Hi Nigel
You ment the one with the wishbone rig with the squared off sail. It also had short wings I think. I remember seeing an advert for it in Y&Y along time ago. Bulberous bow was I think first tried out on dinghy,s by Shaun Cox on his Dragon design which was the first of the narrow INT Moths way back in the Seventies.
Cheeers Al
The other Shooting Star also came as a cruiseing version with a small cabin/cuddy.
watch out
Chris,
No... the 'hoop' for the trapeze came off the wishbone boom - i allowed you to move aft without the attendant pull forward that can easily unseat a crew out on the wire.
And now...... for all those lovers of the flat nosed american 'scow' hull shape..........
Nigel could well be onto something with the Dorchester connection.
Why?
The Shooting Star incorportated a number of 'innovations' first seen on a boat at the IYRU trials at Dorchester Beach (ie, Weymouth!!). One of these was indeed a locally designed boat.... it could have been called the Tracker though from the picture I've seen of it it had something like 'Widget 3' signwritten on the hull. I've no doubt Chris will looking into his detailed records and tell us the real name. It was sailed by a local - Bobby Turner (maybe Towner, hard to read the writing).
Think..... a 15 - 16ft long American scow shaped hull, with this large windsurfer style rig, all controlled from a damn great gantry mounted on the transom. Oh great...where's best to heap all this extra weight...right aft????? No wonder it didn't 'go'. The other design anomoly was a sliding seat mounted...yes, you've got it - right aft as well. A bizzare looking beast unless you like the scow shape then you'd think it neat!!!!
Neither it, nor Bobby 'Turner' bothered the scorers overly much nor were they heard of again. But..... so many shared features with the Shooting Star which also hailed from the same location..... maybe too much of a co-incidence.
David
No... the 'hoop' for the trapeze came off the wishbone boom - i allowed you to move aft without the attendant pull forward that can easily unseat a crew out on the wire.
And now...... for all those lovers of the flat nosed american 'scow' hull shape..........
Nigel could well be onto something with the Dorchester connection.
Why?
The Shooting Star incorportated a number of 'innovations' first seen on a boat at the IYRU trials at Dorchester Beach (ie, Weymouth!!). One of these was indeed a locally designed boat.... it could have been called the Tracker though from the picture I've seen of it it had something like 'Widget 3' signwritten on the hull. I've no doubt Chris will looking into his detailed records and tell us the real name. It was sailed by a local - Bobby Turner (maybe Towner, hard to read the writing).
Think..... a 15 - 16ft long American scow shaped hull, with this large windsurfer style rig, all controlled from a damn great gantry mounted on the transom. Oh great...where's best to heap all this extra weight...right aft????? No wonder it didn't 'go'. The other design anomoly was a sliding seat mounted...yes, you've got it - right aft as well. A bizzare looking beast unless you like the scow shape then you'd think it neat!!!!
Neither it, nor Bobby 'Turner' bothered the scorers overly much nor were they heard of again. But..... so many shared features with the Shooting Star which also hailed from the same location..... maybe too much of a co-incidence.
David
David H
Hi David,
I have a blurry picture and a line drawing of the SS. It is dificult to say for sure but it does not look overly aft biased. trapeze ring starts just in front of the mast and extends back maybe 4-5 ft.
Not sure exactly how it fits together (Maybe the diagram came from IKEA!). Not clear if the ring is just for sitting on or if you trapeze off it. Happy to scan and mail.
One interesting note is that the original sail area of 12.1 sq m was reduced to 10 sq m to bring it within the IRYU class.
By the way, the sail number in the picture is 5. Almost as prolific as the Unit
.
Best Regards,
Nigel
I have a blurry picture and a line drawing of the SS. It is dificult to say for sure but it does not look overly aft biased. trapeze ring starts just in front of the mast and extends back maybe 4-5 ft.
Not sure exactly how it fits together (Maybe the diagram came from IKEA!). Not clear if the ring is just for sitting on or if you trapeze off it. Happy to scan and mail.
One interesting note is that the original sail area of 12.1 sq m was reduced to 10 sq m to bring it within the IRYU class.
By the way, the sail number in the picture is 5. Almost as prolific as the Unit
.Best Regards,
Nigel
NIgel,
I've seen that picture too! From the look of it the trapeze take off, by coming from the wishbone, is very low, would be a not very pleasant experience in waves as each time the hull moved over the crest you'd get pulled back into the boat.
If your picture is the same as mine then you can see that the aft sections are a straight lift of the Fireball.
