Roleur
Super Anarchist
Curious to see how many DH boats we get this year. Last time there were 89 DH boats. Over a quarter of fleet. How many this time?
- Red Ruby, SF3300
- Red Ruby, SF3300
Fastnet here we come! Double-handed.
- Thread starter Roleur
- Start date
pqbon
Anarchist
I should be there double handed this time. Either on the J111 or a J97.
pqbon
Anarchist
The J111 should be registered.
bissona
Member
50 d/h entries already and they've only loaded 1/3 of the total entries so far. Guessing it will hit c.80 boats which should make for a fun class.
Fastrak
Member
55 0ut of 129 deposit paid IRC entries are DH as I write this which is 43% of the IRC fleet!!! Out of the 55 we have ...
7 x Sun Fast 3600's
7 x Sun Fast 3300's
5 x Sun Fast 3200's
19 x JPK's - various models
5 x J Boat's - various models
12 x assorted models
If only a third of the entries are processed so far then at this rate we are headed for an IRC fleet size of 387 of which 165 could be Double Handed. A bit "blue sky" but the DH fleet should easily smash the 100 level !!!
Last edited:
The Dark Knight
Super Anarchist
What's the story behind the growth in DH over in the UK?
Are you seeing newcomers to racer ownership going straight to DH, fully crewed yacht owners downsizing to remove the hassle of finding crew or what?
Are you seeing newcomers to racer ownership going straight to DH, fully crewed yacht owners downsizing to remove the hassle of finding crew or what?
Bit of all, from my observation. One or 2 of the names previously ran fully crewed boats but quite a lot of them seem to be new to big boat ownership.
As someone's who's 1st love is crewed inshore racing, but who's budget doesn't run to a cape 31... It's a bit of a bugger.
Party in Cherbourg's going to be a bit flat with half the prior number of attendees! Although many DHers will manfully drink for their 6 missing crew members.
Roleur
Super Anarchist
- Thread starter
- #12
We've always been DH (25+ years), but we came from far away, because this is where it is at. They built it. We came. No idea how they built though. I would love to crack that puzzle and employ it back home.
Just looking at the Fastnet DH entries. For the vast majority of the boats the range in rating and size is really, really small. That is in part why it works so well. Close competition. How they've managed in the UK and France to all agree that a mid-30's boat that isn't radical is the DH way to go, I have no idea. Back home, when we can get 65 DH boats on the line (once a year), the range is from 24 footers to 50 footers and the rating range is more than 200 seconds per mile. We can't get 10 boats within the rating range of the majority of the Fastnet DH boats. It's pretty incredible.
They haven't all agreed it.... It was just the logical conclusion of a series of societal and industry pressures.
The societal pressures have ensured that more and more people want to sail offshore with a reduced crew, whilst the complete collapse of the cruiser racer segment has meant that the only offshore capable "race boats" that are even offered these days are shorthanded specialist boats.
Unless you have mega bucks that is...
I think boats in general are smaller in the UK / France. Around the Solent, 40' is a standard size for a crewed "big boat", and there are relatively few 45s regularly racing, let alone 50+. Not since the Farr 45 fleet dispersed 10+ years ago. You notice the difference when you go to watch the Sydney-Hobart start and the 40'ers look tiny!
Not sure what the determinants are but I guess a combination of capital & running costs, marina fees and the fact that the Solent / Channel is quite a small place in a big boat.
It was therefore natural to trade down from owning / crewing on a 40' to race something smaller DH. If you think about the early RORC DH boats they were all in that size range (Figaro, Contessa 32, HOD 35, J/105 etc) - the next step was the first "production" DH cruiser racer (SF 3200) which came in about 2009 and the rest is history.
pqbon
Anarchist
The solent feels small enough on a J111.
I can only imagine on a bigger boat.
I can only imagine on a bigger boat.
I think the size range is more about the boats and especially loads being manageable. On our (smaller) boat we can get away with many things, because we can handle most loads by hand so any mistake is quickly resolved and consequently we rarely have major fuckups. On a 40' this would be a different story.
Rock Lobster is downsizing from 40' (J121) to a Sunfast 3300 for the coming season, much as we love the 121. Some of our reasons are likely peculiar to us: half the crew is off sailing round the world for a couple of years so has less time for racing. Other reasons are probably common to others: We normally sail the 121 with 5 (small for 40') but that still involves a fair bit of organisational effort which is a challenge for those managing a career. It is a good DH boat but at 40' the size and loads really need a meaty team to manage it: the RLo crew being left behind are modest sized/tiny/normal human beings compared with pro-racers so a big boat is not ideal for them. And keeping a 40' boat competitive is expensive (or maybe that should be "even more expensive"). On the other hand, the 3300 is much more manageable in terms of loads and costs, and it introduces the team to a new skill set and challenge and it gives us the chance to race in a big fleet (nearly 20, and maybe more for the Fastnet) of boats of the same design, which seem to be having a lot of fun. My sense is that a good chunk of the class 1 Solent boats have made similar decisions and moved to Cape 31s for inshore races and the 3300 for offshore.
Wacka_Elvis
New member
- 15
- 16
We’ll be there on Mzungu!
UK DH fleet is epic - top competition and a great crowd who are happy to share. Keeps driving the standard up which is good for us all.
But can we knock the French off the top slot…??
As for why… there was a good scene before covid, but I think there are a few reasons as to why it has grown since then
- the efforts of Sea Ventures yachting to get fleets of 3200, 3300 and 3600 going
- 2 person sports restarted before team sports…
- it has been much easier for owners to restart a smaller crew rather than a big squad…
- leading to people realising that sail handling systems for 2H make a lot of crew unnecessary (offshore)
- the efforts of the UKDHOS team to get a ‘club’ going with season prizes and better recognition from organisers like RORC
- then, once it hit a critical mass momentum has taken over
In short - a lot, including plenty of what has been said before about cost etc
UK DH fleet is epic - top competition and a great crowd who are happy to share. Keeps driving the standard up which is good for us all.
But can we knock the French off the top slot…??
As for why… there was a good scene before covid, but I think there are a few reasons as to why it has grown since then
- the efforts of Sea Ventures yachting to get fleets of 3200, 3300 and 3600 going
- 2 person sports restarted before team sports…
- it has been much easier for owners to restart a smaller crew rather than a big squad…
- leading to people realising that sail handling systems for 2H make a lot of crew unnecessary (offshore)
- the efforts of the UKDHOS team to get a ‘club’ going with season prizes and better recognition from organisers like RORC
- then, once it hit a critical mass momentum has taken over
In short - a lot, including plenty of what has been said before about cost etc
Last edited:
