What is a Cherub?

The Lightweight High Performance Development Class

The Cherub is a doublehanded 12-foot racing dinghy with asymmetric spinnaker and twin trapezes. The Cherub was originally devised in New Zealand by John Spencer, Cherubs are sailed mainly in Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain. Boats and building projects are as far flung as Czechoslovakia, USA and The Cayman Islands.

The Cherub Class is a Development Class. This means you have a set of rules that boats are designed within. This lets you create or modify a boat the way you like it, not the way a manufacturer sets it up. In general the boats last longer, because they can be changed to keep up to speed with current sailing development without getting a new boat too often. They also tend to be made in a more sophisticated manner, using carbon or glass foam sandwich techniques, making them stiffer and lighter than conventional dinghies.

After more than half a century the Cherub still stands out. The Cherub is the lightest doublehander sailed in Britain. The weight is far less than any of the single manufacturer one-designs (and has been since 1951!). Cherub sailing suits a lower crew weight than any other twin trapeze boat.

Electrifying Performance

Cherubs are really quick offwind. Cherubs have an excellent power to weight ratio and not too much wetted surface. Video footage has shown Cherubs hitting 25 knots, which is pretty fair by anyone's standards. Even more important than the raw speed is the handling. Ultra light, ultra responsive, ultra quick. Nothing else comes close!

The Equal Opportunity Boat

No other performance class has had as many women helming and crewing on equal terms at the top level, including National & World Championship Winners. Husband/Wife Boyfriend/Girlfriend Brother/Sister combinations of crew are common. Perhaps the best known of these was Nicola Bethwaite crewed by Julian Bethwaite, World Champions in 1976.

The boat has evolved to need skill and speed to sail it fast, not weight and brute strength. Despite this the boat suits a reasonably large range of crew weights, with combined weights from 16 to 25 stone having been seen at the top in recent years. The ideal is probably 17 to 23 stone. With the current rash of boats with the mis-named "weight equalisation" it is interesting to note that, like most development classes, crew weight is not as significant a factor as in a one design, and some of the lightest crews are the fastest in heavy weather.

Develop Top Boat Handling Skills

Learn to really handle a boat well in a Cherub. Iain Murray, Amanda Wilmot, Rob Brown, Simon Daubney and numerous other top Antipodean sailors spent their teens sailing Cherubs. Why is it countries as small as Australia and New Zealand produce such a large proportion of the world's best Sailors? Because they learn racing and boat handling in Cherubs and other similar boats.

Find out what Makes a Fast Boat Fast

The Cherub is a class for designers and builders as well as sailors. One of the aims of the class is to provide an inexpensive platform where prospective designers can try out ideas. A large number of the folk at the top of the Sailboat Industry have a Cherub background. Russ Bowler (Partner, Farr Associates) 1970 World Champion. Steve Marten (Marten Boats, New Zealand) 1972 World Champion. Julian Bethwaite (top dinghy designer) 1976 World Champion. The list goes on. The majority of boats have always been homebuilt, and the class has pioneered home building in foam sandwich in the UK. Perhaps an ultimate achievement in sailing is to win a championship in a boat you have designed and built yourself. The list of people who have done that is both short and distinguished. If you are considering a career in the marine industry then sailing Cherubs and a building project will give you an awful lot of real world experience that's hard to find anywhere else.

Have Fun!

Finally, and most important of all, its great fun to sail, especially if you aren't afraid of getting wet.

Dimensions

Hull

Length = 3.7m

Beam = 1.8m

Weight = 50kg

Sails

Main and jib area = 15.5 sqm

Spinnaker area = 21sqm

Demo Sails

If you're interested in sailing a UK Cherub then email me and I'll put you in contact with the Class Association. UK Cherubs can also be found in France, Portugal, The Cayman ISlands and the USA.

Handicap Figures For Old Boats