The Cherub is a two-person 12 foot racing dinghy with asymmetric spinnaker and twin trapezes. Just twelve feet long, weighing around 70kgs fully rigged for sailing, the Cherub combines spectacular performance with the “on the edge” handling characteristics only found in true lightweight skiffs.
Originally created in New Zealand by John Spencer in 1951, Cherubs are mainly sailed in Australia and Great Britain, with a growing fleet in France. As well as this, boats can be found as far away as Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, the USA and Portugal.
The Cherub rules are simple and allow for maximum flexibility for designers, allowing boats to be created to incorporate sailors own ideas. Also means the class develops over time as techniques, materials and ideas improve. All this makes the Cherub is one of the most interesting and innovative of all dinghies: The challenge extends from the sailing skills to setting up the boat to suit the sailor, and maybe even designing and building, too.
Cherub sailing is the real thing: True planing performance upwind, but then turn the corner and you’re in for the ride of your life….
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Sunday dawned with a little less breeze than Saturday blowing from the south. After a slight delay the course was set….. a small beat followed by a tight 2-sailer, then another beat to a broad reach to a too tight for the kite reach to another too tight for the kite reach to a beat back to the start/finish line. Atum had gone home to catch up with work, but in their place an RS700, a 29er and another 505 had come to play. The first race of Sunday, race 3, started in on/off twinning conditions with Mango at the head of the fleet with the fireballs and 505's. An unplanned dip on one of the tight tight reaches meant that mango was still crossing tacks with the Enterprise fleet (who started 2 minutes before) at the end of the first lap. Once the second lap started Mango found her feet and broke clear of the fireballs and 505's but couldn't gain ground on the RS700 due to the reaches being too tight to carry the kite. The wind was slowly increasing throughout the race with some interesting gusts now being prevalent on the course resulting in a boat or two being upside down on the course somewhere at any given time. On the final run the RS700 fell in on a gybe leaving Mango to pass and gain line honours.
Race 4 started off immediately after Race 3… the course was the same zig zagging snake trail, the wind was now in the mid to high teens, the water was still flatter than flat, perfect cherub conditions. A good first beat from Mango saw them round with the leading 505 and fireball. A gust on the tight 2 - sailer saw them break free from the fleet and pass the Enterprises soon up the next beat. Thus Mango sailed their own race sailing for the breeze and keeping clear of boats beating up the runs. Some cracking gusts downwind enabled Mango to put some distance on the chasing fleet. Line honours to Mango again with the leading fireball from Saturday trapped in the melee.
Race 5 followed another delicious lunch in the clubhouse. The wind had built a little further with lulls becoming a rarity and the occasional ragging of the main upwind. Mango capsized 30 secs before the start on a tack but most of the fleet were early and sailed down the line to the unfavoured shore end so being late at the favoured end wasn't much of a disadvantage. A big spinnaker twist that took an age to pull free saw us mid fleet just before the first tight 3 sailer. It soon became clear that the tight 3 sailers were now very VERY tight. The marks had been moved to make it more of a challenge, this coupled with the increase in breeze meant that only 2 legs out of 8 were kiteable. But there was enough wind for it not to matter. By the end of the 3rd lap Mango had passed the leading 505 and only had the RS700 in front. We got hooked into even bigger gusts on the final run and reach and really reeled back the 700, he was within 15 boats lengths at the final leeward mark. Unfortunately for the 700 his mainsheet jammer gave up on the final beat resulting in a swim for him giving line honours to mango.
The line honours also equated to 3 firsts on handicap (we were sailing off 920) for Sunday giving first place in the handicap fleet to Mango with Gordon and Ruth Evans in a fireball second and a well sailed Laser4.7 3rd.
All in all another well run event from Corus SC, especially helped by the cracking breeze and flat flat water. The courses weren't windward leeward and were very small compared to what has become the class norm in recent years but it was exceedingly enjoyable and does wonders for your boat handling/manoeuvring skills. Hopefully a few more cherubs will venture there next year.
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The line honours also equated to 3 firsts on handicap (we were sailing off 920) for Sunday giving first place in the handicap fleet to Mango with Gordon and Ruth Evans in a fireball second and a well sailed Laser4.7 3rd.
All in all another well run event from Corus SC, especially helped by the cracking breeze and flat flat water. The courses weren't windward leeward and were very small compared to what has become the class norm in recent years but it was exceedingly enjoyable and does wonders for your boat handling/manoeuvring skills. Hopefully a few more cherubs will venture there next year. <html>
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