page_title: Cherub (dinghy)
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Cherub (dinghy) / Design
caption_attribution_description: English: Cherub class sailing boat
context_page_description: The Cherub is a 12 feet long, high performance, two-person, planing dinghy first designed in 1951 in New Zealand by John Spencer. The class is a development class, allowing for significant variation in design between different boats within the rule framework. The minimum hull weight was originally 110 lbs.
context_section_description: The Cherub is Bermuda-rigged with trapeze(s), and has a crew of two. The Cherub has been through a number of changes. In the 1950s the designs had considerable keel rocker. The most popular design from this era was Spencer's Mk7 built in plywood but by 1971 most successful designs had much less rocker and flatter sections aft to promote planning. Considerable care was needed to achieve the 110 lbs hull weight. In 1970 the small jib was enlarged to an overlapping genoa about 8 square feet bigger. By the late 1960s new boats were being built with aluminium masts which were lighter and stiffer. Up to 1980 boats were generally built from 3 and 4 mm plywood but after this some were made from foam sandwich construction pioneered by Russell Bowler in New Zealand. Some Cherubs did dual service in New Zealand sailing in the Q class (unrestricted 12 ft). The Cherub hull was used with a short bowsprit, a taller mast and much larger sail area with both the crew and skipper using trapezes.
  Current Cherubs use an asymmetric spinnaker system but earlier boats used relatively large double luff spinnakers and used a notably long (9 foot) spinnaker pole. Cherubs have a high power-to-weight ratio and are very quick downwind in stronger breezes but can be slow upwind in lighter airs compared to longer boats.
  The class differs in detail specification between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Northern boats, often referred to as UK Cherubs,  use a second trapeze and permit appreciably larger sails than the Southern Hemisphere boats.
  The UK Cherub has a RYA Portsmouth number of 930.
caption: The Cherub is a high performance two person dinghy.
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