Saturday, January 23, 2016

You Want Capsizes? - 12-Foot Skiff

Many knowledgeable pundits, especially those from the Antipodean region, consider the two man 12-foot skiff the most difficult dinghy to sail. I, never having seen one, will concur readily after seeing this video.

4th rig refers to the smallest racing rig for the heaviest air. The 12-foot skiff allows different rigs to be switched in and out depending on the wind strength.

(Those of the older generation might want to turn down the annoying, droning techno-beat sound track.)



3 comments:

Keep Reaching said...

Great video. That is about as close as I plan to get to one of those contraptions - they look incredibly difficult, at least in that amount of wind. These are apparently good sailors always on the knife edge of wipeout. And Antipodeans are usually good in high winds/big waves.

Anonymous said...

The boat looks like a New Zealand Q Class. The equivalent Aussie 12' won't have wings or a self draining cockpit.
The 12' I crewed in the late '80s had a timber mast and we were only just learning to get the skipper on trapeze, so today's versions amaze me.
Mike w

Tweezerman said...

Thanks Mike W. So the Q class is slightly different from the 12-foot skiff. I thought they still race an Inter-Dominion regatta between Australia and New Zealand. Can you race rack NZ Q class vs non-rack 12-footers?

I've always wondered about the utter randomness of NZ letter naming; the M class being a larger 20' or so, I think clinker keelboat, the P-class being the beloved snub-nosed junior trainer, the Q class being the balls-to-the-wall 12 foot skiff, the R class being a Q class with a one-design rig.... you get the idea