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Cherub (dinghy)
The Cherub is a 12 feet long, high performance, two-person, planing dinghy first designed in 1951 in New Zealand by John Spencer (d 1996). The class is a development (or "box rule") class, allowing for significant variation in design between different boats within the rule framework. The minimum hull weight was originally 110 lbs. History In 1951 New Zealand naval architect John Spencer designed a 12-foot dinghy for his friend Ray Early to sail on Auckland Harbour. The boat was built to race in the Pennant Class and was named ''Cherub''. Its superiority over other designs in the Pennant Class was immediately evident. Within a very short period of time a number of boats were racing in Auckland. A New Zealand class owner's association was established in 1952. The first manufacturer in the United Kingdom was McCutcheon's of Cowes in 1956. By 1963 there were 112 Cherubs registered in the UK. Basil Wright was instrumental in introducing the class to Australia when a fleet o ...
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A Perfect SVG Heart
A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''English alphabet#Letter names, a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version is often written in one of two forms: the double-storey and single-storey . The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English, ''English articles, a'' is the indefinite article, with the alternative form ''an''. Name In English, the name of the letter is the ''long A'' sound, pronounced . Its name in most other languages matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables. History The earliest know ...
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Planing (sailing)
Planing ( ) is the mode of operation for a waterborne craft in which its weight is predominantly supported by lift (force), hydrodynamic lift, rather than Hydrostatics, hydrostatic lift (buoyancy). Many forms of marine transport make use of planing, including High-speed craft, fast ferries, racing boats, seaplanes, and water skis. Most surfboards are planing or semi-planing hulls. Beyond planing, fast vessel designs have seen a transition to hydrofoil designs. History The earliest documented planing sailboat was a proa built in 1898 by Commodore Ralph Munroe#Vessels designed, Ralph Munroe. It was capable of speeds of more than twice the hull speed. Planing a sailing Dinghy sailing, dinghy was first popularised by Uffa Fox in Britain. In 1928 Fox introduced planing to the racing world in his International 14 dinghy, ''Avenger''. That year he gained 52 first places, 2 seconds, and 3 third places out of 57 race starts. This performance was noticed by other designers who further ...
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Dinghy
A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or Towing, towed by a Watercraft, larger vessel for use as a Ship's tender, tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from Dinghy sailing, sailing dinghies, which are designed first and foremost for sailing. A dinghy's main use is for transfers from larger boats, especially when the larger boat cannot Dock (maritime), dock at a suitably-sized port or marina. The term "dinghy towing" sometimes is used to refer to the practice of towing a car or other smaller vehicle behind a motorhome, by analogy to towing a dinghy behind a yacht. Etymology The term is a loanword from the Bengali language, Bengali ', Urdu ', and Hindi '. Definition and basic description The term "dinghy" has some variability in its definition, but is generally a small open boat which may be powered by oars, sail or an outboard motor. Some individual examples have the option of being p ...
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New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of island countries, sixth-largest island country by area and lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The Geography of New Zealand, country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps (), owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. Capital of New Zealand, New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and subsequently developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. ...
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John Spencer (boat Designer)
John Alfred Spencer (6 July 1931 – 4 March 1996) was a New Zealand boat designer. Biography Spencer was born in Melbourne and moved to Eketāhuna in 1933. He spent most of his life in New Zealand. In the 1950s, Spencer established a boatbuilding workshop on Bute Road in Browns Bay, New Zealand, Browns Bay, Auckland, where he pioneered construction techniques for lightweight flyer boats and yachts. He was a well-known designer of sailing boats of all sizes, including the Cherub (dinghy), Cherub, Javelin_dinghy_(Australasia), Javelin (NZ), Firebug (Dinghy), Firebug and Flying Ant classes of sailing dinghies. His designs used thin plywood, hard chines, a vertical stem and stern and light displacement. The minimum weight for a Cherub hull was and a Firebug is . Spencer's most famous design was arguably the 62-foot hard-chined ''Infidel'', later known as Ragtime (yacht), ''Ragtime'', which he designed and built for Tom Clark, a New Zealand industrialist. ''Ragtime'' was launched i ...
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Inaugural World Cherub Title Placegetters
In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugural address by the new official. The word ''inauguration'' stems from the Latin ''augur'', which refers to the rituals of ancient Roman priests seeking to interpret if it was the will of the gods for a public official to be deemed worthy to assume office. Public office The inaugurations of public figures, especially those of political leaders, often feature lavish ceremonies in which the figure publicly takes their oath of office (sometimes called "swearing in"), often in front of a large crowd of spectators. A monarchical inauguration may take on different forms depending on the nation: they may undergo a coronation rite or may simply be required to take an oath in the presence of a country's legislature. The "inaugural address" is ...
