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history:history [2013/06/25 15:55] – external edit 127.0.0.1 | history:history [2023/03/15 18:03] (current) – dave_ching | ||
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- | ===== The Sixties and Earlier ===== | ||
- | {{ boats: | ||
- | The Class grew in popularity in New Zealand, and then spread to Australia. Apparently the first Cherub to reach Australia did so carried in a Flying Boat being flown by one Frank Bethwaite, a name that appears elsewhere in this story. | ||
- | The Cherub was the first significant design from John Spencer, and many would put it as the starting point of the whole Antipodean Sailing boom. The Cherub grew very fast in New Zealand in the 50s, about 450 boats in the first 8 years. This was mainly due to what was effectively a partnership between Sea Spray magazine and John Spencer. Sea Spray allowed Spencer almost as much space as he wanted to provide publicity and `how to' construction articles. In fact for a time Sea Spray was the official Cherub HQ, keeping the sail number register, and being the central point for all correspondence from the town associations. | ||
- | {{ boats: | ||
- | This was all in spite of a certain amount of oppostiion from the administrators, | ||
- | The Cherub was a considerable influence on other classes. The 14ft NZ Javelin was virtually a straight enlargement of the Cherub. Frank Bethwaite' | ||
- | The Class was introduced to the UK in the 1956 when boats were built by McCutcheon' | ||
- | {{ boats: | ||
- | In the 60s Cherub design in the UK was very much in the mainstream of dinghy design at that period. A Cherub hull of that era tends to look pretty much like a baby Scorpion. In the late 60s the first of many infusions of antipodean ideas occurred. John Spencer' | ||
- | The theme in design through the next few years was beam. The only restriction on beam was that the boat should be no more than 5 feet at mid length, and boats of this era flared out a great deal after that. One result of this was that if the boat was allowed to heel a lot the poor crew was left attempting to stand on a gunwale that was sloping steeply towards the bow. Large and solid foot stops to brace the front foot against were a common feature! At least two UK boats had a maximum beam in excess of 6 feet, giving something close to Merlin-Rocket proportions. | ||
- | The Cherub Class International Association was formed in 1967 with membership comprising the New Zealand Australian & UK Associations. | ||
- | ===== The Early 70' | + | ===== The 21st Century |
+ | In 2001 various individuals in the fleet tried twin trapezing, and reported favourably. Members with long memories remembered when this was tried and rejected in 1989, but a dispensation was made official in October 2003. A simple ballot to establish a trajectory was held in 2004 and twin trapezes were approved. | ||
- | Russell Bowler won the first (1970) World Championships, | ||
+ | There followed a dispensation to allow bigger spinnakers and then a ballot to increase the upwind sail area to 15.5sqm and the spinnaker to 21sqm in early 2005. Numbers are growing and techniques have changed but the Cherub remains true to John Spencer' | ||
- | In 1970 the International Association adopted a package of rule changes. The most significant was the adoption of a larger jib, taking the area of main and jib up to about 110 sq. ft, and the replacement of the wire luff spinnaker with a more conventionally shaped sail, but still set from the 9 foot pole. The Cherub started to get a reputation as an extremely rapid boat when the wind was blowing hard. UK boats of this period were typically fairly wide and deep Veed designs, with less rocker than most classes, but still had a good deal of rocker by modern standards. | + | ====== 1997 rules Change ====== |
+ | In 1997 the Brits elected for a further simplification of the measurement rules, and, with the impact of the new SMOD semi-skiff types, also elected to increase the sail area slightly to 12.5 sq.m. fore and aft, 15sq.m. spinnaker. To compensate for this increase in area the maximum beam was increased to 1.8m. The hull rules were simplified and the rather type forming rise of floor mesurement was removed and replaced with a narrower minimum distance between the chines. To help the upgrade of older boats and maintain the ballence of the rig a 30 cm snout was allowed. These changes stimulated a number of new designs exploring the new hull shapes made possible. | ||
+ | {{ boats: | ||
+ | ===== The UK Cherub 1984 ===== | ||
+ | From 1981 to 1984 there were no new Cherub designs in the UK, due to a package of rule change proposals under consideration. These were adopted by the UK Class Association (but not the Australian or New Zealand Associations). in 1984, and the following designs are all to these rules. The revised rules relaxed the mid-length chine restrictions, | ||
- | At this time in New Zealand there was a lot of crossover between the Cherub and the unrestricted rig Q Class (now merged with the 12' skiffs). Quite a number of boats were rigged for both classes, and Bruce Farr designs were amongst the most successful in this form. The Kiwi Farr 3.7 trapeze singlehander provides a good idea of the sort of shape of these boats. | ||
