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Scorpion

steven

Sustaining Member
back in prehistory I raced Columbia 5.5meters on SFBay.
Same hull shared by Sabre and Scorpion (the 5.5meter has no cabin).
Really fun.

--Steve
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Seems like a great price, since it's like buying a trailer and getting an Ericson thrown in!
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Sailboatdata says Ericson put in an outboard well. Hope so.

Man, there is nothing so fun as going to windward in these hulls. Olympic committee chose the Soling (27' three-man keelboat) to replace the 5.5 meter this is based on. Real classic and good looking too, far as I'm concerned. Be fun to fix this one up. And get rid of the remains of lifelines, which aren't necessary on such a design.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
"Plank on edge" hull form was for a while highly admired. Deep draft, etc., wizard to windward. Things modified as "racer/cruiser" concept evolved after the war, gradually widening beam. Then fiberglass changed things, light displacement came in, and boats began to plane. I recall the first "flying saucers" of the 1970s on the Chesapeake, a Seidelman design that looked like a Frisbee but won races. Then compromise rebounded (thesis, antithesis, synthesis). It seems to me that lately there's been a happy marketing coincidence: an aft cabin and flat, wide run aft have turned out to be compatible, so now we have wedge shaped boats that are relatively fast off the wind. Also, modern man is a sissy who doesn;t really like going to windward anyhow.
 

steven

Sustaining Member
Design is to a modification of the International Rule, aka Metre rule, originally developed around 1910 for international competition among the super rich.
Metre boats (e.g., 12, 8, 6, 5.5), were pure racing boats not racer/cruisers. Optimized for being first to the weather mark.
Downwind, tend to roll side to side, as you might expect from their shape - which can be challenging if you are flying a kite in heavy air.
But they are a hoot to sail especially in a blow.
 
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