A Laser dinghy for fatties?

Does the Rooster 8.1 have a future as the Laser for the 'larger sailor'? Clearly Laser champion Steve Cockerill thinks so, because his company Rooster Sailing has just finished developing a new souped-up rig for the standard Laser dinghy. Taking the basic Laser, Cockerill has added a taller lower mast section which, combined with the existing top section, supports a Dacron/Mylar radial-cut sail measuring 8.1 square metres. This compares with the 7.06 square metres of a standard Laser rig, and Cockerill is pitching the Rooster 8.1 at sailors weighing around 90kg, as opposed to the 80kg or thereabouts for the standard rig.

Cockerill appears to have put a lot of thought into the design of the bigger sail, and it should last a good deal longer than the lo-tech and overpriced sail that comes with the standard Laser. According to Cockerill: "The Rooster 8.1 sail is constructed with long life and performance in mind. In addition to 4oz Dacron cloth in the main body, the leech is constructed of Mylar, as this is where the highest loads occur. This means that permanent leech stretch is reduced to almost zero. Leech flutter in between battens is eliminated. The bi-radial construction contributes to increased cloth stability and so making the sail easier to control its power. The large window also helps with visibility when racing. Mainsheet loads are slightly less than the Standard rig, and vang loads are slightly higher. The rig is more like a Jaguar than a Porsche, which means you get a steady power delivery upwind. Its downwind performance is amazing once you are past the beam and planing is easy in most conditions. Rudder loads are reduced too."

It will be interesting to see what reaction Cockerill gets from the market. It will be competing against a few well-established rivals in the British sailing scene, such as the Olympic Finn and the Phantom singlehander. But the Rooster 8.1 is a very economic solution for any Laser sailor that feels a bit porky for the Standard rig; £350 buys you a sail with battens and the special lower mast section, which is a few quid less than the cost of a standard Laser sail (RRP £389). You also get free membership of the fledgling Rooster 8.1 Class Association, and Cockerill says a racing circuit and even a National Championships is on the way. He plans to officially launch the class this coming weekend (3/4 March 2007) at the Dinghy Sailing Show in London, although he has already taken 15 advance orders for the new rigs.

Click here for further information from RoosterSailing.com

Two little Cherubs

One class that has everything to gain and nothing to lose from this April's trial for a new women's Olympic skiff is the Cherub. With two of the five entries being based on the Cherub development class - the Daemon and the GT60 - the global profile of this exciting but little-known 12-footer will never be higher. Not only that, but even if these two entries don't get selected, there will now be a choice of two very well sorted, off-the-shelf packages available for potential Cherub owners. At the moment the Cherub class attracts the keen DIY enthusiasts, the garden shed tinkerers who don't mind getting elbow deep in epoxy and carbon dust. In the cash-rich time-poor world of the 21st century, the idea of building or repairing your own home-build contraption just doesn't appeal to most of us. Come what may in Hyeres this April, at least these two boats will offer an easier way into the Cherub fleet for those who just want to go sailing. And what if one of these two boats does win selection? Well, the Cherub could become sailing's answer to Olympic beach volleyball!

Five entries for women's Olympic skiff trials

Five boats will line up for the Women's High Performance Dinghy Evaluation Event this April in the south of France, to determine which boat will go forwards for selection as a new Olympic class. The 29erXX, RS800, Cherub Daemon, Carbonology GT60 and International 14 have all submitted their entries to the Evaluation Event, which will be held in Hyères, France from 16-19 April 2007.

This looks like a strong field of potential Olympic skiffs, and couldn’t come at a better time, as the Yngling shows serious signs of failure as a viable Olympic women’s keelboat. Only last week, top Yngling sailor Carol Cronin announced her retirement from Olympic campaigning after the Miami Rolex Olympic Classes Regatta. She wrote, “We just finished our 2007 US Sailing Team qualifiers. Sixteen teams from around the world came to Miami, and jockeying for a front row start or an inside overlap with this elite group showed us how much the world level has climbed since last summer's Yngling Worlds.

“After a lot of thought and discussion, we have decided to end our Olympic campaign effective immediately. Only two US teams competed in the ranking regattas: Team Cronin and Team Seven (Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe, and Debbie Capozzi). Our retirement means Team Seven will represent the US at the 2008 Olympics in Qingdao, China.” So, the Olympic trials for the USA are over before they have even begun because there aren’t two teams with the sufficient resources or interest to go to the Games in China. This is not a developing nation we are talking about, it’s the USA, probably the biggest keelboat sailing nation in the world! If they can’t muster more than one team for the Olympics, what hope for the rest of us?

