Mike Ewart

Thanks for the clarification Darin ,or for bringing the relevant advice to our attention

I sailed Geoff Raygadas Cerberus on its first outing ad was particularly impressed on how well she went to windard

Thanks she is lovely to sail as well, I have been lending her to Mike Kemp at our recent A class sessions

I am reluctantly selling Sonamara first registered in 1994, she was designed and built by CW Sykes she is a wooden planked 19.8kg A class, still competitive in a blow but cannot really cope with the drifters. Those who knew Mr Sykes are aware of the quality of his design and build, Sonamara is all wood and in good but not unmarked condition, I recently revarnished her but did not replace any planks etc so she still shows a few battle scars, she is complete with twin whirlwind winches and 2 A suits one lighter than the other and a B and a C suit, she has a carbon mast and a current certi

I am certainly not one to move you away from the six metre for obvious reasons, in your situation I would go for a Rococo, easier to build than a Romanza and a popular and good all round design, I personally prefer the Ravenna but pundits do tend to prefer the Rococo

The Cerberus by Frank Russell is a nice middle of the road design there was one out at our club for its maiden voyage on Saturday I was impressed with its windward performanc, there are some other designs around, The Romanza from Sails etc, there are also designs from John Lewis book worth looking at. Where do you intend to sail,as the club you choose could alter the class you sail, there archaeology 3 displacement classes out there, the six metre, the A class and The 36 R class and you really need to be sailing the same class as your chosen club

Hi Martin contact me on my home phone n the yearbook mid!and s DSM

Hi Ian I have also looked at this and wondered it looks reminiscent of John Lewis's challenge from the 70s but not sure

Looks nice but why didnt you make it measure as a six or an A the true test of any performance is in comparison to others by an approved measuring system

Hi I am sure Oliver also did a 1 1/2 metre yacht not too many made but sailed nicely intended I think as a one design class

Bill Green is the six metre A class registrar

Hi it is generally held that the longer , that is deeper , fin will give more fighting moment, most people reduce sail area as the wind strength increases

I used a trim tab net frisky but I use spectrum and they have a 3 position switch, I tied fairs settings but the only one I found any good was At one 3 to 5 degrees

Johns book does have some interesting designs with brief notes on why he went the way he did but, seriously the A is to me one of our most underrated classses, it does not need to be modern it can vary in weight from less than 10 kilos up to 19 or 20 kilos, and they certainly are so graceful on the water, there are some very pretty designs out there and when you consider the cost of a top one metre the A is a cheap boat, I am an ex International Canoe sailor and the A and the 6 ( my other love) are very similar.

Richard, I would say that a removable fin and a tin box would be.my preferred route it makes it much easier to change things in the future, apart from my humble opinion GB nearly always used a fin box, imitation/flattery