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Hykeham was a complete drifter never more than 5 kts of wind.
 
Last 3 races of the champs were good solid planing - F4+ on flat water. Proper Baggy conditions - for those with good memories.
 

Ripon I didn't attend.
Good luck with the handicaps.
All the best
 
Derek

It is worth talking to a sailmaker - fullness can come from two sources in a mainsail, broad seaming and luff round.
If you have a full sail and it is mostly cut with broadseaming rather than luff round, it could suit a metal mast well.
If it is all in the luff curve, this is less likely to work.
The best thing to do is try them up and see if you are overpowered unwind when there is 15 - 18 kts when the mast should start to open the leach and depower.
Angel carbon masts are much more flexible than Superspars and so sails for these tend to be cut with even more luff round e.g. Rowsells.
Hope the collection of everyone's thoughts help you find a cost effective solution.
cheers
 
Derek 3510

There aren't really any bad boats for lightweights these days.
There have been boats that worked much better heavy weather and for these, only very light people could ever get them to go in the light. Baggy 2 and Street Legal. The flip-side to this was that the lightweights often didn't have the power to get the best out of the hull shape when it blew old boots.
No-one sails really heavy these days anyway - it is a lost cause!
In short not an issue unless you are looking at buying a Baggy 2, a Street Legal or a Radical Posture...

I agree that the short tiller/long tiller extension solution gives you better leverage when fast planing by giving you a better angle between the extension and the tiller. The long extension can cause an issue if you want to use a laser type front and back system. Why is this system popular? It seems to use more space than any other.
You could try flipping the extension under the boom while you have the helm down to initiate your tack before you recentre it to make the tack nice and smooth - easier said than done.
Another solution which I saw a while ago was a hoop or traveller well behind the usual position of the thwart.
This gives the crew a bit more room but still restricts fore and aft movement.
Whichever way you go at this you are compromising space in what is admittedly a rather short boat. This is perhaps why so many of us who have sailed centre-main in other classes sail with aft main in a N12....

Count me in for a week at Weymouth - that will require some preparation. Good job there is some time for it.
Derek 3510

Doubtless someone more qualified will confirm, but my understanding was that the venue was likely to be Thorpe Bay. I am sure it will suit many people but suspect I may not manage it myself next year.
regards
Derek  3510

Whilst many of us now sail double bottomed boats, we still have very clear memories of how we drained a conventional boat when it was swamped.
For me that went in the sequence:-
Get in the boat and get around the centre of buoyancy (we are talking swamped). If you have lost or deflated rear bags put your feet in the toe-straps and lie on your lifejackets to off load the boat a bit.
Get the boat DEAD UPRIGHT
Sheet the jib in HARD - you will not be moving, it is the only way to get it to bear-away.
As the boat bears away and gathers speed, move back and power up the main.
Draining happens pretty fast provided there is enough wind and you have remembered to open the flaps.
 
Without any rudder authority (slow or stopped), a Twelve is quite prone to luffing and even stopping head to wind if you let it heel much. This can happen even with a jib up. Sailing it upright is the key to balance and minimising the required rudder input.
Glad to hear you are enjoying the boat and all the best of luck
 
Derek 3510

Is there going to be anyone in Salcombe next week at a loose end.
I need a crew for 3510 if there is anyone interested (preferably around 45 -55Kg) 7-9st for those still speaking old money.
I am likely to turn up on Sunday morning to avoid the carnage of road closures due to Red Arrows display. You can contact me be e-mail on avies.derek@neuf.fr">Davies.derek@neuf.fr, mobile 0033 6 8999 4454 or leave a message in Exmouth with parents at 01395 272071.
Cheers
Derek

I would strongly sugggest that you avoid putting stainless in direct contact with Al in an envirnomnet where there is rubbing. That would create a perfect receipe for galvanic corrosion and the material will be lost from the Al = the hatchet.
I cannot visualise the problem, but if a plastic will work, try the Tufnol. It is a very early composite dating from the '50s or '60s and is simply cloth layers in eurea-formaldehye resin. It is tough enough to resist abrasion well but easily worked and homogeneous i.e. doesn't have the grain characteristics of wood. You could easily sand it down to the required thickness and then seal the worked surface with a coat of epoxy.
Good luck
Derek

It is a healthy debate whatever the outcome.
The frustration is that the debate has continued for so long without a concensus emerging that it should, by now, be apparent that if a decision is not made to make a significant change that inevitably alienates a significant number of people, nothing will ever change (improve) the current downward spiral.
We do risk a version of analysis paralysis where those who shout loudest are those trying to stop any particular evolution and hence no evolution occurs.
This is not really the spirit of a development class which should be "go-until-told-to-stop" not "what -am-I-allowed-to-do".
Do the majority WANT the status quo?
Do you want a true development class?
My boat is new but is exactly as I would have built it 10 years ago.
Derek 3510
PS
I accept that people don't build their own boats any more except for a very few people. And that people don't have time to do all the things involved in developing more innovative boats - that is why RS's and similar production boats are very well positioned for today's market.
My point is that we cannot, with a development class, compete in that sector.

