12' Skiff

Today's boat is an interesting one, the class, starting around the same time as most of the other skiffs (6', 8', 12', 14', 16' and 18') the 12 footer has also had another similar form within the class's history, and this is of course the R-Class skiff. This, I suppose to go along with foiling, which at the moment, some UK Cherubs, seem to be doing something very similar.

Anyway, back to the 12' skiff.

Started at some point in the late 1800's, the 18' skiff was originally crewed by about 5 people, and was typically sailed, where you mostly see the 18's today; Sydney Harbour. In 1924, the 12' skiff class was formed, and overtime, there boat slowly lost the amount of people within the crew of each boat - i.e. in the 1940's it became crewed by three people, and eventually became a double hander, as we all know it today.

Mainly sailed in Australia and New Zealand, the 12' skiff is slowly gaining popularity elsewhere, including the UK, with one of the first official 12' skiffs being 'Suicide Blonde', built as a UK Cherub,  but converted to a 12' skiff, by simply adding more sail area, and a second trapeze (as at the time, it was a '97 rules boat), it was successful on the UK circuit.

With the ability to reach blistering speeds, thanks to the way it is very over canvassed for the size of the hull, the modern 12' skiff has very twitchy handling, hence is tricky to sail.