flying scot sailboat single hand

FLYING SCOT

The Flying Scot Is The Perfect Daysailer Racer!

It's great for sailing with your family. You can sail her with the spinnaker or without, or with motor.

The Scot's performance offers thrills to even the experienced sailor and provides for tight, competitive racing. There are more than 100 fleets racing Flying Scots in the United States. The Scot is normally raced with a crew of two or three, but can be single-handed as well. It can also carry as many as eight adults. The sail plan consists of main, jib and spinnaker. Simple rigging and uniform construction fosters tactical racing.

Fleet 36 sails from the Squadron on Saturdays , typically twice per month.

Michael R. Wing

Daysailers, pocket cruisers and other small sailboats.

Daysailer Designs

I love small boats!  I always have, ever since I was a kid.  If you gave me a mega-rock star’s money I would not buy a bigger boat, although I might buy some nice waterfront real estate to sail from.  But even if you love the small boat you have, you might like the looks of some of the others and be curious about them.  (There’s a reason they call boats “she.”)  The following are my notes from a life of noticing and sailing small boats.  I am arbitrarily not considering anything longer than twenty feet or weighing over one ton, or sailboats used only for class racing. 

“Daysailer” can mean any sailboat that’s not in a race or on an overnight cruise.  It also means a specific 16’ 9” sloop designed by Uffa Fox which was mass-produced in fiberglass by the O’Day company in Fall River, Massachusetts and is still made today by Cape Cod Shipbuilding.  I own one of these, built in 1963.  So from now on DaySailer will mean the boat designed by Uffa Fox and “daysailer” will mean a boat you sail for a few hours at a time.  A pocket cruiser has a small cabin with berths for sleeping, which mine (kind of) does.

A major division in these boats is between those with centerboards and those with keels.  You lose versatility when you put a fixed ballasted keel on a sailboat.  Keel boats are heavier, slower and more expensive than centerboard boats.  You can’t run up on a beach and step out onto the sand, which for me is part of the fun of sailing.  You avoid shallow water.  You need to tie up to a dock, or use a tender to get to and from the shore.  They may fit on a trailer, but because of their draft and weight it’s a chore to trailer-sail them.  However, they are safer in strong wind because they won’t capsize.  They have more room, and a steady motion.  Once a sailboat gets over 20’ long, rail meat isn’t enough to keep the boat upright.

Don’t buy a new boat unless you have to.  New boats are expensive compared to used ones, which sell for 10% – 50% of the price of new.  Any fiberglass boat can be restored to a “practically new” condition with a few weeks of work.  All fiberglass boats end up in landfills eventually, so by purchasing a used one you reduce waste as well as save money.  And the production boats designed years ago are at least as beautiful and functional as those being designed today.  Some of the most popular small sailboats ever were designed fifty or sixty years ago and have been made continuously for decades by more than one builder; the hull mold and production rights passing to a new company whenever the old company folds.

The Alcort Sunfish and other popular “wet” boats:  The Sunfish and the Laser have a lot in common.  They are identical in length (13’ 9”) and nearly identical in beam, draft, weight, sail area, price, and popularity.  Today they’re even made by the same company, LaserPerformance , but that wasn’t always true.  The Sunfish was designed by Alcort, Inc. and produced by Alcort for decades.  With its colorful striped lateen sail, tiny footwell of a cockpit, and flat fish-shaped hull it didn’t look anything like any other boat.  The designers had previously build iceboats, then experimented with paddle boards.  The Sunfish has won many design awards.  It is the most-produced fiberglass sailboat ever.  The Laser is more of a performance boat.  Even though it is wider than the Sunfish, its round-bottomed hull and tall rig make it faster and tippier.  Both boats have been produced by the hundreds of thousands.  On both boats, you are just inches off the water with little protection from getting splashed.  They aren’t for winter sailing.  A third boat in the “wet and popular” category is the Hobie 16 catamaran.  There’s no cockpit; you sit on a fabric trampoline.  Multihulls are inherently fast but their width makes them awkward to handle at the dock or on a trailer. 

