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The H-Boat |
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One of the most popular one-design classes in Europe, the H-boat was designed in 1967 by Hans Groop of Finland who sought to modernize the classic nordic folkboat. The mandate was for a fiberglass boat that carried a spinnaker. The class grew quickly and within three years was made a Finnish national class. By 1973, 500 H-boats had been built. It was granted international status by the IYRU in 1977. Today, there are more than 4300 H-boats, making it one of the largest keel boat one-designs of all time. H-boats are built by Bootswerft Frauscher in Austria, OL in Denmark, and Botnia in Finland. The H-boat is successful because it offers sailors very competitive racing in a boat that can also be daysailed and cruised with the family. It performs well, and is easy to sail, though challenging to race at the highest levels. Many top sailors have raced H-boats including Jesper Bank, Paul Elvstrøm, Ross Mcdonald and Vincent Hoesch. Because the boat is sailed like a Soling, many Soling sailors join the class because of the large fields and superb competition. |
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Backstay The H-boat is tuned by the backstay, with jib halyard tension, and with the vang. The outhaul is not important, and many top sailors don't even fit a cunningham to the boats. Vincent Hoesch, three-time World Champion, says the middleman must control backstay tension at all times, especially after a tack when he has to keep the boat upright. Vincent developed the backstay tensioning system. The backstay passes through the deck to a pair of 304 blocks and then to three 2:1 cascades using 300s. |
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Traveler The traveler bridge looks clean on top, but it conceals a maze of control lines and shock cord underneath. |
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Vincent turned the traveler thwart into a control console. The bridge is a U channel with control lines for the jib cars, traveler, spinnaker sheet, barberhaulers, and hiking strap adjusters concealed underneath. Lots of shock cord is used to keep lines straight! |
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A simple 4:1 mainsheet system leads to a 019 little Hexaratchet on a 205 ball bearing swivel base.The traveler is a 212 windward sheeting car. |
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The vang is more important, and more sophisticated than the sheet. The 16:1 purchase is achieved with a single 308 outside the boom and an 8:1 tackle inside to reduce clutter. The double-ended control lines exit the boom at the gooseneck. Two falls of this 16:1 vang are external. The rest are inside the boom. |
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Two variations of the jib halyard are common. One uses the magic box for tension, with five balls swaged on the wire halyard so it is easy to repeat tension. The other simply leads to the magic box and cam cleat -- faster and more flexible, but not as precise or repeatable as the first variation.. |
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Like most keel boats, controls are led to the crew. On the H-boat this means double-ended controls on most systems. Many control lines lead aft over the cabin house. A number of top sailors like to keep the cabin uncluttered and route controls down the center of the cabin to 328 fairleads at 45 degrees off center. This allows crew to trim from the rail. |
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1251 East Wisconsin Ave.,
Pewaukee, Wisconsin 53072 |
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