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julesmoto said..Chris 249 said..
... they are well up with the modern specialist shorthanders that are shorter overall, but much lighter and not much shorter on the waterline.
Speaking of modern specialist shorthanders here is an interesting test of a Sunfast like a few in the race.
The full scow bow doesn't seem to like the chop and you would think it would slow the boat upwind but he specifically says that it doesn't. You can see it wanting to get up on plane downwind but not quite enough wind that day. Would have been flying last night across Bass Strait with 35 knots up the arse.
I looked over one at a Middle Harbour Yacht club boat show and another at Church Point and you wouldn't catch me off shore in one overnight. Not even a moderately rough night like last night. Everything is so light and insubstantial not to mention exposed. He compliments the two finger tiller effort required for the twin rudders but imagine hitting anything bigger than a Coke bottle at speed.
Pretty much the only thing I liked for offshore use is the window that permits viewing the sails from the chart table.
Not sure if the water ballast is legal in the Hobart but you wouldn't want anything to go wrong so that the ballast ended up on the leeward side.
I seriously doubt that the boat would hold together if rolled. Torn fibreglass everywhere.
Shades of Nexba?
The Sun Fasts are doing Hobarts, Fastnets and Transatlantics so must be pretty tough.
I am disappointed with tests like the Matthew Sheahan one in the vid; like so many in the industry he seems to be obsessed with the pro scene, hence the many references to IMOCAs which are obviously an influence in the Sun Fast design - but so must conventional IRC/ORC boats. Arguably, as the agent implies, the reason shorthanding is taking off is that they have moved AWAY from the pro-style designs.
I do tend to think that the full bow is basically the result of packing a litre into a 750ml bottle, and it's actually better to just make the boat longer for the same beam, displacement, rig, engine, gear etc by lengthening and sharpening the bow. The Sun Fast is actually proportionately heavier than the NS38 Inukshuk (which I didn't realise. although I knew they are much heavier than some older boats) and has more beam.
The funny thing is that it was only about two years ago that the opposite - wave piercing bows - was all the rage and the sailing press went ga-ga about them without actually trying to analyse them properly, just as they seem to be going ape about scows this season.
Looking at ORC certs, the NS38 Inukshuk has a downwind VMG of 8.12 knots in 20 knots of breeze compared to Transcendence (a successful local 3300) at 8.20, which seems about right looking at how well each of them went while square running. Upwind in 20 the 3300 is .2 knots quicker in 20 knots of breeze according to ORC. Where the Sunfast does really against the NS38 is in hard reaches, when it's supposedly a knot quicker. Upwind in the light, the two boats have the same ORC speed 'till 12 knots.
As noted earlier, I find it encouraging to see the two old dacron-sailed boats in the SH division hanging in their with exotic-ragged new boats. And Pacman, the Young 11, is showing just what an amazing design it is.