The DaySailer was marketed as the “boat that launched 10,000 weekends.”  I have not sailed mine that many times yet, but I’m closing in on 100.  For me, it’s a right-sized boat: small enough to single-hand, big enough to take a few guests comfortably, fast enough not to be boring, with good-looking curves.  The cuddy cabin deflects spray and provides a place for tired children to rest.  I sleep overnight sometimes, head-forward under the cuddy on some camping foam pads with my feet sticking out into the cockpit.  She draws only a few inches with the board raised so you can sail up onto a sandy beach.  When the tide falls while you are on shore, the boat is light enough to push back into the water.  The DaySailer’s 145 ft 2 of sail area are really too much for my northern California climate, where winds in the double digits are the norm.  When I sail alone or on windy days I reef the main before I go out and use a smaller-than-standard jib taken from a 14-foot O’Day Javelin.  Then when the wind gets really hairy I slacken the main sheet, leave the tiller, go up on the foredeck and drop the jib and secure it.  The boat naturally heaves to in this situation and is quite stable.  Jib secured, I go back to the tiller and sail under reefed main alone.  She’s fast and well balanced under all these sail configurations. 

One other caveat – I keep my boat on the shore with the mast stepped all the time.  I don’t trailer-sail it and if I did that 25’ keel-stepped aluminum mast would be a problem because I cannot raise and step it by myself.  Even with two people it’s tricky.  If I was going to trailer-sail I would get a boat with a shorter, lighter mast. 

The DaySailer was the model that made the O’Day Corporation prosper but they built smaller and larger boats too, up to 40 feet long.  The O’Day Javelin is the DaySailer’s 14-foot little sister; it looks different because it has no cuddy cabin but sails similarly.  Even smaller than that is the 12-foot O’Day Widgeon .  The DaySailer’s twin big sisters are the Rhodes 19 and the Mariner .  The Rhodes 19 looks a like a larger, two-and-a-half-foot-longer DaySailer with a cuddy cabin.  The Mariner has the same hull as the Rhodes 19 but it has a real cabin for overnight cruising with a bulkhead separating the cabin from the cockpit and a big V-berth below with storage space, room for a small camp stove, etc.  The Mariner and the Rhodes 19 are both available with either a centerboard or a fixed ballasted keel. 

There have been over ten thousand DaySailers built, and several thousand each of the Widgeon, Javelin, Rhodes 19 and Mariner models as well, so you see these boats everywhere.  A rarer cousin of these is the 15’ 8” O’Day Ospray (yes, that’s Ospray with an “a” not “Osprey”.)  This boat is only a foot shorter than a DaySailer and looks just like one except that the mast is stepped forward of the raised domed cuddy cabin instead of through it.  The cuddy cabin is smaller.  I don’t know why O’Day bothered to build a boat so similar to its best-seller and they only did it for a few years.  I have only ever seen one of these.  The Widgeon, Javelin and Ospray are no longer built but Cape Cod Shipbuilding still builds DaySailers and Stuart Marine in Maine builds new Mariners and Rhodes 19’s.

West Wight Potter P-15 :  I had one of these boats when my kids were small.  It looked like a bathtub toy, but in a good way.  There are famous stories of people making long ocean passages in them, but really if you want to make a long ocean passage a 15-foot centerboard dingy is not the best way to do it.  A boat with a ballasted keel is.  If you absolutely have to go on a blue-water voyage in a dingy this is probably the one to use.  Most P-15 owners trailer-sail them on lakes and bays and they are very good for that because they don’t weigh much and the mast is stepped on deck and is only 15’ 6” tall and is thin also so it’s easy to put the mast up.  The mast is so short because the “simulated gaff”-rigged mainsail is compact and wide for its height.  The mainsail is in the shape of a gaff sail plus a gaff topsail, with a sturdy batten taking the place of the gaff boom.  Plus, the boat is under-canvased (main + working jib = 98 ft 2 ) compared to other boats of similar size and weight.  This was rarely a problem for me, sailing in windy northern California.  On the occasions when it was a problem I just put on a big genoa jib.  The reason the boat is under-canvassed is that it was originally designed to sail in the waters around the Isle of Wight, in English Channel, where it’s blowing a gale most of the time.  Strong winds and choppy conditions are built into this boat’s DNA, which is funny because today they are produced by International Marine in southern California where the wind is much lighter.