While disappointing in one sense, the Yngling’s fall from grace (if indeed it ever ascended to grace) should make life easier for ISAF this November at the Federation’s Annual Conference in Athens. The International Olympic Committee has decreed that sailing must reduce the Olympic disciplines from 11 in China to 10 for the London 2012 Games.
The Yngling’s departure should be a no-brainer, with its place being taken by the new women’s skiff. Then it is a matter of deciding which of the remaining classes is to get the chop, and that is where the debate becomes a whole lot more difficult. That’s a discussion we’ll save for another day!

F18 Worlds debut for Volvo Race winner

The Basilica sponsored crew of Robert and Peter Greenhalgh is in final preparations for the 2007 F18 World Titles in Australia, the first to be held outside of Europe. This year’s F18 Worlds, which take place between 17th and 25th February in Yeppoon, Queensland, will kick off Basilica’s season of cat sailing and will be the Greenhalgh brothers’ first time competing in the F18 Class. The pair will be looking to perfect their catamaran racing skills ahead of the Extreme 40 racing series and iShares Cup later in the year.

Former ABN AMRO helmsman and Volvo Ocean Race winner Robert Greenhalgh and his brother Peter will be using the days running up to the F18 racing, to get to grips with their Basilica-sponsored Capricorn Catamaran and the racing conditions along the central Queensland coast. The competition is set to be tough, with over 15 different nations and up to 160 boats taking part, the Greenhalghs will be looking for a top 20 finish.

Rumours in Valencia

The rumour mill in Valencia is in full swing, with less than two months to go before Louis Vuitton Act 13 kicks off. Is there any substance to the rumour that Areva has been getting the better of Luna Rossa in some informal racing sessions? And what price will Areva pay for breaking the rules when they got hold of photos of Luna Rossa when the Italians were training in private? Will it be a financial or points penalty for the French? And bowsprits - are they in or out? Last year BMW ORACLE turned up with a bowspritted USA-87. This year USA-98 has none, while other teams have arrived in Valencia WITH bowsprits! Who's right, who's wrong? The fun has certainly begun.

$2m says you should learn how to sail cats!

With Russell Coutts and Paul Cayard announcing details of their new World Sailing League, there's never been a better time to be a catamaran sailor. With the prospect of 12 teams each of 10 sailors, travelling the world to contest a grand prix racing circuit with $2 million for the winner, it seems like a good time to brush up on your cat sailing skills. Or learn some if you don't have any!

Victory punch-up in Dubai

While Victory Challenge's new boat SWE-96 has arrived in Valencia to be readied for battle in the Louis Vuitton Cup this summer, the Swedes have been out in Dubai knocking 10 bells out of each other in the old workhorses SWE-63 and SWE-73. British veteran Chris Law has been Magnus Holmberg's sparring partner, and so fierce was the duelling that they knocked the transom off one boat! I bet the shore crew thanked the sailors for that one!

Larson and Spaulding win twice

For a team doing a part-time Olympic campaign in the highly-demanding 49er skiff class, Americans Morgan Larson and Pete Spaulding are doing pretty well. After winning a nailbiter of a Medal Race at Miami Rolex OCR Regatta, they just edged out the British team Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes for Gold. And to prove it was no fluke the Larson/Spaulding duo dominated the follow-on regatta, the North American Championships, winning with a race to spare. Not bad for a helmsman that is full-time training with the Swedish America's Cup campaign Victory Challenge in Valencia and Dubai, and not bad for a crew who is completing his studies at Purdue University, Indiana...

Paige Railey overdoes the kinetics in Miami

Paige Railey is one of the hot prospects for Gold in the Olympics next year, but only if she can curb her kinetic instincts. At the Miami Rolex Olympic Classes Regatta recently she fell foul of the three-strikes-and-you're-out rule in Racing Rule 42, which governs kinetic movements in sailing. She was thrown out of the regatta after the jury penalised her a third time. Railey is going to have to learn to sail within the limits of the rules (as perceived by the umpires). But at the same time this is a ridiculous and draconian measure for a relatively trivial infringement. By all means throw a competitor out of a race on the third infringement, but throw them out of the regatta? That's a little bit excessive, methinks...