An introduction tothe new Byte CII

The Class, with the assistance of the boat’s de-signer and its manufacturers, has been pursuingthe development of an entirely new rig concept for the Byte for nearly two years. The intent has beento broaden the weight range of sailor capable ofhandling the boat in heavy air while, at the same time, attempting to improve its light air perform-ance at no sacrifice to the above. The full recordof the development will not be discussed here as it is extensively covered in detail on our ByteClass International Website, www.byteclass.orgThe goals were:1. Lower the weight of sailor capable of handling the boat in heavier winds above 15 knots particularly in the 55 kg range.
Picture at left. The female sailor in the photograph weighs 52.3 kgs andis sailing in winds of 18 knots, gusting to 22. Traveller iswell down and she would not be sailing as high as a 70kg sailor (weight does make a difference!) but her head is out of the boat, the boat is completely under controland she would be comfortable competing. The female sailor in the photograph weighs 69.5 kgs andis not having any problem in powering up the boat in 8knots. The Cunningham is without any tension, thetraveller is slightly sheeted to weather to keep the boom over the transom corner without undue sheet tension andthe leech is properly twisted, but not de-powered. 2. Keep the boat competitive for the heavier, 65 to 70 kg, sailors.
Picture below .3. Improve light air performance up to, or beyond the level of the Laser Radial and the Europe. 4. Do all this but remain the lowest priced high performance singlehander in the world.This could only be accomplished with a type of rigthat is not to be found on ANY unstayed single-hander sailing today, the Byte included.The rig in use today on the Finn, OK, Europe,Laser, Laser Radial and the Byte is a 50 year old concept which Ian Bruce, himself the designer ofthe last three rigs, readily admits to on the Web-site. The sails are, essentially, triangular sails supported on masts with an even bend. Theleeches are too small to generate enough pres-sure to open themselves up and the masts are too stiff to assist in this action which we call de-powering. For many, like the Laser and Byte, themast must be bent to flatten the sail to depower it and this can only be done with the mainsheet, orvang, using the leech. Therefore, the area of thesail, the stiffness of the mast and the resulting leech tension determine, very precisely, theweight of sailor able to sail any particular single-hander in heavier winds.

The automatic response rig

This is not the case with the more recently devel-oped, skiff-type, self-depowering rigs. Here thesails carry large, eliptical head, fully battened sails that are hung on a masts with very flexibletips and with bend characteristics that are not