I miss sailing dry (the Potter deflects spray efficiently) and I sure do miss those two big 6 ½ foot-long berths down below.  The Potter is faster than she looks like she would be; I had no complaints about her speed.  I did find the cockpit uncomfortable.  The P-15 has a lot of big boat features and one of these is a self-bailing cockpit.  This means the floor of the cockpit is above the waterline, which makes the cockpit quite shallow.  I don’t have very long legs but I wished for more legroom.  It was like sitting in a bathtub.  And the cockpit coaming didn’t make it easy to sit on the rail.  As my kids grew there wasn’t room in the bathtub for four people anymore.  So I traded up to my O’Day DaySailer.  Then my kids lost interest in sailing.  Oh well, the DaySailer is a great boat too.  Some other “big boat” features I could have done without are the bow pulpit (what’s it for?) and the bulkhead between the cabin and the cockpit.  I like a more open arrangement.  But if I were a trailer-sailer I would go back to the Potter in a heartbeat because it’s so easy to wrangle on and off the trailer. 

The same company also builds the P-19 which is more than twice the boat even though it is only four feet longer.  One difference between them, besides size, is that while the P-15 has a typical centerboard that pivots backwards and up, the P-19 has a 300-lb. metal daggerboard that goes straight up and down.  So even though this boat only draws 6” with the board up, you can’t just sail towards the beach until the board bumps.  You have to slowly raise it using a winch.

West Wight Potters, especially the P-15’s, hold their resale value much better than most boats.  I sold mine for more than I paid for it.  Many owners keep them in their garages and polish them obsessively, so used Potters are often in Bristol condition. 

Some pocket cruisers similar to the Potters (but with deeper drafts) are the Montgomery 15 , the Montgomery 17 , the Com-Pac 16 and the Sage 17 . In the 1960s and 1970s the MacGregor Yacht Corporation produced thousands of Venture-21’s,and their little sisters the Venture-17’s .  These were inexpensively made trailer-sailers with ballasted swing keels, big cockpits, low headroom in the cabin, and very few frills.  They are not pretty by anyone’s standard (they look like skinny Clorox bottles with sails), but if your budget is tight they can be had for next to nothing. 

The Herreshoff 12½ and its relatives: (12 ½ refers to the waterline length; the boat is almost 16’ long overall.)  Nathaniel Herreshoff, its designer, was a member of a prominent family of naval architects and yacht builders in Bristol, Rhode Island.  He designed many of the America’s Cup defenders of the Gilded Age and the early 20 th century.  Those elegant yachts were his inspiration for this charming little gaff-rigged sloop.  It was conceived as a safe and stable boat for beginners and children.  It has been in continuous production since 1914.  Today you can buy one from Cape Cod Shipbuilding or from Ballentine’s Boat Shop , also on Cape Cod (where they call it the Doughdish) but there are used ones, in wood or fiberglass, all over New England.  Warning: these boats aren’t cheap.  Expect to pay what you would for a car.  The Herreshoff 12½ has a fixed ballasted keel with 735 lbs. of lead in it that draws 2’ 6”.  It must be the smallest keel sailboat in common use.  There is no cabin, but some people have used it for overnight cruising by rigging a boom tent and making a bed on the cockpit sole, which of course has no centerboard trunk to divide it in half.  Of all of the boats I’ve never had or sailed, this is the one that most calls to me.

Two and a half feet of draft is too deep to land on beaches, so designer Joel White modified the design to make the Haven 12½ which is almost identical to the Herreshoff 12½ from the waterline up.  Down below it has a centerboard, but also a shallow keel.  The Haven 12 ½ draws a foot less than the Herreshoff 12 ½ but weighs about the same.  So it still draws 1’ 6” with the board up and weighs well over half a ton.  It’s not obvious that this is enough of an improvement to make it truly beachable.  The Bullseye has the same hull as the Herreshoff 12½ but has a more modern Marconi sloop rig and a cuddy cabin.  Cape Cod Shipbuilding produces the Bullseye.  The Paine 14 is a scaled-down version of the Herreshoff 12½ that looks similar above the waterline but has a carbon fiber mast and a modern fin keel and less wetted surface area, so it performs with more zip. 

The Cape Dory Typhoon has been called “America’s Littlest Yacht” although maybe the Herreshoff 12 ½ deserves the title more, being even littler and being designed by a famous yachtsman.  But the Typhoon has a proper cabin complete with a bulkhead that separates it from the cockpit and a sliding hatch, sleeping berths below, round portholes in the cabin trunk, teak cockpit coamings, winches for the jib sheets, and all the other details of a much larger keel boat.  Plus, Carl Alberg designed it with elegant, understated lines.  Several thousand of these were made, a few as daysailers without the cabin, but Cape Dory no longer exists as a company.  My uncle Eddie had one of these on Lake Michigan. 

