Product Code Database
The term sportsboat first appeared in the late 1980s and early 1990s to describe that were optimised for high performance at the expense of accommodation and ballast. The very definition of the term "sportsboat" is evolving.
There is an absence of an accepted definition of the term.
They tend to be characterised by historically large sail areas for a given length (especially under downwind sails), light weight construction and a heavy reliance on crew weight to counterbalance heeling forces. They usually feature lifting (for easy trailerability) of a modern fin and Bulb keel design and planing hull designs. Most sportsboats are self-righting as opposed to .
As similar design philosophies spread into larger classes the length of most sportsboats has come to be considered as between 5.5m and 8m (18'-26'). Boats of a similar design but of larger size have come to be known as sports yachts and are generally in the size range of 9m - 12m.
Their noncomformity with traditional designs and concepts and their heterogeneity has made problematical their placement into racing, outside of one design races. Creating handicap systems that match actual sportsboat performance has necessitated new Racing Rules of Sailing and measures. The Australian Measurement System was updated in 2012 with the launch of AMS2 and this has been very successful in updating the mathematics to accommodate modern traditional designs. Particularly because of their planing performance (which varies from the hydrodynamics and hull speed of a displacement hull), the Sportsboat Measurement System was specially created to fit the needs of boats within the category.
Many sportsboat designs feature asymmetric spinnakers and, like skiffs, they are often sailed downwind by sailing a series of broad reaches in a shallower zig-zag pattern than with traditional symmetrical .
As with the large mainsails, spinnakers are also generally much larger for a given hull size than had previously been used. Many sportsboats are fitted with an extendible bowsprit of 4–8 feet (1.2-2.5m) length, which moves the tack of the spinnaker away forward from the hull and allows better airflow and a larger sail size.
Some like the larger Thompsons and Phuket 8 feature a bowsprit that is both extendable as well as articulating - able to move from side to side - which is a system first used by Greg Young in the Bull series of boats, enabling the asym boat to sail at deeper angles downwind as the pole is squared back. For lighter smaller sportboats such as the Shaws, Vipers and wider French boats, the downwind performance aims to get the boats planing as early as possible, and thus the weight saved from using a simple extendable prod only is considered more valuable than the gains from articulation.
This very efficient, low-drag shape, combined with the large, powerful rig and sail design and the light weight construction of most sports boats is what gives them their significant speed advantage over traditional designs.
To offset the large sail area and the resulting significant heeling momentum there are 3 main design philosophies: 1. a deep and heavy keel; 2. a way to get the crew further off the centreline by using , racks, hiking aids or trapezes; and, 3. a reduction in sail area, leading to a reduction in displacement, leading to less need for sail area and thus a reduction in heeling momentum. Many modern sportsboats use some combination of 1&2 or 2&3 also, with option 1 tending to favour upwind legs, and option 3 tending to favour downwind; option 2 being an advantage in all respects except rating.
Most sports boats use the modern fin and bulb design, which may also be lifting for ease of storage, as most sportsboats are designed to be taken out of the water on a daily or regular basis.
Cockpits are usually fully open and the only covered area is a very small and spartan fore-cabin (cuddy), usually used only for storing sails and essential safety equipment. Even larger sports yachts which often do have a proper cabin below are often missing all the usual features of a yacht. Sinks, toilets, bunks, water tanks and cooking equipment are usually missing. Often a moulded hard plastic seat on either side of the cuddy and a removable chemical toilet are the only amenities.
A number of trailer sailers in the past have attempted to use sportboat like design and construction while retaining the interior cabin volume and amenities; most have ended up being quicker than trailer sailers only due to their stripped out interiors (compared to their competitors with toilets, cookers, cushions, etc.) and have been not competitive against true sportboats. In the larger sizes, there have been a number of sportboats that have managed to achieve both accommodation as well as performance, including the Young Rocket, Stealth designs from Alan Carwadine and various Elliott configurations.
Rules currently used to rate sportsboats include sportsboat rule SBR which will be discontinued at the end of 2010, and individual country rule systems such as the New Zealand Sportsboat box rule and Australian SMS system. Some boats uses , racks and to increase performance. Heavier designs such as the SB3, J80, Flying Tiger and Platu are competitive in handicap racing, but are significantly slower compared to the lightweight racers.