Where we are isn't working and all attempts to make changes are minor and aimed at "Getting people BACK into the class".
This is core to the problem and results in demographics where those who would be considered old guard in any other class are seen as the youngsters in N12s.
- I sailed Graham last year with someone I hadn't sailed with for 15 years and her first comment was "Where are the young people in this class?"
We seem to have a lemming-like ability to pick the least effective and most expensive ways to evolve the class.
As a result we are stuck in no-man's land for positioning.
As already said, people who want lairy go Cherub, Moth or Int 14 type boat.
People who want family but still race go RS where you don't have to spend so much time setting it up and the residual value risks are almost nill.
A 12ft waterline is too short to carry two normal sized modern people - this is a boat conceived in the '30s as a training class for the only other nationally known class then - the Int 14. It was therefore intended for two young people as defined between the wars = rather smaller than today. Every development since has made the boats more weight sensitive.
Reducing the weight of the boat simply increases the proportion of the all-up weight that is crew - hence INCREASES the sensitivity to crew weight.
The sail area is low and the boat is not excessively difficult to handle - a sail area increase could help and is something that could be easily enacted on existing spars at minimum cost.
Simple is good.
Cheap is good.
Robust is good.
Fast and difficult to sail is characterful - could be good.
As the situation becomes more serious and the average age becomes older we become even less likely to make the scope of change necessary.
We need more change not less. The class was at it's most healthy when people were being granted concessionary certificates to try things that were deliberately beyond the existing class rules.
The resistance that has built up as people have invested huge sums in expensive boats makes the established top of the fleet reluctant to change - and give up their advantage and investment.
Well that should have alienated half the class - but I feel better for firing it off anyway. Hands up those who expected daggerboards to appear in this tirade?!
Good luck and thanks to all of you still fighting the good fight for the class.
It is easy to criticize and often thankless to work to be rewarded with people like me taking cheapshots.
See you at Salcombe!
 
Derek  N3510
 

It is great to see this topic getting some decent debate.
The large open meeting calander we have always had (it is much less now than it was!) means that the hot shots are always away and the impression left at club level is that of an obsolete or obsolecent boat incapable of sailing to it's handicap. I have long argued that the best way to build the class is at club level so a large number of meetings is not necessarily the best way to do this.
I would not necessarily advocate a major cull. Many meetings have gone already (Beeston, Notts County, Burton, Exe, Starcross and Saltash). I do think we should give thought to the idea of having 2 weekends a month without an open meeting. This would encourage people to club sail and make the fast boats and sailors more visible at  a club level. The result being that the class would appear more attractive (aspirational?) at club level and generate more grass roots interest.
It is interesting that the most resilient club fleets are those that travel very little. When the experts are on hand most weekends to advise and encourage, the effect is to build a fleet spirit.
...no I don't do much club sailing, but I have a better excuse than most!
 
Derek 3510

I'll be there but still have to sort crew, car and accom issues - minor stuff. Let's hope spring has made it in the next couple of weeks!
Derek 3510

If you are sailing a boat with a keel, it might be worth considering the oldest of methods.
Find some low profile keel band and screw it on with the slot gasket underneath. The weight and drag are negligible compared to the drag you get trawling 2m of mylar!
It is always going to be a problem to glue gasket on for boats with a keel. The area available for adhesive is only about 10mm wide and unlikey to last long.
Sailcloth being less rigid than mylar is an alternative too....

As Graham says, 8:1 is really a minimum to be able to adjust your leech tension and so get the best out of your rig.
Boats of this vintage often had a winch screwed to the hog with a simple wire from the winch to the boom and a single cleat on the front of the plate case.
I do not know if anyone still makes the winches, (the one on my China Doll was Holt) and I wouldn't bother looking too hard unless you are determined to go for the vintage authenticity. A simple 8 or 16:1 cascade with dyneema rope attached to the mast foot will be fine and make a big difference to the boat's performance.
Have fun with it!
Derek