As long as we’re on the subject of keel boats, the Cal 20 is ubiquitous where I live on the west coast.  I learned to sail on a Cal 20 when I was seven years old, in San Diego Harbor, steering a course between the aircraft carriers and the Hobie cats.  The Cal 20 is a stocky little boat with a 7’ beam.  My father always said it developed a “vicious weather helm” when the wind got too strong but I’ll bet this problem can be solved by reefing the main – I don’t remember if he ever did that.  Used Cal 20s are easy to find and the seller is usually motivated to sell because the slip fees at a marina in the San Francisco Bay Area or Los Angeles are often more than the boat itself is worth.  You have to keep it at a marina; it’s no trailer-sailer. 

Traditional Catboats : These are heavy, wide, and slow with deep round cockpits, oval portholes on the cabin trunk and one huge gaff mainsail on an unstayed mast that’s right up at the bow.   They have their origins as utility boats for clamming and fishing on Cape Cod.  They look salty at the mooring but they are not as exciting to sail as more slender sloops.  They have a lot of room for their length, though.  No one model or manufacturer dominates this category.  The Marshall Marine Corporation on Cape Cod makes the 15-foot Sandpiper, the 18-foot Sanderling and the Marshall 22.  Arey’s Pond Boat Yard (also on Cape Cod) makes traditional catboats 12’ and up, with their 14-footer being the best-selling model.  Florida-based Com-Pac Yachts produces a line of trailerable gaff-rigged catboats 14-20’ with less wood trim that are more affordable then the high-end boats that Marshall and Arey’s Pond makes.

Beetle Cats , however, are catboats that are nimble sailers.  The design of this lightweight (for a catboat) 12-footer goes back to 1921 and four thousand of them have been built.  There are plenty of used ones available but you can buy new ones in wood from Beetle, Inc. on Cape Cod and in fiberglass from Howard Boats , also on Cape Cod. 

The Drascombe Lugger and its many relatives are triple-propulsion boats: they can be rowed, sailed or powered by an outboard motor in a built-in motor well.  It should go without saying that design compromises mean that they are not high-performance sailboats, rowboats or motorboats.   They are traditional looking open boats with a Gunter rigged mainsail and a small mizzen.  They are made in the United Kingdom so even though more than 2000 have been produced there are not a lot of used ones available in North America.  Expect to pay top dollar or even to have to buy a new one, unless you live in the UK.  There is no cabin on the Lugger but people use them for beach camping on extended cruises because they have plenty of storage space and shallow draft.  Their design is based on traditional English fishing boats that had to be beachable.  The Lugger is 18’ 9” but Drascombe makes many other models including the 15 ½ – foot Dabber and the 21’ 9” Longboat, all essentially the same except for the size.  The Norseboat 17.5 , “the Swiss Army Knife of boats”, made in Canada, is a modern alternative.  It is advertised as a sailing/rowing boat but with a beam of just 5’ 2”, round bilges and low freeboard it looks tender.  I would sail it in light air; I’m not sure how it would do in a gale. 

Cornish Crabbers and Shrimpers are also based on traditional fishing boats, and are also made in England.   However, most of these are heavy keelboats that violate my “not more than twenty feet and not over one ton” rule.  Even the popular 19’ Shrimper is really over 22’ with the bowsprit and weighs over a ton.  Also, since they are made in England there are not that many of them available in North America, unless you want to pay for a new one. 

Flying Scot: I used to sail one of these.  I single-handed it and found that this boat is really too big and powerful to single-hand very well.  The mainsail was bigger than a barn door.  Mine had no reef points.  I would come screaming back to the dock at the end of the sail thinking “geez, I sure hope I can stop this beast…” It’s not tippy, just has a lot of power.  You could water ski from one.  The company that makes them, Flying Scot, Inc . is located on a small lake in western Maryland; maybe it’s not very windy there.  Also, there is no place in the cockpit or forepeak or even on deck to lay out a sleeping bag for an overnight; it’s strictly a daysailer and racer.  That’s unusual for a boat that is 19’ long and almost seven feet wide. 