+ | The initial bunch of new rules designs tended to have both the narrower chine beam and a greater rise of floor. Whilst they all seemed to be able to go quickly at certain times and in certain conditions none really established a dominance over the old rules designs. Perhaps the nearest to demonstrating extra speed was the Deeley V, with a fine straight entry and plenty of rise of floor. Reputedly designed " | ||
- | ===== The First Worlds in the U.K., 1974 ===== | + | A couple of further minor rule changes occurred at this time. The most significant was that false floors, and thus fully self draining boats, were permitted. Although British Sailors went to the 1990 Worlds in Australia they borrowed local boats. At this time the Australians were all sailing Wop developments, and design innovation seemed to be limited. |
- | The 1974 Worlds | + | The real breakthrough came with what was in fact a sort of evasion of the rules. By drawing a boat with the rise of floor measurement falling on the flaring topside, rather than at the chine, Alistair Cope and slightly later Dave Roe designed |
- | {{ boats: | + | |
+ | {{ boats: | ||
- | The beamier boats started going out of favour. The Forman 4 et al were still wider than tended to be fashionable during | + | 1991 saw the introduction |
- | In the late 70s the UK boats started getting very much flatter, to the extent that some UK boats in the 1978 Worlds | + | Meanwhile in Australia |
- | One shouldn' | + | In 1995 there was a surprise development in Australia. Iain Murray & Associates designed a Cherub to the UK rules, complete with asymmetric spinnaker, for Hugh Treharne (Tactician on Australia 2 in 1983 amongst other achievements) |
+ | The 1995/6 worlds saw the new rules UK boats competing against the Australians for the first time. Unfortunately the top U.K. sailor, Dave Roe, suffered an appalling run of bad luck, breaking every spar on the boat. In the only two races he finished without gear failure he was second to one of the IMA Sports Cherub designs, and in two other races he lost a spar whilst in second place. The Sports Cherub, called by that name, won the regatta easily, counting four firsts and a second. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The Australians and New Zealanders have adopted asymmetric spinnakers in 1997. However the Australians were adamant that the rigs should continue to be basically one design, and that the hulls should remain at the original rise of floor measurements, | ||
===== 1980 Worlds - Felpham, U.K. ===== | ===== 1980 Worlds - Felpham, U.K. ===== | ||
+ | The 1980 Worlds in the U.K. were again dominated by Aussies and Kiwis. The fastest Aussie boat, Wop, was a particularly boxy design with very minimal rocker and a flat transom, coupled with a very fine bow. This boat would have won the worlds but for a disqualification in a protest hearing. The Wop design and its NZ development, | ||
+ | The Worlds were won by an Iain Murray design, Flat Stanley, and Iain is, of course, another designer who has gone on to considerable prominence after an early association with Cherubs. | ||
- | The 1980 Worlds in the U.K. were again dominated by Aussies and Kiwis. The top Aussie boat, Wop, was a particularly boxy design with very minimal rocker and a flat transom, coupled with a very fine bow. This boat would have won the worlds but for a (well deserved) disqualification for barging at a mark. The Wop design and its development, | + | ===== The First Worlds in the U.K., 1974 ===== |
- | The Worlds were won by an Iain Murray design, | + | The 1974 Worlds |
+ | {{ boats: | ||
- | ===== The UK Cherub 1984 ===== | + | The beamier boats started going out of favour. The Forman 4 et al were still wider than tended to be fashionable during |
- | From 1981 to 1984 there were no new Cherub designs in the UK, due to a package | + | |
- | The initial bunch of new rules designs tended to have both the narrower chine beam and a greater rise of floor. Whilst they all seemed to be able to go quickly at certain times and in certain conditions none really established a dominance over the old rules designs. Perhaps the nearest to demonstrating extra speed was the Deeley V, with a fine straight entry and plenty of rise of floor. Reputedly designed " | + | In the late 70s the UK boats started getting very much flatter, to the extent that some UK boats in the 1978 Worlds |
- | A couple | + | One shouldn' |
+ | ===== The Early 70's ===== | ||
- | The real breakthrough came with what was in fact a sort of evasion of the rules. By drawing a boat with the rise of floor measurement falling on the flaring topside, rather than at the chine, Alistair Cope and slightly later Dave Roe designed boats that were even narrower on the waterline than any before, but were flat floored with low rise of floor. Dave Roe's Italian Bistro proved to be a major leap forward in design, planing faster and earlier than anything else in the fleet, and managing to combine that with docile handling and surprisingly good weight carrying ability. | ||
- | {{ boats: | + | Russell Bowler won the first (1970) World Championships, |
- | 1991 saw the introduction of bowsprits and an increase in spinnaker size. This inevitably meant asymmetric spinnakers. A year or so had been spent in intense development until the final rule was defined (during which twin trapezes were tried but rejected), which gave a sail of a nominal 140 sq. ft, (actually about 150-160 sq.ft.). This, coupled with the new flat narrow hull shapes has led to a boat with quite astonishing offwind performance in medium breezes. | ||
