I understand the minimum weight of a Heron is to be 65 kgs.&nbsp; I just weighed our Heron which came in at 110 kgs including mast/gaff/boom but excluding the sails.&nbsp; When I was building this wood/epoxy boat a few years ago, I deliberately &#039;overbuilt&#039; it as I wanted it to be robust enough to stand the test of time and the abuse it would get in our bay.<br /><br />The questions I have are:&nbsp; <br />1) Is a weight of 110 kgs substantially over the weight of most Herons and by about how much?<br />2) Does anyone have an opinion on whether this extra weight will dramatically impact race performance?&nbsp; (for example, if sailing side by side with another Heron rigged the same in the same wind, would an extra 30 kgs really make much o a difference?)

Fantastic question - and one that I am sure will spark off some good debate. I don&#039;t know the answer...<br /><br />Like you, mine is grossly overweight (I&#039;ve never weighed it) - mine has also been over built as I was planning to cruise.&nbsp; I think there are probably quite a few boats out there in the same situation.<br /><br />I&#039;ve seen heron&#039;s with holes drilled through benches the only reason I can think of would be to reduce weight - so I guess some people think it might.<br /><br />There may be other factors to consider though - do you sail crewed?&nbsp; If you don&#039;t have a 30kg crew and the other boat does... ...that&#039;s actually where I think the whol PY debate and crewed / single handed falls apart a bit - we&#039;d be better with a weight restriction (i.e. minimum helm &amp; crew weight of 100kg or you carry extra weight [unless your hull is already over weight]).&nbsp; Although I do see that not havign a crew is a disavantage as you&#039;ll never get he turns as slick as when crewed etc.<br /><br />Getting back to the question - I also wonder if sailign conditions make a difference - either based around sea / inland water or the wind.&nbsp; I imagine a 65kg Heron is more tippy than a 110kg one if the wind gets up - so you may be at an advantage in stronger winds while I imagine the ultra-light boat would be advantaged in a gentle breeze.<br /><br />Only way i can think to test it scientifcally is to find two simillar light boats (same age sails etc) and on a good day race head to head, with one carryting extra weight and then swap the crew etc over... If you could measure straight line speed (GPS?) that would hep too.<br /><br />Clearly I haven&#039;t answered the question - just rambled - which is generally what I&#039;m good at... look forward to someone coming up with an answer<br /><br />Calum

Here is another question,<br /><br />Does the &#039;hull&#039; weight include the spars, rudder and standing rigging?<br /><br />Or is it just the weight of the &#039;hull&#039;?<br /><br />I am no measurer, but......<br /><br /><br />Steve Hawkins

QUOTE:
<br />Does the &#039;hull&#039; weight include the spars, rudder and standing rigging?

<br /><br />According to Rule 4.6:<br />

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<br />All types of hull when in racing trim with fittings and including the centre-board, <br />but stripped of all loose gear, eg sails, spars and rudder unless a specially strengthened <br />integral floor has been fitted (either during building or as a retrofit) the minimum <br />weight must include the floor boards.<br /><br />Minimum Wt: 63.7kg<br />

<br /><br />So that&#039;s reasonably clear - take the mast off, the boom out, sails and ropes out, and take the rudder off...!<br /><br />Calum

Just thought you might be interested to know that I just weighed Serendipity and taking an average of two measurements she's 109.5kg(108-111kg)!! Thats stripped of all her gear except the c-board.

As you saw she managed a middle of the fleet position at Kinvara, mind you most of your boats are also heavy (but perhaps not as heavy (especially as she has a leaky front tank so gets heavier as the day goes on!) That was with her spanking new sails but we did have a rigging problem with the 100% genoa so it wasn't hung right...

I'm about to start her refurb (so that I can come out an beat you guys next year at Kinvara ) - and my aim is to try and find somewhere to loose 30kg and get her down to 80kg... No idea how I'm going to manage that!

My conclusion so far is that in good wind being heavy is no bad thing. In pathetic winds (Yeadon Open this year for instance) The extra 30-40kg is like carrying an extra crew member! I was a good lap down on the others - who had FRP's and therefore are presumably close to weight.

However the main reason I want to get the weight down is I want to be able to launch &amp; recover single handed and at the moment (maybe its that full bouyancy tank!) she just wont budge...

Oh well off to rip the deck of and get started!!

Calum