Cape Cod Mercury Sloop: Don’t confuse this with the 18’ “Mercury Class” boats; this boat is 15’ long.  It is a favorite with camps, sailing schools and community boating programs but it looks kinda generic and institutional – I don’t think that many people buy these for their own personal use.  At least all the ones I’ve ever seen have been in institutional fleets.  Come to think of it, there are other sailboats like that, the Flying Junior for instance.  Cape Cod Shipbuilding makes Mercury Sloops. 

Whitehalls are rowing boats.   They were originally water taxis in New York City.  So they are light in weight, and have narrow beams and low freeboard.  Today you can get Whitehalls with sail rigs but these light, narrow, low hulls aren’t ideal for sailing.  I would only sail one in gentle conditions, and gentle conditions are uncommon where I live.  Whitehall Rowing & Sail and Gig Harbor Boat Works (both in the Pacific Northwest) are two companies that produce them with sail rigs. 

So there you have it – every boat has a story that explains why it looks the way it does.  Many of the stories have happened on or near Cape Cod.  If you live there, you are lucky to be surrounded by all these pretty boats. 

Poem: Sailing Alone – by Michael Wing

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Flying Scot

One-Design Showcase

About the Flying Scot

The Flying Scot Sailing Association is a thriving independent organization of owners that work hard to support the strict one-design nature of the design and sponsor numerous events nationwide. Our builder, Flying Scot, Inc. Supports the class with the new boats and replacement parts. For boat information contact them at 800-864-7208 or check out their website at  flyingscot.com .

Class Information:

Class Contact: Tyler Andrews

Class Contact Email: [email protected]

Class Website: flyingscot.com

Class Phone Number: 301-334-4848

Class Specs

LOA:  19 ft.

Beam:  6 ft. 9 in.

Draft:  4 ft.

Weight:  850 lbs.

To see a schedule of upcoming events,  click here .

To see results from past regattas,  click here .

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Flying Scot vs. Lightning vs. Interlake

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I am considering purchasing one of these three sailboats and would like to get an opportunity to sail them before purchasing one of them (I live in Michigan). Has anyone sailed more than one of them to be able to compare? Which would you recommend for all around daysailing ? I would like to try sailing the boat on Lake Huron, and on inland lakes in Michigan.  

From sailing them as a kid, I can tell you that a Lighting is a lot of work and is a wet boat. It is also not a boat that you would be able to single hand comfortably in anything but very, very light air.  

Flying Scot Personally I chose the Flying Scot. I don't think you could go wrong with either (or a Thistle). I have never sailed a Lightning but watch them at my club. The Flying Scot is a simpler boat. The Lightning has many more 'tweaks' you can do. The Flying Scot is a 'sit-in' boat with real bench seats. I believe the Lightning is a 'sit-on' boat - no backrest. Are you interested in racing? Then you might want to see what the dominant fleet in your area is. The Lightning is a bit higher performance. The Flying Scot is a good all round boat, but doesn't really shine against other classes until the wind pipes up. If you are just day sailing, a couple of other boats to give a thought to are the Boston Whaler Harpoons, the Buccaneer, and the O'Day Day Sailer. What part of Michigan are you in? You might want to check the Flying Scot association ( Flying Scot® Sailing Association, Inc. ) and find a local fleet and see if you can hitch a ride through them. All of the boats mentioned have pluses and minuses. Really depends on your experience, how many are sailing with you, what are their ages, and what you are looking for. I love the Flying Scot as it is pretty stable, comfortable for my non-sailing wife and two young boys (4 + 6), durable, and still has performance to race.  

Thanks to both of you for replying. I am now in my sixties and think a boat that is not quite as challenging as a Lightning might be best for me. I guess I am now leaning more to a Flying Scot or an Interlake. Both are popular in Michigan. I am hoping to hitch a ride on each of these in the Spring. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has sailed both a Flying Scot and an Interlake.  

One advantage to the Flying Scot is that it is easy to get replacement parts from the builder, and the builder keeps a stock of parts on hand. With the Lightning and Interlake, an older boat may be built by a company now out of business, so any replacement part from another builder may not fit and may have to be modified to work. The Interlake came with two different styles of decks - one that had seats so you could sit in the boat, and one without seats where you sat on the deck. According to the Portsmouth Handicap numbers, the Lightning is the fastest (87.0), then the Interlake (89.1) and the Scot (89.6). The Lightning has a much larger spinnaker, which helps to give it the edge. So for casual sailing, the boat speeds are fairly close. I've sailed both the Interlake and the Scot, but I sailed the Interlake 40 years ago, and the Scot around 20-25 years ago.  

