Race boat for £10k - any (more) suggestions?

MissFitz said:
After several years of racing on other people's boats I'm thinking of getting one of my own. ......
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Regardless of which boat you do buy.... good on you for taking the plunge.

However be warned. The is a world of difference between being lard on the rail and the RO... soon to be PO...
Can you command a crew?
Can you cope when the crew let the kite sheets go over the side.... £200 in the drink.. (or winch handles... )
Are you a helm? and if not can you let someone else drive for you?


I reqlly enjoyed my racing years on my own boat... now I enjoy not racing even more.
 
Here's another suggestion.

There was a half tonner designed by Mike Pocock called the 'Starlight 30' that is a solid, good sailing boat that does well on handicap. The hull shape is quite 'fair' for an IOR boat of that age. Certainly for typical open water sailing off Brighton and cross channel jaunts a bigger boat is always going to be more live-able. I should also think that you could be more competitive with less crew on a Starlight compared to an Impala which does need the rail stacked to be competitive in a breeze.

They were built by Bluewater Yachts and there must be quite a few still being raced actively as new suits of sails for them were a common order with Steve Goacher Sails.

The hardest bit about finding them is that because they are Starlights, the typical brain dead broker lists them as a Sadler, with whom they actually had no connection whatsoever. They were Starlights long before Sadler used the name.

There is a cheap one for sale in the Channel Isles and a slightly more expensive one in Dunkirk. As with all these things, the final cost is when it's 'ready to sail' and with a bit of negotiation the more expensive one might be the better bet.

http://jdelecour.over-blog.com/2013/10/sérénité-starlight-fra7234.html
 
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I own TWO FRANk an impala based in the hamble,
and you can not get better bang for your buck, for 8-10k you will get a good race ready boat.
i wouldnt worry about the setup as they are all the same bar a few small bits.
look for an inboard boat as the outboard while a brilliant system can be a pain.

you can race with 4 but 6 makes life alot easier
the big advantage is you can sleep 6 onboard comfortuably so when you go offshore you all have a bed in port

offshore it really looks after you the hull shape doesnt slam it just keeps going. i would say downwind in a blow they are a bit rolly buy you learn to keep it up
speed wise we rate 0.885 do 6-6.1 upwind in 10-15 knots and will top 15 in a blow downwind.

The class is having a big resurgance at th emoment so pm me if you need any more infomation or would like to come out for a sail
Thanks
Olly
 
Another vote for an Impala.

Before we bought ours we looked at Mustang 30s (wont come within your budget) and Laser 28s (again wont come in the budget) but the Impala wins every time.

You wont get OD racing out of Brighton but you're close enough to come to the Solent for big events and you'll have a great IRC rating for local stuff.
 
Judders said:
Another vote for an Impala.

Before we bought ours we looked at Mustang 30s (wont come within your budget) and Laser 28s (again wont come in the budget) but the Impala wins every time.

You wont get OD racing out of Brighton but you're close enough to come to the Solent for big events and you'll have a great IRC rating for local stuff.
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I have raced on Impalas and Mustangs with the same crew for several seasons on each. I would choose the Impala every time. The Mustangs only go when you do very expensive keel/mast moving improvements.
 
EuanMcKenzie said:
how about an H boat much nearer you required compromise except for teh outboard bit

http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/boats.phtml?id=1001

GK24 also goes really well and is hard to beat
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I'd second the h-boat recommendation. Lovely boat to sail, and rate pretty well under IRC. Joe Richards and 'woof' do pretty well in the RTIR every year (though I accept that the small, slower boats are likely to win if the conditions are right).
 
Seajet seems to be asleep so i will do it for him
yes we all know the answer

Anderson 22

& one has to admit ---Cheap as chips, towable, outboard in a well, so one can spend money on sails etc & very seaworthy

Of course you might find a GK24 or 29 about
Or if you want a quarter tonner that almost won the half ton class one year
a Listang

Seriously though I would go for the Impala . i have raced against a well set up one & they leave much bigger boats in their wake
 
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mrming said:
Another +1 for the Impala. On the OP's budget for IRC it can't be beat.
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Except by another Impala with £5k to spend on sails and a bunch of fat fellas on the rail.
Years ago, one of the Impala crew sailing out of Portsmouth was famously too big to go through the heads door.
When I had mine, I was always sailing it light with old sails.

What I didn't like was having to give time to much bigger boats like Co32s.
I mostly cruised it and played at racing in dayboats.
 
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