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IOR boats and the death roll


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As I'm browsing around looking at this n that, I find a number of boats from the early 80s available. 

 

Seem to be pretty well sorted and looked after, but just wondering in general about IOR and the infamous death roll attributes?

 

Boats like this https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/yachts/keeler/auction-1353969580.htm

which look pretty good, but are there hidden handling characteristics to be aware of?

 

Also a Whiting ( from the same era. 

 

Were these built to the IOR rules (1 tonnner I guess?).

 

Good looking boat but I'm unsure of the characteristics when considering shorthanded offshore...

 

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Had a Cav36 tonner for a while and pushed it pretty hard, with modern kites the death roll was all but gone. Something to be aware of is downwind with a kite the just don't go very fast and load up until the kite goes pop.

 

Really heavy and massive loads but built like a tank and could take anything.

 

 

 

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AkltoTgal090036.JPG

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Yes. IMHO those Rule boats were mainly a designers planned obsolescence scheme guaranteeing them new commissions year after year until the owners woke up. Bruce Farr was the alarm clock and his boats were a joy to sail after the horror shows of the hole diggers. You ain't seen nothing compared to a yacht with a ribbon main on a tall mast ,masthead kite,short pole,bustle aft, getting immersed in the hole it created for itself just prior to wiping out. Spectacular,expensive and character forming. The establishment went to extreme lengths to outlaw light boats that planed ,and ,shock ,horror, open transoms crew were going to fall out of.

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I don't like the unfair and bump hull boats  but that doesn't look like a bustle boat to me, and quite a nice rig .Without a  hauled hull shot its difficult to pick  but 1980 should be past most of the hull distortions by rule I would have thought ( ?)

 Farr 1104's and Farr 38's all had helm issues  which were fixed by new rudders, I wouldn't discount that red boat  at all. C flex is a pretty tough construction method  and that interior looks very cruisy.

 

Cockpit safety is pretty important 500 miles out to sea especially with only 2 or 3 aboard. People do fall out of open transoms, they slip off decks... a cockpit is where you should be low and secured in and able to take whatever is thrown at you.

Hell, just look at the current crop of RTW boats  with cockpits basically at deck level and super low cockpit coamings  , nowhere to brace against in a wide beam boat. If those guys are losing race boat crew at the rate they are ,imagine how  it is for mum and dad.

 If you're cruising and cruising with kids especially I wouldn't feel happy at all without  a door or washboard(s).

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I know a different type of boat, but one from the 80s still, but Pork Chop used to scare the sh*t out of me in anything over 18 knots with a kite...and even resulted in a new shiny mast one coastal next to Rangi Light.

 

I jumped on Positive Touch one race and was on mast/piano, at once stage I was hugging the mast for dear life, to which the crew laughed and asked me what the f I was doing. I fully thought we were going in to the death roll that I was used to. I think it may have scarred me for life now I think about it.

 

New keel helped, moved it back a whopping .74m but did not fix altogther. As did raising the forestay from 3/4 to 15/16.

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Used to race on a similar IOR 2 boat, great for shorthanded, as they weren't too tender and had plenty of weight in the keel.

 

The beam on them provides decent volume downstairs for curising and they are generally built llike the proverbial outhouse.

 

Never really got the death roll going, but I think the boat had ahd a bit of a hull refair to give a bit more of a flat section aft

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I sailed on this boat in wellington back in 1987.  Its not an IOR death roller.  Its quite wide in the stern and could get up and plane in the right conditions.  I believe it has the wellington young 11 bulb keel that was fitted to flying boat, arbitrage etc.

 

The main feature of the old IOR death rollers was a very pinched stern, tall thin mainsail, and masthead rig.  The moment you wound the pole back things got really hairy really quickly.

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Thats good info!

Even the early IOR and late RORC boats with counters or fine sterns still make nice cruisers because you just dont drive them past hull speed to make them wipe out. In some ways theyre better because as you load up you get more WL and the bow is generally more v sectioned so unlikely to pound like the later flatter bow sections do.

You put 2 two tons of cruising gear on a fast light boat and you get a displacement speed boat anyway,planing goes out the door.

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I know a different type of boat, but one from the 80s still, but Pork Chop used to scare the sh*t out of me in anything over 18 knots with a kite...and even resulted in a new shiny mast one coastal next to Rangi Light.

 

I jumped on Positive Touch one race and was on mast/piano, at once stage I was hugging the mast for dear life, to which the crew laughed and asked me what the f I was doing. I fully thought we were going in to the death roll that I was used to. I think it may have scarred me for life now I think about it.

 

New keel helped, moved it back a whopping .74m but did not fix altogther. As did raising the forestay from 3/4 to 15/16.

Good to know its not just us. We did our first Chinese gybe ever few months ago. Had the masthead kite up in what turned into gusting 25 by pilot bay. A particularly big gust coincided with a moments inattention on the helmsmans part and next thing we were on our side. Not the most pleasant experience but we have done 14 knots in flat water with a kite up which was pretty awesome.

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As I'm browsing around looking at this n that, I find a number of boats from the early 80s available. 

 

Seem to be pretty well sorted and looked after, but just wondering in general about IOR and the infamous death roll attributes?

 

Boats like this https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/yachts/keeler/auction-1353969580.htm

which look pretty good, but are there hidden handling characteristics to be aware of?

 

Also a Whiting ( from the same era. 

 

Were these built to the IOR rules (1 tonnner I guess?).

 

Good looking boat but I'm unsure of the characteristics when considering shorthanded offshore...

Yup , sure looks like a tidy unit and it has cockpit lockers which are a pretty rare event on a lot of yachts.

gRoj2Wg.jpg

It's not a fatty as is from a different era than this one that I spied at Whangaparaoa recently.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/yachts/keeler/auction-1149232068.htm?rsqid=0123970a28904e19bbbd0e732016bc66

8lofZfG.jpg

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Pinched ends with tubby tummy makes for very rolly downhill.

Bit like my dad bod.

Rigs tended to be tallish with short booms and massive headsails so the death roll was like some sort of evil kinetic energy unleashed.

There is a memorable passage in a local book vividly describing Chris Bouzaid and Co throttling the life out of Waianiwa running downhill in a Sydney to Hobart.

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Pinched ends with tubby tummy makes for very rolly downhill.

Bit like my dad bod.

Rigs tended to be tallish with short booms and massive headsails so the death roll was like some sort of evil kinetic energy unleashed.

There is a memorable passage in a local book vividly describing Chris Bouzaid and Co throttling the life out of Waianiwa running downhill in a Sydney to Hobart.

But they were good at it because they won on handicap. Think the boat may have been Rainbow 2. Go Rainbow go is a good read.

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with 1/4 ton ior type boats ,yes they death roll but easy fix,instead of kite sheets well aft(which we had)a old timer said move sheets 1/2 way between cockpit and shrouds,pulls kite down tight and for real excitement set a blooper, still bloody rolled.Amazing how far you can push them though.

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