I do not have anything to add concerning the three you mentioned, I think the comments and distinctions made are accurate. All are fine boats. But I would caution you away from the Buccaneer... they are fast and fun, but tender and a real handful... great for racing but not the best for casual daysailing. I do own an O'Day Daysailer... a bit smaller at 17 feet (OK for 4 but no more) but easy to find, inexpensive to buy, easy to trailer and launch (my mid-50s wife and I can be in the water in 15 minutes) and parts are readily available. Performance is (comparitively) on the leisurely side but it will plane in a good wind. The Rhodes 19 is another in this general class that may be worth a look if you found one available.  

I vote for the Flying Scot I've sailed the Scot ( a lot ) and the Lightning ( a little ) and never sailed an Interlake. Having said that, I vote for the Scot for the following reasons: Easy sailing boat, and in my opinion less work to sail than the Lightning, and more forgiving. I've taught many dozens of new sailors how to sail on a Scot, and believe me - they did everything wrong one could imagine, but the boat didn't. It is very hard to capsize, it can be fast, it can be raced or daysailed (one friend even cruised on a Scot for three weeks), and the company that builds them is a great operation to deal with. If I was in the market for a daysailor, I'd go buy a used flying scot in a heartbeat.  

I've sailed both Lightnings and Flying Scots. Ended up buying a Flying Scot because it was a lot easier to sale and it was more fun for me (just a personal opinion). The Lightning is faster, but if speed is not high on your list, the Flying Scot is comfortable and safe. If was designed in Port Clinton, Ohio to be a day sailor for Lake Erie, and if you ever got caught in a sudden storm on Lake Erie (I did coming back from Put-In-Bay on my Scot), you will appreciate how the boat handles rough seas.  

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Starting, Boat Speed, Strategy – Flying Scot Clinic and Regatta

Want to improve your starting, strategy, and boat speed? At the George Washington Birthday Regatta (GWBR) in February 2022, David Ames and PJ Buhler led a clinic on Friday, sponsored by MAD Sails and Luxe Realty. On the racecourse, they gave another “clinic,” winning the regatta.

Here are the key insights on starting, boat speed, and strategy from the clinic. We confirmed the wisdom of these insights with examples from the on-water clinic and the regatta. David also shared written notes on tuning and boat speed. Links to the notes are provided below.

David Ames and PJ Buhler have been sailing together since their early teens. In 1994, they won the Laser 2 world championships. In 1995, they won the U.S. double-handed youth sailing championship and were second in the Laser 2 world championships. They started sailing the Flying Scot about five years ago and have placed consistently well, winning the 2021 NACs.

Watch the clinic video or read the summary below with added notes in italics.

Starting (00:00 in the video)

• Win the race from the beginning
• Favored end
• Get to the first shift first
• Get out ½ hour before the start; slightly longer if you’re new to doing this. Conserve energy – don’t go out too early.
• Don’t reach up and down line unless there’s a purpose. Stay in center and look upwind frequently.
• With a long line, you can be ahead by boat lengths at the start.
• On a lake with a long line, check wind from each end of the line, either alone or with a buddy
• Where is the wind pressure? Look for hints to the next pressure and shift. If wind is in one phase, look for clues that the other phase is coming in.
• Position in middle until ~two minutes, then choose a side.
• Find layline to desired start position.
• Get on the layline at ~one minute and protect your position.
• Re-do observations.
• Discuss what you can do better in the next race.

Regatta Note on Starting

David and PJ demonstrated their starting skills in the regatta with fairly consistent good starts. In the first race, they started at the favored port end of the line and punched out enough to tack and cross boats. They then tacked back to starboard on a slight header and consolidated their position.

Strategy (11:50 in the video)

There was a brief discussion about strategy. David gave his approach to lake sailing.

• Sail the lifts; don’t chase pressure over the lake.
• It’s Ok to take a short hitch from a lift to get to pressure.

Clinic and Regatta Notes on Strategy

We saw a good example of strategy on the last beat of Race 5. Jeff and Amy Linton rounded the leeward mark in 1 st place. David/PJ rounded in 6 th . For the first half of the beat, everyone sailed on the lifted tack (starboard) in decent pressure. Then David tacked and sailed a long port to the right side of the course. Jeff sailed further on starboard but then also tacked and sailed a long port to the right. The remaining boats in the lead group stayed on starboard, which appeared to be lifted most of the way up the beat.