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Bermuda Rig
Bermuda rig, Bermudian rig, or Marconi rig is a type of sailing rig that uses a triangular sail set abaft (behind) the mast. It is the typical configuration for most modern sailboats. Whilst commonly seen in sloop-rigged vessels, Bermuda rig is used in a range of configurations, for instance, a cutter or a schooner (where it may be used in conjunction with gaff rigged sails on other masts), and several other types. Bermuda rig takes its name from Bermuda, where it was developed in the 17th century. The term ''Marconi'', a reference to the inventor of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi, became associated with this configuration in the early 20th century, because the wires that stabilize the mast of a Bermuda rig reminded observers of the wires on early radio masts. Description The rig consists of a triangular sail set abaft (behind) the mast with its head raised to the top of the mast; its luff runs down the mast and is normally attached to it for its entire length; its tack is u ...
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Trapeze (sailing)
In sailing, the trapeze is a wire that comes from a point high on the mast, usually where the shrouds are fixed, to a hook on the crew member's harness at approximately waist level. The position when extended on the trapeze is outside the hull, braced against it (or an extension of it outwards) with the soles of the feet, facing the masthead, and clipped on by a hook on the trapeze harness. This gives the crew member more leverage to keep the boat flat by allowing the crew member's centre of gravity to balance the force of the wind in the sails. An additional benefit is the ability to "walk" along the gunwale to balance the boat's trim fore and aft. This is necessary to prevent racing catamarans such as the Tornado from digging the bow into the water, also called pitchpoling, and causing a nosedive and often a spectacular capsize. Some boats may have only one trapeze, such as the 420 and the 29er, where only the crew uses the trapeze. Dinghies, such as the International ...
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Asymmetric Spinnaker
An asymmetrical spinnaker is a sail used when sailing between about 90 and 165 degrees from the angle of the wind. Also known as an "asym", "aspin", "A-sail", or gennaker, it can be described as a cross between a genoa (jib) and a spinnaker. It is asymmetric like a genoa, but like a spinnaker, its luff is unstructured and floats freely, unencumbered by an internal wire or hanks attaching it to a stay. Unlike a symmetric spinnaker, the asymmetric does not require a spinnaker pole, since it is fixed (tacked) to the bow or a bowsprit. When attached to a long bowsprit or "prod", an asymmetrical spinnaker can be larger than a conventional spinnaker, since it can be carried further forward of the boat than is possible with a conventional spinnaker pole and the foot of the sail can extend to deck level. Many modern sailboats have retractable bowsprits to enable this expansion. The asymmetrical spinnaker has a larger camber than a genoa and a Spinnaker Mid-Gerth (SMG) -- also called Spi ...
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Spinnaker
A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a Point of sail#Reaching, reach (wind at 90° to the course) to Point of sail#Running downwind, downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually nylon, and are often brightly colored. They may be designed to perform best as either a reaching or a running spinnaker, by the shaping of the panels and seams. They are attached at only three points and said to be ''flown''. Etymology Some dictionaries suggest that the origin of the word could be traced to the first boat to commonly fly a spinnaker, a yacht called ''Sphinx'', mispronounced as ''Spinx''. ''Spinnaker'' entry in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (1996). Oxford University PressAccording to encyclopedia.com Both retrieved on 20 July 2008. ''Sphinx'' first set her spinnaker in the Solent in 1865, and the first recorded use of the word was in 1866 in the Augu ...
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Spinnaker Pole
A spinnaker pole is a spar used in sailboats (both dinghies and yachts) to help support and control a variety of headsails, particularly the spinnaker. It is also used with other sails, such as genoas and jibs, when sailing downwind with no spinnaker hoisted, sometimes using a special light spinnaker pole called a whisker pole, possible since the load on the pole is very light on this point of sail. Rigging The spinnaker pole is rigged to run from the base of the mast, where there is a special fitting for attaching one end of the pole, out to windward over the side of the boat. There, one of the control lines of whichever sail it is to be used with is run through a fitting on the other end of the spinnaker pole. This allows for more precise control of the corner of the sail to which the line is attached. For a spinnaker, the line attached to the pole is the guy, or brace, and the corner is the tack. For other headsails, such as a jib, the line would be the sheet, atta ...
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