peterivanac
Member
- 322
- 20
The answer is and always will be - sail what everyone else sails at your local club. Nothing worse than yet another unnecessary class in a local area that already has good solid fleets of another class.
RS Aero vs Melges 14
- Thread starter mattysailor
- Start date
Cheers thats a interesting article.This 3.5+ year old article talks about 300 in the US and 75 in Europe.
Sailing World Magazine Article: "Melges 14—Sowing the Seeds"
Read the article from Sailing World Magazine after author Dave Powlison sailed the 2018 Melges 14 U.S. National Championship.www.melges14.com
I was hoping C72 would come back with the first boat number ( as no one seems to start with 1 anymore 😀) and the latest boat number, which would put the topic to bed.
Totally agree . Only sailed one a couple of times and yes it’s a tiny bit easier to put mast bend on boats ( like the Melges or D-zero ) where the mainsheet is led to the back.
But anyone can induce mast bend using the mainsheet in a Aero if that’s what they want to do .
Foredeck Shuffle
More of a Stoic Cynic, Anarchy Sounds Exhausting
After leaving OD paradise, if you like ancient OD's, I have a new maxim.
Nothing worse than sailing old boats that are missing 40-70+ years of technical know how, design evolution, and construction improvements.
Get two boats.
One should be a copy of the local popular one design so you can become a better sailor over all and much better at shifting gears like fellow OD boats.
One should be what brings you joy and adrenaline and makes it hard to sand off the smile on your face. Life is too short to only sail shitty old boats.
tillerman
Super Anarchist
Great advice. Thanks.
Bill5
Right now
Looking through photos in their website, there are single digit sail numbers and some in the 800’s.
dogwatch
Super Anarchist
Well, I guess Italy is in Europe. Melges European sales presence is in Italy. Here in the UK, I've never seen a Melges 14. Class association page on the Melges site refers only to Italy.
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dogwatch
Super Anarchist
Yes you can. Also with the cunningham, which is powerful.
dogwatch
Super Anarchist
I can't speak to the M14 or to NA. Around here, the Aero attracts a mix of genders and increasing numbers of youths. The 7 rig is probably the sweet spot, the 9 rig seems to be fading away. At my club it is now the most popular class for women and I'm not sure it is an ideal boat for large males. However lighter and reasonably agile males do fine.
Blue One
Member
- 92
- 49
I tend to agree about the 7 rig especially given the average wind in the uk). I seem to remember some chat when the boat was launched that the rig sizing was a little out and that 5, 6 and 8 ( with the 8 being 8.1 or 8.2 ) might have been more suitable options with the 8 being better for the average uk man .
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dogwatch
Super Anarchist
There's been a lot of interest, particularly from women sailors at my club, in the 6 as intermediate between 5 and 7. However I'm not so far seeing many actually sailing one.
There's quite the interest in our club, at our recent midwinters we had 8 Aeros, and only 4 laser full rigs. It was a crappy sort of day so only about 1/2 the boats showed up, and if all the lasers had shown there would have been more lasers. Demographics of the fleet looked like 30s+ and male. We did have 7 Laser Radials sailing, almost all juniors.
dogwatch
Super Anarchist
Aeros with 6m rigs? That specifically was the subject of my remark, not Aeros in general.
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Pretty sure they are 7s. Anecdotal data, 2 M14s were in the open class and with the puffs >20, both retired after giving it a go.
pqbon
Anarchist
No --- the areo recently introduce a 6m rig... so now they have the 5,6,7,9...
I had assumed the RYC aeros were 7s, maybe they are 6s
pqbon
Anarchist
Maybe but most likely 7s... the 6 is brand new this year and rare and aimed at women who want more than the 5 but less than the 7...
Yeah, I'd say 7s then
dogwatch
Super Anarchist
So I'm not disputing that the Aero with 7 rig is a popular growing class. My comment was specifically that I am seeing a lot of women (primarily) evaluating the new 6 rig but I'm not currently seeing many sailing it.
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Foredeck Shuffle
More of a Stoic Cynic, Anarchy Sounds Exhausting
They are not at risk of giving up on the 9 rig are they? I'm quietly hoping Aero's will hit the Chesapeake Bay and if they do I want one with a 9 rig, and a 7, and 5. Now I need to buy a 6? Anyway, the 9 is a must.
I like what the Evo did with making multiple mains on the same rig. Though I thought I'd paste them up here against the Aero to compare and it turns out the range is not significant enough for most sailors. You need multiple rigs, bummer. Just for fun posting the other boats, included the C rigs since I own one. All sail area in meters squared.
Aero5 : 5.20
Aero6 : 6.24
Aero7 : 7.43
Aero9 : 8.90
Melges14 Red : 5.46
Melges14 Blue : 7.89
Melges14 Gold : 9.10
VX/Evo Yellow : 8.36
VX/Evo Blue : 9.30
VX/Evo Red : 10.20
ILCA 4 : 4.7
ILCA 6 : 5.76
ILCA 7 : 7.06
ILCA Flamingo Powerhead : 8.64 (the 7 rig with a squarehead sail)
ILCA C5 : 5.50
ILCA C6 : 6.50
ILCA C8 : 8.40
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