The Raid Boat

Tad, I want to thank you for your blog which started me down this road. I don’t know if I’ll ever join the raid but I’m planning on it.

The Barefoot 517 is certainly in the spirit of an all out racing raider. I’m no hard core traditionalist but a carbon bowsprit?

Steve, thanks for the tip.

Gary

 

A two part photo essay of two men's participation in this years Everglades Challange is up at Duckworks Magazine.

May not be exactly like a raid (at least as I understand them) but it is one account of a long distance multi-day endurance type small boat 'race'.

 

Should this boat have a selfstanding rig? What sorts?

If not, I think the rig should have deadeyes from precourt, or the like (maybe just tie something into some eyes, but chafing is not good ...).

Sleeping: In the wayfarer, some people have made it so that the floorboards can be raised, and that way two people can sleep in it. But for balance, I think two people shoudl be able to sleep in the bottom, on floorboards to be dry.

Should it be ballasted? If so, then it shouldn't be much. Dragging it ashore should be possible.

Oars, it should be able to hold some long oars inside, imo, and not strapped to the deck.

Foredeck. Well it should have one, to keep things a little dry.

Okay, those are, of course, merely suggestions. Things I would like.

 

I have found a pdf of the rules for the Finland-raid. It both defines how that specific raid is supposed to run, but also sets limits on the specifics of the boats and what classes are in the raid.

You can download it here:

http://www.raidfinland.com/ENGLISH/Rules.html

 

DB, thank you for pointing this out, I had looked at them but not in detail. After reading them a second time I see they are well written. They don’t really set any constraints on the boat other than size and required equipment; I would like to adopt these rules with regards to The Raid Boat. If someone is not agreeable to this we can have a poll on it. Otherwise I will consider them adopted.

It would be fantastic to someday participate in Raid Finland.

Gary

 

Hehe, yes, me too. I hope that I am able to be in the blekinge-one (a swedish one) next year, and hopefully at sometime in the next couple of years in the finnish.

Oh, and the finnish one has a super-nice catboat for sale, it' 6,5mtrs, and is an american catboat. It's the "Cohiba"

I am mentioning this boat, both because it is nice, but it is also a totally different type of raid boat, and if you scan down the page my link refers to, there are some very different boats, all used for the raid - it might give people some ideas:

http://www.raidfinland.com/ENGLISH/rentals.html

 

Was the idea of a raid boat not interesting enough to everyone, or?

 

I had hoped the idea would take off but the interest seems to be small. I have limited knowledge of sail boats and none of high performance sail boats. I continue to play with my ideas they are better suited for a Sunday drive not a race.

Gary

 

Well, a Raid isn't a race as such, although it does have elements of it.

What if we made some suggestions, not just one, but a few different ones, for different types (different compromises)? Perhaps that would kick off some of the "real" designers, being provoked by bad design?

 

are the overall length min/max draft max and minmium weight standard for all raids? or are there diffrent specs for diffrent raids?

 

There are different specs, depending on the raid. Also, the different raids has different conditions to sail in. Some are rather long, slow and sunny, others can have pretty high winds (the Caledonian Raid, for instance).

But for all intents and purposes, it should be small and pretty light (so as to be able to be dragged onto the shorefron
Then again, though, everything is a compromise, and I would prefer sea-keeping to dragging ashore (more weight, baasically).

Even though most are a wee bit different in the rules, most are just about the same, only in detail do they differ. But it's rather open, the way it is done. Heck, in most raids you can even have a dispensation to participate in a boat that not live strictly up to the rule(s).

Andre

 

Currently there are few rules regarding boats that participate in raids. Each is unique and governed by it’s organizers.

Gary

 

Hehe, yes, that is a much more concise way of saying it

 

Andre, I now see that we had both posted I should have looked before I hit reply.
Gary

 

Raid experiences

To introduce myself:
I have been sucked in to the european raid scene a few years ago, and have participated in several raids.

It is true what has been said above, a 'perfect' raid boat for one raid may well fail in another raid, the outer conditions stretch from windy high seas to calm, sheltered canals.
The solution we have found, and think it is the only viable solution to all the conflicting requirements, not least for the necessary RCD compliance, is water ballast.

Raid organisers are very liberal when it comes to design details, but all are very safety conscious, so there always is a requirement for a safe, insurable design and buid, so this implicitly means 'RCD' compliance. I doubt that RCD-less pure race designs will be accepted in the more demanding raids.

But pre-RCD boats, that have proven their seaworthiness over many years will always be accepted. So I think from there comes an overall 'traditional' or 'Classic' look of most raids. Incredible when you see Norvegians rushing by in their 150 year old original boats. That's the true spirit.

Sure, you could turn up with a white plastic thing with carbon sails, and win by a fair margin, but I doubt you will enjoy that very much and make very many friends in the process.

A good modern raid boat therefore should maintain a traditional look. Underneath may be hightec, but to the eye it must be charming.

Hope this helps.

Claus