT any immediate modifications?. 

Such rules have existed ever since before the War. But all rules, unfortunately, are subject to interpretation!

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JennyMorgan

JennyMorgan

Posted
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1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

I am very much a traditionalist when it comes to River Cruisers but I can understand that the introduction of new designs has definitely kept the class alive and healthy, where it otherwise may have faded away, as the old wooden boats got older

I'm not convinced! Until a few years ago, if we take Oulton Week as an example, there would be plenty of old boats out racing. There still are the old boats, generally rebuilt and really not much 'old' about them. Have a look at Topsail (brokers), plenty of the old girls for sale. The class is well and truly alive but I can't help feeling that it is leaving its heritage behind. The ex hire boats that were once the backbone of the class are still out there but literally being left behind now and I think that that is regrettable. The more humble boats of the past are rare competitors now, a pity. Very much a development class now, it always has been in some areas. The build and design of seagoing boats has gone way beyond just being radical to being absolutely revolutionary. Carbon aloft is now very apparent on the Broads & we do now see the offshore quest for speed as already permeating RCC thinking, the question now has to be as to how far that will go. Hydrofoil wing keels are surely entirely possible. We have RCCs that plane, Storm for example, so why not encourage that? There are RCCs with centreboards, Luna for example, so why not a lifting, adjustable wing keel?  Personally I think the RCC people need to look very carefully as to where they are going before someone jumps the gun. As Vaughan has rightly said, rules are subject to interpretation. The Thirty Knot River Cruiser might be going past you sooner than you think!  We already have it in dinghies. Foiling a Norfolk Punt, now there's a thought!

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grendel

grendel

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51 minutes ago, JanetAnne said:

Perhaps a Pessimist rather than an Optimist would be a better choice? :default_biggrin:

I have to face facts, I need a boat that has more bouyancy, where the freeboard doesnt drop to an inch or so when I sit in it, perhaps I should go into training as a PH bridge pilot, Guaranteed to take boat under with an inch less clearance than all the rest due to the ballasting effect.

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Poppy

Poppy

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6 hours ago, Vaughan said:

Such rules have existed ever since before the War. But all rules, unfortunately, are subject to interpretation!

There also seems to be a general unwillingness to apply said rules too !

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