The SB3 is one of the most popular sportboats of the modern era with over 600 sold worldwide (mainly in Europe) and it has been the largest class at the annual Cowes Week regatta with over 80 boats. The SB3 widened the appeal of sportsboats by preventing hiking and having a heavier keel providing more stability - making it suitable for a wider range of sailors and over 100 boats attend the annual class regatta which will be held in the UK in 2011 and Australia in 2012. The manufacturers also marketed the boat by putting top Olympic sailors into regattas and by aggressive pricing into some markets (e.g. Ireland) for early adopters - as well as holding an annual race between the class winners at Cowes Week.
French sportboats generally sail in handicap events and tend to be similar to the open 60s and open 70s shape; with very wide bodies, rotating rigs, non masthead kites and masts set well back. Examples include the Open 5.70, Open 6.50 and the more recent Karver 650; all of which have twin rudders and many of the other typical features of the larger shorthanded and ocean racer design formats.
The Uffa Fox designed Flying Fifteen from 1947 meets most of the criteria used to define a Sportsboat here. Sailed extensively in the UK and Australia, fleets also exist in Belgium, France, Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa, and Spain (Majorca).
The Racetrack website has kept relative performance data between a variety of Australian and New Zealand sportboats, in order to assess comparative performance. To date, the fastest sportboats have tended to be the lightest, least ballasted, widest boats, with the Rob Shaw designed 7 and 7.5m designs being the fastest in New Zealand, and the largest 8m Allan Carawadine and Bethwaite designs proving fastest in Australia.
The Australian Sports Boat Association is now the body that represents sportboat sailing in Australia. The Association is fully affiliated with Australian Sailing and aims to regulate and promote the racing of sports boats at throughout Australia.
ASBA, incorporated in 2007, was founded by sports boats sailors Cameron Rae, Mark Roberts and Richard Parkes. The trio wanted to see a more scientific approach taken to handicapping the various designs racing together. Prior to the formation of ASBA handicaps were considered to be a bit of a lottery. Membership continues to grow with members in every state of Australia. The Association represents a myriad of sports boats including Thompson 7s, 750s and 8s, Elliott 7s and 780s, Shaw 650s, Stealth 7s and 8s, Melges 24s, Hobie Magic 25s and a host of other sports boat designs. Using their own new rating system called SMS the Association is aiming to create a level playing field for multiple designs, and to encourage high performance designs without the excessive penalties currently existing in other rating systems.
"Veteran Chicago-Mac racers have encountered similar conditions during previous races and understand that coping with severe weather is part of the challenge. Skippers must prepare their boats, train their crew, maintain a watchful eye for approaching storms and "the dearest friend (and most menacing foe) of all sailors -- the wind."The waves were not all that unusual, although the wind was. The boat may have buried one of its hiking wings into a wave, causing it to 'trip,' and had the other lifted by the wind. It is rare but not unheard of for keelboats to turtle and remain upside down, particularly if it has not lost its keel. However, this boat's unique hull form, which made it very fast, also rendered it more stable upside down than right side up. This was a recipe for the disaster. including a picture of the turtled WingNuts This loss was occasioned despite a competent and experienced crew which was as well equipped and prepared as thought to be necessary. WingNuts met then current offshore stability standards, which failed to adequately take into account the effect of the "radical" winged hull."On paper, WingNuts met all stability requirements for the Chicago-Mac race. The race required that all boats have an Offshore Racing Rule (ORR) handicap measurement certificate, a document that includes two measures of stability: Limit of Positive Stability (LPS) and the Stability Index (SI). However, after the accident, the US Sailing panel found that the ORR formulas did not adequately penalize the Kiwi 35’s extreme flare, the difference between the waterline beam and the maximum beam. When the panel eliminated a fixed lower limit for the “capsize increment” one of the factors used in the calculating stability index WingNuts’ index of 100.7 plummeted to 74.4. No other boat in the race had the same drastic reduction in its stability index when the same math was applied. In addition, the panel noted that the Right Arm Curve (GZ Curve)—a graphic representation of the boat’s stability—revealed WingNuts to be just as stable inverted as it was right side up, sharply reducing any chance of recovery from a full capsize."
One meteorologist suggested these conditions should have been anticipated.:
|
|
