Should the Flying Fifteen look at Carbon rigs?

World Champion Charles Apthorp tells us his views, reveals the secrets of his hull and takes a swipe at the K6

The current Epsilon is quite light for the size and weight of the boat and the gain from switching to carbon may only be 1-2 kg or less. The gust response required for a keelboat is different from a light dinghy and the boat will tend to point rather than drive off and plane. Eventually the change will come when suitable sections are available at the same or similar price. But I have seen a huge difference in prices for carbon masts, and until the major manufacturers are able to price their product at lower levels it would not be sensible change.

The FF is a tactical racing boat, the performance is more than adequate for its purpose. You could make various changes which would reduce the elapsed time around a course from 100 min to 98, but it could reduce the closeness of the racing which is the main strength of the class. The other point is the FF has a very good all round performance across light to very strong wind. As you know it is robust, at the last worlds we were racing in 35 -45 knots without any problems with gear failure. I cannot imagine sailing any of the new designs in 45 knots and big waves with a spinnaker and getting home in one piece. Further one boat had a serious collision and flooded one tank, (Russell Coutts' brother), and was able to sail 11/2 hours back to harbour without assistance.

The combination of strength, internal buoyancy and subdivision ought to be a significant issue in a keel boat where you may be racing without rescue boat cover. None of the new boats could survive a major collision, do you think this is an issue? Lastly the modern FF is much faster than people think. When I sailed against a K6 it was left miles behind. At Cowes Week the FFs were blasting around while it had big problems with the weather.

Also my record for going through the gates of Grafham to the start of a race, including putting on a dry suit but having someone else take the trailer, is 23 minutes! We ought to have a race to see who can arrive, launch and sail to a nearby mark. I know who will be there first, it will not be a lifting keel boat - and they take exactly the same amount of water to launch.

I think carbon masts will become the standard in time and it is likely that when the change comes it will be difficult to buy a aluminium one as the whole industry will switch over as occurred in windsurfer masts. The advantages are obvious, but the present issue is cost and availability,which will be solved when someone produces a machine to churn them out cheaply. I really don't think the cottage industry approach will work long term in established classes where there are 2000 and boats to service, you will end up with 5-10 people with the 'right mast' and the rest with dross. You need to avoid having to buy 3-4 masts to get a decent one, see the Finn class.

Reply from Malcolm Morley
Charles Apthorp is clearly an extremely talented FF sailor and knows how to tweak and tune this boat which is far from being an "out-of-the-packet one design", however he is obviously very mistaken about the K6. Firstly he claims the FF to be faster than the K6s.... I don't think so. The K6s are certainly quicker than RS400s which sail off a yardstick of 952. The FF on the other hand has a yardstick of 1026. As a sportsman and fellow HISC sailor I am certainly happy to wager the requisite pint of beer on the race which is required! Secondly... could the K6s cope with Cowes Week? The only thing that broke on the K6s was our rudder stock and as a result of that LDC have resupplied the entire fleet with a redesigned version. (I don't think you can ask for better customer care than that.) Everything else was up to the job, and that is pretty impressive for a new class given the weather at Cowes Week 2001. The K6 is completely self draining and very much at home in the big waves of the western Solent! A quick search of Google using the words "flying fifteen cowes week 2001 sunk" will reveal tales of sinking and dismasting... I don't think we had it as bad as that and we sailed in Black Group! The K6 is so good that it is bound to attract some flack from the other keelboats. Quicker than the FF and less than half the weight of Laser's new keelboat! I look forward to seeing what Peter Bentley thought of the K6 when he sailed one recently.
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