Hi Steve, Thanks for the input on the SD 60. Ever set one up as a ketch? Also, somewhere in my readings of your work, I believe you stated that you calculated displacement differently than most boats so that an allowance for the typical load of stuff that offshore cruisers carry is in the total displacement figure for the boat. Does this mean that the figure usually given for most boats, say on a PHRF certificate, is not the same as the number for displacement for your designs? Also, what kind of ratings would your SD 60 or DF 58 get under the various handicap systems, not to be used to judge the boat but to see how I might fare in a race. Thanks for your help, Crawford
1-The smallest split rigs we’ve done have started in the 65′ range. 2-Our design displacements have almost always been at full cruising payload. However, we’ve seen over the years that some clients can actually cram in more “stuff” than we think possible! 3-PHRF is a comittee rule and I have no idea how the boats would fare. I know that under the Caribbean handicap rule you would do OK on the reaching races–but around the buoys, with a lot of upwind/downwind work, you would not do well due to the shallow draft. IMS should be OK against like cruisers, but you would need to be sure the ends of the boat were lightened up for pitching motion. A key factor, of course, is your sail inventory.
In general, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to make a boat with the attributes of a good cruiser into a race boat(i.e. good steering characteristics in heavy going, shallow draft, modest rig proportions). On the other hand, the boats you are talking about will make much faster short-handed passages than any of the race boats which might be faster on handicap or elapsed time around the race course. It is simply a case of deciding what you want to optimize for…Steve
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
