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There's a hornets nest of missinformation. CCA like many of the U.S. offshore cruising clubs encouraged the use of small boats offshore. Just like today, during the period of the CCA rule, the fleets that raced in offshore races were a mix of outrageously expensive custom race boats, and production racer cruisers. Class winners in the Bermuda Races routinely include production boats with boats as modest as Beneteau First 40.7's and various J-boats having won their classes.
The boats in the 1979 Fastnet disaster were early- IOR boats, boats that I think anyone who has studied the disaster would agree were boats that for a variety of reasons were a poor choice for offshore work due to deviations in good design practice, which, like the aberant design principles that resulted in CCA rule, were were chosen to beat a the then popular racing rule.
If you read Adlard Coles who was very familiar with the race rules that were in effect in this period, he marvels at how much more seaworthy, albeit less motion comfortable the IOR boats were as compared to the RORC and CCA boats that preceeded them.
But yacht design did not stop 30 years ago at the time of the 1979 Fastnet Disaster. The Fastnet Disaster lead to the reseach that lead to greatly improved understanding motion comfort and seaworthiness. Over the 30 years since, much of that research has flowed into the design of racing rules (IMS/IRC) that truely encourages and produces boats with greater seaworthiness and motion comfort. If you read Ted Brewer he checked out during the era of the IOR and states that he never made an effort to understand what was going on with the newer rules.
As I have said before, these days, just like in the CCA era, once again, there is a proliferation of new racing rules out there and many of these produce extremely fast boats, but they are not exactly exmplary designs, producing compromises that run counter to motion comfort, structural integrity, and seaworthiness for the sake of speed that beats some arbitrary racing rule. I am not a fan of the boats that have emerged out of these rules.
But the cruiser/racer designs that have emerged out of the IMS/IRC rules and the performance cruising oriented designs that have been designed incorporating the principles learned at the grand prix levels of the IMS/IRC and filtered down into normal production boats has produced boats that are extremely easy to handle across a wide range of wind conditions with exceptionally comfortable motion and excellent seaworthiness. You should try one of these newer designs in a blow.
As to single-handing the boats that derived from these newer rules. I own a very early IMS type design. I routinely single-hand it. She was single-handed from South Africa to Maryland in the early 1980's. I met a fellow who single-handed a 25 year old sistership of my boat from South Africa to the Carribean spending the first 10 days in 30-50 plus not winds and seas that he estimated exceeded 15 meters (mast height). He averated over 150 miles a day including passing through the duldrums and used less than 15 gals of diesel. I would sooner make that trip in my boat than almost any 10,500 lb boat from the CCA era.
So Seabreeze, stay locked in the past, and ignore the research, content with what you sail and that your love of CCA era boats even if that love flies in the face of the best designers of today, and designers of yesteryear like Olin Stephens. Wave your worn out banner and I'll wave mine, and I'll wave to you as I go by.
Cheers,
Jeff
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