One design keelboat racing on a budget.

[Judders]

A friend of mine wants to go keelboat racing in a one design fleet and to a decent standard. There's not much of a budget and he doesn't want to go back to dinghies.

Any ideas? thoughts? experiences?

 

[flaming]

Where is he based?

 

[Judders]

Sorry, should have specified, it's the Solent area.

 

[Keiron]

Sonatas are probably a good bet if they are raced in his area. Very active association and cracking boats. Also good for a bit of cruising...

 

[Jonny_H]

Cork 1720

 

[flaming]

if it's solent area the best bet by a looooong way at the moment is the SB3.
Second hand ones are starting to come availiable, and the racing is very close with big fleets. If it's still pushing the budget, get a consortium together or just put your name down for crew. There are always solent racing boats looking for crew.

 

[flaming]

[ QUOTE ]
Cork 1720

[/ QUOTE ]

great boats, but little or no one design in the solent.

 

[Judders]

The coinversation started with the SB3 but it's just too expensive.

 

[boguing]

Etchells?

 

[StellaGirl]

J80

 

[flaming]

Is a 707 at about £7000 second hand too much? Probably a couple of years of decent racing left in that class.

Got to say though, at the moment for this sort of boat, anything that's not an SB3 is second best when it comes to fleet numbers and competiton.

 

[flaming]

If an SB3 is too expensive then an etchells will be off the scale!
Lovely boats but very expensive!

 

[michael_w]

X One design aka "wooden washing macine". Certainly not as quick as a SB3, but excellent racing.

707s and 1720s seem to have disappeared from The Solent.

 

[r_h]

Flying Fifteen - there's a big fleet at Hayling Island SC, plus smaller ones elsewhere in the Solent. They're great fun boats, with full planing performance in a blow, but also top-notch one-design racing. Many people start with an inexpensive boat in the Classic or Silver fleet, which must be the best budget one-design keelboat racing going.

 

[Keen_Ed]

XODs aren't too cheap, and there's a considerable maintenance issue.

Cheapest keelboat racing in the Solent is probably the Seaview Mermaids. You have to become a member of the SVYC, but I believe it's something like £20 per race for the mermaids - the club owns the boats, and they get a lot of charter work during the week.

Otherwise, IMHO, joining a syndicate is the way to go. Many of the Darings in Cowes are syndicate owned, and the racing is pretty good - the front of the fleet is pretty competitive. They're having an open day on the 16th, along with the Solent Dragon fleet. More here: http://www.solent-dragons.org/content/news.php?NewsID=45

Otherwise check out places like Itchenor for Swallows, the Victory fleet in Portsmouth and other local classes. Or the Flying Fifteen fleet in Hayling?

Owning an SB3 won't be cheap. Crewing on one might be, though.

 

[Evadne]

I've not sailed on one for decades, but I believe there is a squib fleet at Wooton Creek (RVYC).

 

[deep denial]

Folkboat - very active I believe around Lymington.

 

[TigaWave]

What happened to the Hunter 707 fleet, that used to be busy, you can pick them up for around 6K.

 

[flaming]

The SB3 happened!

Faster, less crew, easier to tow, asymetric kite, class sponsorship, cheaper new etc.....

Not hard to see why the SB3 has taken off so quickly. There are still a number of 707s racing, but nothing like the numbers seen a few years ago.

 

[Judders]

There are loads of 707 fleets still about, but I am not sure they fall within my friends budget.