I'm off to Weymouth either next week or the week after, while there I may check local records to see if Mr Bratt is still around, if so I may tap him up for some info to go into the store.....
It still looks to be a pig in a poke though!
D
I've seen that picture too! From the look of it the trapeze take off, by coming from the wishbone, is very low, would be a not very pleasant experience in waves as each time the hull moved over the crest you'd get pulled back into the boat.
If your picture is the same as mine then you can see that the aft sections are a straight lift of the Fireball.
I'm off to Weymouth either next week or the week after, while there I may check local records to see if Mr Bratt is still around, if so I may tap him up for some info to go into the store.....
It still looks to be a pig in a poke though!
D
David H
Hi David,
I could not tell if it was a low trapeze point or just some mini stays for the mast. The line drawing shows the stays with a particularly solid stay to the bow. I guess it would make sense for a trapeze wire to come from the same point. The aft sections look decked with a very high chine. If you find anything particularly an actual boat) I would be very interested.
Best Regards,
Nigel
I could not tell if it was a low trapeze point or just some mini stays for the mast. The line drawing shows the stays with a particularly solid stay to the bow. I guess it would make sense for a trapeze wire to come from the same point. The aft sections look decked with a very high chine. If you find anything particularly an actual boat) I would be very interested.
Best Regards,
Nigel
Whippet was the name. Apparently it reached well but that was it. It was only 12 feet long, but then again the Moth and Solo were short and did surprisingly well. But Bratt seemed to have a good attitude; he tried lots of new ideas but unlike some people on the fringes, he respected the conventional boats.
Funny thing was that in many ways Whippet wasn't that much different to a US prototype of the '80s (the DDS) which was said to be a ground-breaking trail-blazing new-world experiment.
The Shooting Star's plans clearly show that the "trapezing circle" was mounted on the hull and was designed to allow the crew to get further outboard and "stand where he wishes without being tipped off balance by the alignment of the gun'l relative to the mast."
Funny thing was that in many ways Whippet wasn't that much different to a US prototype of the '80s (the DDS) which was said to be a ground-breaking trail-blazing new-world experiment.
The Shooting Star's plans clearly show that the "trapezing circle" was mounted on the hull and was designed to allow the crew to get further outboard and "stand where he wishes without being tipped off balance by the alignment of the gun'l relative to the mast."
Shooting Star - something that makes a brief flash and then melts away completely...
maybe that wasn't the smartest of names!
Its funny, but the use of a wishbone boom on a radical dinghy design is pretty much a definitive identifier that you are looking at something that is all ideas and no thought, if you see what I mean. Why it should be I'm not quite sure, goodness nows it works well on sailboards.
maybe that wasn't the smartest of names!
Its funny, but the use of a wishbone boom on a radical dinghy design is pretty much a definitive identifier that you are looking at something that is all ideas and no thought, if you see what I mean. Why it should be I'm not quite sure, goodness nows it works well on sailboards.
Chris and Jim,
Yes...that was it - the Whippet! I've a picture of it tearing along on a reach - even then it still lokks wrong! I think the biggest issue was with the sliding seat being mounted so far aft - unless they had problems with the scow bow digging in!
As for the Shooting Star - Jim, I think you were spot on. The theory behind the mid -sail boom is good, it reduces twist, as was the hull concept.
INteresting though that in the following 40 years no one else has gone down either of these routes......
D
Yes...that was it - the Whippet! I've a picture of it tearing along on a reach - even then it still lokks wrong! I think the biggest issue was with the sliding seat being mounted so far aft - unless they had problems with the scow bow digging in!
As for the Shooting Star - Jim, I think you were spot on. The theory behind the mid -sail boom is good, it reduces twist, as was the hull concept.
INteresting though that in the following 40 years no one else has gone down either of these routes......
D
David H
I'm amazed how often I've seen it said that wishbones are wonderful because the act as sheet AND vang. In boards, of course, we're often troubled by exactly that fact; you can't adjust twist separately.
That's not knocking wishbones per se; my brother put one on his 38' cruising cat and it works brilliantly in that application.
That's not knocking wishbones per se; my brother put one on his 38' cruising cat and it works brilliantly in that application.
I've owned several Tonics over the years, and the problem with the wishbone was adjusting outhaul. In the end I worked out a system for moving the boom up and down the mast, which allowed the sail shape to be changed. In concept, of course, it is no different to the American sprit boom, which is used in hundreds of cruising boats.
Rupert