Questions about this type of Enterprise

[Seajet]

I used to take part in the ' Chichester Snowflake Series ' winter handicap races, not with any thoughts of winning against sponsored types like the Yeoman brothers in their Javelin, more to have a mulled wine, hot showers and a rescue boat handy, in that order of priority.

There was always a varnished Albacore taking part, I think from the hosts CYC, and they always seemed to do well, looked good to me; I gained the idea there's something to be said for not being allowed a spinnaker, so not feeling forced by machismo to put one up in silly conditions with predictable race losing consequences.

 

[Tink]

Wombat,

I like Albacores and Fireflies a lot, but not too confident about their hull constrution method - cold moulded / double diagonal ? in the long term, ie now.

We have a very good Albacore sailor at our club, Multiple National champions and they are quick boats. Probably a tad big for my needs. Another member has recently bought a cold moulded Albacore (at a price that made it silly to to have he said, this guy has multiple boats his wife doesn’t know about, but that is whole another story) the hull is immaculate but the ply centre board case had a bad water damage stain - well past oxalic acid.

The Firefly is also nice boat, I was watching some a few weeks ago, there was no wind but they where moving well, perhaps a bit tippy for cruising boat.

My first IC was cold moulded, the hull was stained and had to be painted but it was easy to repair, just laminate in another bit of veneer. It was finally falling apart structurally but the hull was pretty good.

 

[wombat88]

Everyone has an opinion when it comes to favourite dinghies, often due to familiarity when younger. The early Firefly (with newish sails) is great fun but nothing to do with cruising.

There seem to be one or two really cheap or free Pacers about. I know nothing about Pacers but they do seem to be biggish flat things which might make an OK platform to kip on. However the grp one I looked at seem very flimsy and the rig looks quite big.

Tink knows he needs a Tideway.

 

[Seajet]

I agree the Pacer rig looks quite big compared to say an Otter, which doesn't really compute when I remember them usually being sailed by a couple of young women / girls at our club - typical crew of several boats as I remember - we have dinghy and cruiser forums, I'll ask on the dinghy one if anyone remembers Pacers and if they'd be any good for dinghy cruising.

We also had a couple of Tideways, lovely pretty boats but rather heavy and jolly expensive ?!

 

[Tink]

Everyone has an opinion when it comes to favourite dinghies, often due to familiarity when younger.

Tink knows he needs a Tideway.

True on both counts, despite owning ICs, crewing 505s, Cherubs, J24 and designing and building Proas some of my best sailing was in one of these



But my first adventure at sea was on a Gull

 

[Tink]

I agree the Pacer rig looks quite big compared to say an Otter, which doesn't really compute when I remember them usually being sailed by a couple of young women / girls at our club - typical crew of several boats as I remember - we have dinghy and cruiser forums, I'll ask on the dinghy one if anyone remembers Pacers and if they'd be any good for dinghy cruising.

We also had a couple of Tideways, lovely pretty boats but rather heavy and jolly expensive ?!

The Pacer has some plus points, cost, room, flat thwart and side benches, however like the Enterprise and West 11 replicating a ply boat in GRP with such big flat panels is not easy.

The Gull was ply but was a relatively heavy construction and 3 chines give smaller panels and form stiffness. The Gull is only a fraction longer than the Mirror but over 40% heavier, it is also much smaller than the Enterprise but only 3kg lighter.

All very interesting stuff, well to me anyway

 

[Seajet]

Tink,

BTW the IC is No.1 on my Bucket List, had a Contender which frankly I was a bit disappointed with, but would love a go on an International Canoe, even above a Foiler Moth which I know a lot of IC guys moved to.

Of course I'm nowhere near fit and agile enough now, but I'd still like a go sometime, I've bought a treadmill, honest.

 

[Tink]

Tink,

BTW the IC is No.1 on my Bucket List, had a Contender which frankly I was a bit disappointed with, but would love a go on an International Canoe, even above a Foiler Moth which I know a lot of IC guys moved to.

Of course I'm nowhere near fit and agile enough now, but I'd still like a go sometime, I've bought a treadmill, honest.

Do it! When I was twelve I bought the Obsever book of small craft, which I still have. This picture quite literally changed my life.



The International Canoe looked completely different to any other boat which intrigued me and I started sketching my own designs which led to my Proa designs and building to and a career as an Engineer.

The canoe is a great boat to sail and people do still sail them in their seventies. The seat is buoyant so makes it a bit forgiving. If you do capsize the board is close to the water, righting is easy, has small freeboard so easy to get into the dry boat. They are horrible and uncomfortable in light winds and a handful in a blow but in medium winds fine. The hardest thing is obviously tacking, eventually I was told the secret is plenty of down haul.

You do have to sail it regularly to keep your skills up which I wasn’t because I was developing the Proa and then focusing on my daughters sailing and so simply got rusty.