+ | In 1970 the International Association adopted a package of rule changes. The most significant was the adoption of a larger jib, taking the area of main and jib up to about 110 sq. ft, and the replacement of the wire luff spinnaker with a more conventionally shaped sail, but still set from the 9 foot pole. The Cherub started to get a reputation as an extremely rapid boat when the wind was blowing hard. UK boats of this period were typically fairly wide and deep Veed designs, with less rocker than most classes, but still had a good deal of rocker by modern standards. | ||
- | Meanwhile in Australia the International Association had elected to update the fore and aft rig to a more modern layout based roughly on the UK rig. Surprisingly perhaps, however, they elected to make the sails a tight one design, rather than adopting the looser restrictions used in the UK. The Australians have also adopted self-draining hulls. | ||
+ | At this time in New Zealand there was a lot of crossover between the Cherub and the unrestricted rig Q Class (now merged with the 12' skiffs). Quite a number of boats were rigged for both classes, and Bruce Farr designs were amongst the most successful in this form. The Kiwi Farr 3.7 trapeze singlehander provides a good idea of the sort of shape of these boats. | ||
- | In 1995 there was a surprise development in Australia. Iain Murray & Associates designed a Cherub to the UK rules, complete with asymmetric spinnaker, for Hugh Treharne (Tactician on Australia 2 in 1983 amongst other achievements) | + | ===== The Sixties |
+ | {{ boats: | ||
- | The 1995/6 worlds saw the new rules UK boats competing against the Australians for the first time. Unfortunately the top U.K. sailor, Dave Roe, suffered an appalling run of bad luck, breaking every spar on the boat. In the only two races he finished without gear failure he was second to one of the IMA Sports Cherub designs, and in two other races he lost a spar whilst in second place. The Sports Cherub, called by that name, won the regatta easily, counting four firsts and a second. | ||
+ | The Class grew in popularity in New Zealand, and then spread to Australia. Apparently the first Cherub to reach Australia did so carried in a Flying Boat being flown by one Frank Bethwaite, a name that appears elsewhere in this story. | ||
- | The Australians and New Zealanders have adopted asymmetric spinnakers in 1997. However the Australians were adamant that the rigs should continue to be basically one design, and that the hulls should remain at the original rise of floor measurements, | ||
+ | The Cherub was the first significant design from John Spencer, and many would put it as the starting point of the whole Antipodean Sailing boom. The Cherub grew very fast in New Zealand in the 50s, about 450 boats in the first 8 years. This was mainly due to what was effectively a partnership between Sea Spray magazine and John Spencer. Sea Spray allowed Spencer almost as much space as he wanted to provide publicity and `how to' construction articles. In fact for a time Sea Spray was the official Cherub HQ, keeping the sail number register, and being the central point for all correspondence from the town associations. | ||
+ | {{ boats: | ||
+ | This was all in spite of a certain amount of oppostiion from the administrators, | ||
- | ====== 1997 rules Change ====== | ||
- | In 1997 the Brits elected for a further simplification of the measurement rules, and, with the impact of the new SMOD semi-skiff types, also elected to increase the sail area slightly to 12.5 sq.m. fore and aft, 15sq.m. spinnaker. To compensate for this increase in area the maximum beam was increased to 1.8m. The hull rules were simplified and the rather type forming rise of floor mesurement was removed and replaced with a narrower minimum distance between the chines. To help the upgrade of older boats and maintain the ballence of the rig a 30 cm snout was allowed. These changes stimulated a number of new designs exploring the new hull shapes made possible. | ||
- | {{ boats: | ||
+ | The Cherub was a considerable influence on other classes. The 14ft NZ Javelin was virtually a straight enlargement of the Cherub. Frank Bethwaite' | ||
- | ===== The 21st Century ===== | ||
- | In 2001 various individuals | + | The Class was introduced to the UK in the 1956 when boats were built by McCutcheon' |
+ | {{ boats: | ||
- | There followed a dispensation to allow bigger spinnakers and then a ballot to increase | + | In the 60s Cherub design in the UK was very much in the mainstream of dinghy design at that period. A Cherub |
+ | The theme in design through the next few years was beam. The only restriction on beam was that the boat should be no more than 5 feet at mid length, and boats of this era flared out a great deal after that. One result of this was that if the boat was allowed to heel a lot the poor crew was left attempting to stand on a gunwale that was sloping steeply towards the bow. Large and solid foot stops to brace the front foot against were a common feature! At least two UK boats had a maximum beam in excess of 6 feet, giving something close to Merlin-Rocket proportions. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The Cherub Class International Association was formed in 1967 with membership comprising the New Zealand Australian & UK Associations. | ||
===== Credits ===== | ===== Credits ===== |