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TORNADO 250
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| I found this article in a chat room one
day, having been placed there by the boats designer (Micky
Peterson). Having been fascinated by the article, Mickey kindly
gave me permission to reproduce the article on this website. It
gives you a great insight into the boats design and how it tries to
evolve from the current Wide Beam Skiff designs currently in vogue.
Email Micky with your sales
enquiries here:
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I started off sailing Sunfish when I was 7 and racing them at 11 until 19 when I left my homeland (Venezuela). I also owned a 470 and a Flying Dutchman and was a crew on a 420. I crewed on a 65 footer, which was a lot of fun. Saw a lot of islands on that boat! Went to the Sunfish '77 Worlds in the Bahamas and to the 470 '77 Worlds in Japan and '78 in Sweden. After I moved to the U.S. at 19 to go to college I owned a Windsurfer for a few years and sailed on a few big boats as a crew but never got back into dinghies. |
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My major was Industrial Design;
always liked working with my hands.
Started building model sailboats when I was 12 or 13.
When I discovered the AC class here in Houston in '96 I got
hooked on building again. Then
in early '98 I met John Rizopoulos who had just moved from Canada and
had an IOM. Compared to the
AC (LOL 74") the IOM was a toy, but I liked it a lot! I got my feet wet building a Nimbus from the hull up. It sailed very well during the months here in Houston when the wind was low. During the Nationals in Nov. '98, when we had them in Dallas I took first place in the first race, beating Graham Bantock and the rest of the field. That was a great feeling (and historic). |
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The Nimbus is a good boat as long as the wind stays at about 5 knots or less and there are no waves. However, the general result of this regatta was that I got my pants beat off by the skiffs in stronger winds. During this regatta I took general measurements of the Ikon and the TS-2. In late '98 I purchased Prolines '98 and started entering Nimbus, TS-2 and Ikon data. In Feb. '99 during the 1st Annual Mid Winter Regatta I analyzed the V-2, 2 Dogs and others. I guess the Tornado 250 is the results of everything good that I saw with all these designs. I also looked at the successful big boats, like the Farr 40 and the Whitbread boats and decided that the widest beam on the Tornado needed to be further aft than the other popular IOMs and that the aft part of the hull shape needed to be flatter, hoping that this would help it surf. |
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The actual wetted surface of the Tornado 250 is less than the TS-2 and just slightly over the Nimbus. I designed two boats to find out which beam would be advantageous. Result was the Tornado 250 and the Tornado 300. I planked them both and my friend Phil Runquist completed the T-300 while I completed the T-250 just in time to sail them both at the '99 IOM Regionals in Dallas. The results were very satisfying! We discovered that the T-300 really did great in 15 knots of wind but dragged with less wind, while the T-250 did well all around. |
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In Houston the windy months are from Nov. - April. Then it becomes light for the rest of the year, so my design would need to perform well in both conditions. I believe that I have accomplished this with the Tornado 250. To date, the Tornado 250 has had a good track record:
Only more time and more Tornado 250 boats being sailed by a variety of sailors will tell how good this design really is. I believe that the IOM hull
design has come a full circle. They
started off as narrow hulls, then they went to the extreme skiff and now
are coming back to more conservative beams.
I strongly believe that the appendages will be our next
challenge. Keep on sailing! |
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