HELP Tips for fun dinghy, please

[vyv_cox]

Re: Double Dutch

I am not aware of any monohull dinghy that fulfills all of your criteria, although I cannot claim to be up to date with the latest designs. Other than cats, I don't think there is a single handed dinghy with a trapeze that can be sailed by a very light person in fresh winds.

Dart 16 looks interesting but I don't know it 'in the flesh'. At your weight you will certainly struggle to right any catamaran on your own. I would have a Dart 18 over a 15 any time and both are easy to sail.

Have a look at the selector <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.lasersailing.com/uk/bfinder/index.php>here</A> for some ideas about laser/dart products.

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[Skrallan]

Re: Double Dutch

Forget windsurfing, it's nothing like sailing. It seems impossible to find the right dinghy for me as a beginner to sail singlehandedly, so I'm contemplating getting a two person dinghy with a friend. Any new sugggestions?

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[Ohdrat]

What about 2 old favs from my youf Fireballs and Rockets

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[Skyva_2]

Re: Double Dutch

If you want to race eventually, you need to decide where. If you want competition you want to sail against similar boats.

Choose your club and see what they sail there. Get some experience there, helms are often looking for a crew, and are always enthusiastic about their chosen design.
You might even find a single hander per your original requirement. Talk to people.

But the boat they sail will be suited to the locality - I sailed on the Thames for many years, where you need an easily driven hull and high sail plan that points high and tacks quickly. Not much use for Chichester Harbour, where you need a powerful hull and an easily controllable rig.

After a few months you will be able to make a decision. If you then want to move on there will be a local market for your old boat, and a local market to choose your new one.

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[windandwave]

Afraid you're going to have to compromise on some of your points.

1. Sailed by one but fun for two

No such dinghy really exists! A few manufacturers try to sell boats like the Topper Topaz with different configurations of main & removable jib, but invariably they're an awkward compromise. (The Topaz is a bit of a pain to sail singlehanded due to the position of the mainsheet!) The laser pico also sells itself with this option, but it's really for beginners & kids only, and would be grown out of very quickly.

2. Trapeze possible

A single hander with a trapeze is going to be an advanced & reasonably scary beast. If you're still relatively new to dinghies then I couldn't really recommend one to learn on. If you have to have a trapeze this really restricts you to a two man boat which will be a bit more docile.

3. Doesn't capsize all the time

This isn't really a function of the boat but of the sailor! A laser can be unforgiving... but as you improve you'll quickly get bored with boats that are more stable but ultimately less fun because they're underpowered. I'd be inclined to avoid a catamaran as your first boat because, as you know, most of them are difficult to right from capsized, particularly if they turtle on you. This is less of a factor if you sail inland, or if you have rescue cover, but I wouldn't like to be trying to right one on coastal waters with a big swell running.

So... I'd say you really have two options. First, as you've already mentioned, buy a two man boat. This gives you the best of both worlds... learning to helm but also experience on the wire and with a spinnaker. I'd go for a modern assymmetric like the 29er and make sure that you have a reasonably experienced sailing partner to coach you along. The Buzz is also a good option (but not the Iso, which is rather more fiddly). A Laser 3000 might also be an option, but I'm not familiar with them personally. In terms of more traditional two man boats with conventional spinnakers, I'd go for a Laser II over the Fireball... the Fireball is a fiddly, fragile boat, great fun to sail but suffers from not being a true one design, making it quite expensive to race seriously. The Laser II is marginally slower, but has far fewer bits to go wrong, is cheaper, and is somewhat more sturdy.

Two man boats do have disadvantages though. First... you have to line up crew, ideally regular. This can be a problem... Everyone at some point will be frustrated by looking for crew on an otherwise perfect day. Second, you won't learn as much or as quickly as you would on a single-hander, where ultimately there is no-one else to compensate for your mistakes or to blame for your mistakes. Also, they are generally significantly more expensive.

So, option number two could be to buy yourself a single-hander, learn how to helm on that, and find somebody with a two man boat who is desperately searching for regular crew (see option 1 above!). This way you should learn to helm faster, and also learn to crew, trapeze, hoist spinnaker etc. with the help of the (hopefully more experienced) owner of the other boat. You can then always sell the single hander and move up to your own two man boat (or another more advanced singlehander). If you did go down this road, I'd recommend a Laser (Radial rig rather than full sized rig given your weight (or lack thereof)). Great boats, good market for them with plenty available, easily resold if you want to move on to something different. Plenty of one design racing available, which can be a problem with some of the other single handers. If you buy something like a Blaze, you might end up having to race it on handicap, which is nowhere near as much fun as level racing.

Hope this helps. My own experience was of buying a Fireball as my first boat, and then replacing it with a Laser... funnily enough, several of my friends have done the same! The high-performance two man boats are huge fun, but are also hassle when it comes to cost, preparation, transport, maintenance, finding crew, etc. Sometimes you want something you can rig in five minutes, solo, and put on a roofrack if you feel like sailing elsewhere.

TJ

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[ex-Gladys]

Only one config should enter your thoughts and that's a Cat. Darts were fine when we were still wandering around in woad and stuff, but they are horrible downwind and will dig the nose in at the merest whiff. The ideal is a single hander Una rigged cat that you can add a jib to. the Hobie 17 is the only one that fits. Unfortunaley theydon't make them any more. I had one for two years and loved it. Goes like merry hell up wind and is a laugh off. never tipped mine over in any conditions, never dug the bows in. Despite what was said earlier on, they are NOT heavy, and are easy to handle ashore - I would recommend dual pneumatic tyred trolley. They are a very refined cat to sail, keeping you in good touch with what's going on, but handing you no surprises. bit like the Tornado compared to the Hurricane/Hawk etc.

<hr width=100% size=1>Larry Botheras

Essex