Dart 15 Forums

I am currently racing a Finn but used to race a Dart 18. I found that we could not compete in anything under a steady force 3 (the handicap at the time was 798) in a PY handicap fleet of Albacores and Wayfarers. I have been missing my cat sailing and am now finding the Finn hard work as I am underweight at 13.5 stone and not as agile as I used to be so was thinking about a Sprint 15.

The question is at what minimum wind strength can the Sprint 15 compete on PY handicap with monohull dinghies in a mixed fleet. I have noticed that the PY is now 20 points up from the last time I raced cats ( the Albacore is also 30 points down).

We sail on the Clyde, so tidal sea sailing usually flat water as the prevailing wind is offshore. All racing here is PY based.

Any comments would be appreciated.

The answer would be buy the Sprint 15 and sail it in all weathers. Sometimes the handicap will suit you, other times it won't. But is should be fair over a series.

And when people see how much fun you are having they will all want one then you can have a fleet of proper boats racing.

Thanks for the reply. What I am looking for is the wind strength that you can get the windward hull out of the water on a beat while hiking out. We have our racing in the evening so the average wind tends to be lighter.

Yes it is hard to compete against monohulls in force 2 and less. This tends to be compensated by having a very strong advantage in force 4 and over. At Grafham our Wednesday evening series takes place through the Summer evenings over about 20 nights with the usual start time of 7pm (but the first few early and last few at 6.30). Sprint 15s often win the overall series but this is helped by the series format (7 races to count). What tends to happen is the Sprint 15 sailors get 10 or so evenings in which they can win. The light wind evenings they have to satisfy themselves with competing against other catamarans.
I'll post a link to some results you can look at in a minute.

I hope it helps.

Regards

Bob Carter

Here are some links to results of the Grafham Wednesday evening series

2017

https://www.grafham.org/wp-content/uplo ... verall.htm

2009

https://www.grafham.org/wp-content/uplo ... s-2009.htm

2018

https://www.grafham.org/wp-content/uplo ... verall.htm

It looks like only Stuart Snell has been taking part recently but he has won 2 times. Older results show a bigger group taking part and getting more podium places but these have been taken off the website.
Regards
Bob

Keep the Finn (or better still a Phantom) for sub 10 knots and sail a Sprint in the stronger winds.
Then you get the best of both worlds. As Bob Carter says, with F4+ the Sprint really comes into its own and is delightful to sail.
However, unless you have other cats to keep you company like at Shanklin, frankly it's not much fun in light winds against monos.

At 14.5 stone, I find the hull will lift around 13-14 knots upwind, but I do sail with jib and trapeze mostly.