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The RAID41 Distance Cruising Racing Dinghy
Latest info on the Ubeaut Woodwork Forum
This
is a boat design I am currently working
on. A single person distance racing/cruising boat. that can head
away for a reasonable period, be fast enough around the buoys to be
interesting or carry an extra person for daysailsThere is a prototype on the way. Once I know the hull goes together I will be close to releasing the plans.
I am hoping it will be light enough to get onto a car roof rack and narrow enough to fit inside a 4ft Box Trailer.
Originally it was conceived as an expedition sailing boat that was within the strength of one person on shore and on the water. This creates quite severe restrictions on hull volume. Wide powerful boats become very tiring when they have to be righted from capsize or dragged ashore by one person or rowed against a headwind.
An extra person was planned to be ok for daysailing or shorter cruises.
It is derived from my experiences with two of my flat bottomed boat designs.
The sailing canoe BETH and the Goat Island Skiff.
These two boats proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that a simplified hullform could be made to sail very quickly indeed upwind and down with very little fuss and no slamming into waves at all. Videos.
So we took lessons about rocker, bottom shape and volume distribution from those and a number of other boats.
One of the other inspirations is a bit surprising.My original thought about this boat was for RAID type events, but what I didn't understand is just how specialised and complex the boats have become and how hard the crews are working.
However there is another way to spend time.
Earlier this year three of the little box shaped PDRacers finished a gruelling sail for 200 miles up the coast of Texas over a 5 day period.
They are the three chaps in the pic - Andrew Linn, Jason Nabors and John Wright. That's one of the Puddleducks (they were in separate boats)
Anyway ... they and everyone else had a great time travelling separately during the day but meeting up in the evenings to camp together. I suspect the puddle duckers spent a lot more time sleeping than most with their 10 to 12 hours on the water each day.
The point is to participate. So the thoughts of the OZ Woodwork group moved toward a cruising or expedition boat
with the idea of something simple enough to build but faster than the
PDRs.. Also with a self draining cockpit to save energy should one
capsize.The idea is to participate in a boat that is not a slouch, but not too much heavier or more complex to handle. That can be rowed OK if necessary too.
Anyway ... point is ... the ideas were settled and they then pressured me to make good all my comments by putting something together.
So am working furiously on a plan that just seems to grow and grow. The first prototype RAID41 is underway in the wilds of Scotland, built by the legendary Chris Perkins. (I threatened him with "legendary" inspired by some of the photos of his area)
The
owner of the boat is Brian Pearson, who will club race out of Keyhaven
in the UK (just past the Western mouth of the Solent) and race to
participate in a number of RAID type events. Brian has excellent technical knowledge of lug rigs because of weekly racing in the Lymington River Scow Class - pic right. Even I learned a thing or two after years of professing to be some sort of expert!
Brian has agreed to be the registrar for the RAID41 Class