Bandit Watch - A thread long overdue.

There was a kewell green one at the dinghy show I remember, one of the stand out boats this year, it and the Aura, another tragedy, wasted in a market that thinks 200+ people sailing a GP14 is a good thing.

so true... although the rest of the boats all got off the beach unaided (at least once)

The 'problem' for that particular boat being no good for a big guy's single hander was volume distribution (and to a lesser, non-cherub compliant extent) the low freeboard from those big stupid wings.  

There's no point having a cassette rudder if you can't stand near the back to put the fecker down.... even if you can somehow weight the front down enough to climb over the transom and hoof it forward quick enough to stop it back flipping.  Let's not get going on the capsize recovery- unseaworthy, simple as.

Volume isn't something that features in the lexicon of dinghy sailors too much, well not compared to windsurfers anyway.  Something I've learned to my (exorbitant) cost.    I guess well just assume there's positive buoyancy in most dinghies and any semi-reasonably designed craft would get the distribution in vaguely the right place through the prototyping phase.  

I've no idea what the volume distribution's like in other newer cherubs, but it's worth noting they've all been designed as two handers for two people, not a hybrid like the boat I selected, so it's not an issue once you've got a second set of hands and half your crew weight forward.  FWIW - I've had contact from a number of respected cherub sailors who said quite categorically that a '97 would have made a far better platform for a singlehanded project- more stable, typically larger BWL...  I guess it pays to get a second opinion before buying something.      

It didn't look like that when all of the the Blazes and Phantoms went past me in my Finn as if I was standing still in the Draycote Dash Pursuit race a couple of years ago 

+1  The answer is none and, IMO, the only time handicaps work is across a series!

Fireball, 420, Contender in a blow but rubbish in the light.  Finn, Albacore and even Wayfarer when it's light!   Thank god that 90% of my limited sailing is class racing 

Science, its great GRF but I never ever found that when I had a Laser and sailed in a PY race on the sea. As soon as the wind got up a little bit the trapeze boats disappeared into the distance only to be seen on the beach quite some time later. Never would have thought of a Laser as a bandit.

It seems that peoples definition of a bandit does end up resulting in those classes that out-perform their nominal RYA rated PY in certain wind conditions. A Phantom will always do better in light airs than its PY and vice versa. The Finn generally is the other way round compared to the Phantom. Similar for the Contender too.

I always find it amazing that those screaming "bandit" at the Phantom for all those years that the PY was starting to move downwards never raised a murmur at those events when it was blowing and the Phantoms got stuffed on PY. 

As I have already said on this thread the only time a boat could be called a bandit is if it has been updated within its existing rule set and the PY has not caught up yet. This does not last long for most classes, and certainly shouldn't last long at club level at all and with the improvements in the returns procedures the PY's will adjust even quicker. I don't think that there is a genuine bandit boat out there because of this. So long as returns are made appropriately, then anything that has its nominal speed increased due to improvements to hull, sails, rig, etc, is not a bandit as they will be adjusted accordingly. It will take time, but it will happen. 

A "bandit boat" only exists in the minds of people who moan about the relative performances of boats in different wind/tidal/wave events because they can't beat the other boat. Stop moaning about it and get something done by getting your club to adjust the PY's. I don't go to a windy event moaning about the performance of a 420 or Contender labelling them as "bandits", I go out there to enjoy it for what its worth and accept that I stand no chance of beating them unless they fall in more than me.

I agree with Rodney about the series thing as well.