The Nethercot one designs are very cheap for the performance.

 

[Tink]

Tink,

BTW the IC is No.1 on my Bucket List,

When I was at a loose end a drew up my Fantasy A to Z list, it included the IC, the Gull and the K1

https://tinkboats.wordpress.com/2016/01/17/fantasy-boat-list-a-to-z/

 

[Seajet]

Another on my list is the Sydney 18' Skiff, an old Ella Bache' turned up at my club, I'm a bit shy and thought it must belong to a trendy ' Jamie with hair highlights ' type, so was gutted after it had been sold to find it belonged to someone I knew.

At least I got two of my list ticked off, a go on the original square rigger TS Royalist, and a crew slot racing a Falmouth Working Boat - fantastic !

 

[Greenheart]

View attachment 74806.

I had that book, I remember that photograph distinctly! Curiously enough, I wasn't so keen on the precariousness.

Is the Osprey one of the dinghies mentioned in there?

Today my office 'Secret Santa' bought me a mug... ...they don't know I like a float at the top of my mast.

 

[Tink]

Another on my list is the Sydney 18' Skiff, an old Ella Bache' turned up at my club, I'm a bit shy and thought it must belong to a trendy ' Jamie with hair highlights ' type, so was gutted after it had been sold to find it belonged to someone I knew.

At least I got two of my list ticked off, a go on the original square rigger TS Royalist, and a crew slot racing a Falmouth Working Boat - fantastic !

Skiff sounds like an opportunity missed. I used to sail J24 on Sydney Harbour, we would be working hard and the Skiffs would fly past feet away as if we were stationary, quite a sight. Bagging a square ringer and a Falmouth working boat is up there though.

 

[Seajet]

The Royalist was wonderful, we'd sailed my A22 from Cowes to Chichester on the Saturday to leave her at East Cowes for a month until a mooring was ready - it turned into a F7 with prolonged squalls of F11, Royalists' crew were impressed by ' the little blue boat ' so gave us a lift back the next day; the feeling of power as we thundered along Southsea foreshore was quite something.

The Falmouth Working Boat was fantastic, a girl friend I was camping with was good at chatting people up so got me the go; skipper " put up another jib and hand me a pastie " - Mate; " they'll do you if they catch us with three jibs " - skipper " ****'em and hand me a beer too ! "

 

[Tink]

I had that book, I remember that photograph distinctly! Curiously enough, I wasn't so keen on the precariousness.

Is the Osprey one of the dinghies mentioned in there?

Nice picture

 

[wombat88]

Back to reality...

Tepco 12? A sort of Tideway clone but much cheaper. They also made a 10.

Or the Voyager which was less than 14ft and had a cabin?

Or the Tarpon 14 which from what I remember was a cruising boat with a removable cuddy from the start. It is a Percy Blandford boat.

Enough, I need to get out into the freezing garage and carry on rubbing down varnish...but then why bother? Its too cold to varnish!

 

[Tink]

Back to reality...

Tepco 12? A sort of Tideway clone but much cheaper. They also made a 10.

Or the Voyager which was less than 14ft and had a cabin?

Or the Tarpon 14 which from what I remember was a cruising boat with a removable cuddy from the start. It is a Percy Blandford boat.

Enough, I need to get out into the freezing garage and carry on rubbing down varnish...but then why bother? Its too cold to varnish!

Freezing Garage! 30mph and minus temperatures with lots of ice up here in Derwent (Northumbria) and my daughter and the Northern Zone Squad still went out. I’m not saying it is bad but I am refusing to walk the 10 minutes to the pub.

I will look at you recommendations, thanks.

 

[Greenheart]

Freezing Garage! 30mph and minus temperatures with lots of ice up here...

I realised I had arrived at advanced middle-age, when I decided that what I wanted most was a very big, heated, insulated shed.

Thanks for the Osprey page, Tink.

Strangely, that Observer-book photo and description had entirely slipped my mind. I don't think it does the design justice. I do like the boast-worthy dimensions though, relative to the dinky Pacer on the same page.

 

[wombat88]

Found this...

http://forum.dinghycruising.org.uk/Tarpon-14-for-sale-td726.html

I came in from the 'freezing' garage where I had been rubbing down a varnished clinker dinghy only to find Swallows and Amazons on the telly. The newer version...not sure if I like it.

 

[TSB240]

I remember the SigneT as being a very stable lightweight small boat. Ian proctor design Sponsored by the Sunday Times in competition to the Mirror offering! Interesting link here in the class website to an organised channel crossing. Aimed to demonstrate the ability of this little boat to go to sea. http://www.sailsignet.org.uk/.

 

[Seajet]

There was the Signet dinghy, a rather boxy job which didn't appeal to me, and the Super Cygnet 20+ cruiser, a bit like a fin keel Corribee on steroids, a very attractive boat.