For a while, it looked like both Jeff and David would lose ground on the others. However, they finished 1 st and 3 rd respectively. After the race, we asked why they took the long port. They both said they saw more wind on the right and that they were able to sail a decent heading on port to get there. Jeff added that he uses his best heading on each tack as a reference. If he’s at the best heading, he almost never tacks away. If he’s below the best heading but still lifted, he will look for pressure and oncoming shifts and then decide whether tacking is the best option.

Boat Speed (12:40 in the video)

• Setting halyard tension based on luff wrinkles.
• Let windward jib tales flutter slightly to take height
• Trim the main and jib harder to stall the leech ribbons 20% of time
• Lock jib telltales streaming back
• Ease main and jib slightly to get flow off the leech
• Use the vang to control twist when you ease the mainsheet
• Don’t cleat the mainsheet – work it constantly
• When unsure check leech ribbons and luff tales
• Big factor in helm balance. You want a little weather helm to keep the boat tracking, especially in lighter air.
• 5-7 degree angle of heel seems to be best for the Flying Scot.
• Play with this and find sweet spot.

Clinic and Regatta Notes on Boat Speed

During the on-water clinic, the wind was light. It was easy to see the boat speed improvements when David and PJ reminded sailors about angle of heel and properly trimming the main sail. In the regatta, David and PJ clearly had good boat speed, both upwind and down. From our observations, one difference was in the transitions. You could see them creep up on other boats when the wind changed.

Flying Scot Tuning and Boat Speed Notes from David Ames

Settings and Techniques to Maximize Boat Speed 10 to 15 kts Settings and Techniques to Maximize Boat Speed 3-6 kts Improving your Flying Scot Settings and Techniques to Maximize Boat Speed 15 to 20 kts

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JUST ADD WIND, WATER AND FRIENDS!!!

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• Sailboat Guide

1984 Flying Scot Day Sailer

• Description

Seller's Description

Standard features

Contact Lawrence at SixFourSix-ThreeZeroZero-TwoThreeSixSix

Boat is located in Huntington, New York.

I offer my Flying Scot for sale for $12,000.

The deal would include not only the boat and all its gear but the trailer, a fiberglass dinghy that I have used to get out to the boat, and preparation for launching by the boat yard.

New Scots cost about $30,000.

The Flying Scot is a fiberglass day sailer designed in 1957, and intended for a crew of 2 or 3, although I have usually sailed it single-handed.

It is 19’ long, weighs about 800 pounds, has no extreme features, is unusually stable, and is quite comfortable to sail.

The boat has superb sailing qualities.

Despite its moderate design, it is unusually fast for its size and sails well in all conditions.

It is especially fast in light airs, when you need only 5 knots of breeze to go sailing.

Also so good downwind that I’ve never bought a spinnaker.

In 15 knots with a full crew she also planes easily.

The Flying Scot class, with about 5000 boats, is one of the largest one-design sailing classes in the country.

The boat is used for both day sailing and racing, and there are racing fleets active in many locations all around the country.

Built in 1984, my boat is #3976.

I bought it in 1999 and have since used it only for weekend day sailing off a beach in Huntington Bay, on the north shore of Long Island.

On these waters, I can usually outpace all other sailboats, except for catamarans.

Construction is robust.

I have encountered only minor maintenance problems, but these have been easy to fix because the Flying Scot company stands behind the class.

They can mail you parts quickly.

While my boat is generally in good condition, to race it competitively would require buying new sails and smoothing the bottom.

Aged almost 80, I am selling the boat mainly because it has become too much boat for me to handle single-handed.

I expect to get a smaller day sailer, and I continue to sail and race on larger boats.

I attach a recent photo of my boat on her mooring off my beach in Huntington.

www.boatblast.net/112448/Flying-Scot-Day-Sailer-Huntington-New-York

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

The DAY SAILER II is an updated version of the original DAY SAILER and featured positive foam flotation and a self-bailing cockpit. A MKIII version was built from 1985-1990 (which is not considered class legal for one-design racing).

This listing is presented by SailboatOwners.com . Visit their website for more information or to contact the seller.

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