Sub-£500 racing - no handicaps, no excuses, but no cheating

Greenheart

Greenheart

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A chap at my club mentioned this last evening. Basically you find the quickest dinghy you can for under £500. Needs an acceptably official receipt, of course.

I'd never heard of it, but it sounds fantastic, even if the competition is more like Top Gear performance-bargain-hunting, than any actual test of sailing skills.

No paid-for add-ons, nothing can be borrowed to increase performance and I'd imagine 'gifts' or unrealistically underpriced boats are frowned on/disqualified.

What it seems to me to focus on, is the incredible value of past-it racing boats which are still great for fast sailing fun, other than actual class racing.

Anybody heard of such an all-inclusive race? Or an example of how little it can cost to be haring around in a boat which was top-drawer until a few years ago?
 
I've heard of something similar in American motorsport. A limit on cost of a car is agreed and at the end of the race anyone taking part in the race can buy the winning car for the agreed amount.

So in this case anyone taking part in the race could equip his dinghy with foils/jib/new mast/etc as long as they are willing to hand over the lot for £500 at the end of the race.
 
Fittster said:
I've heard of something similar in American motorsport. A limit on cost of a car is agreed and at the end of the race anyone taking part in the race can buy the winning car for the agreed amount.

So in this case anyone taking part in the race could equip his dinghy with foils/jib/new mast/etc as long as they are willing to hand over the lot for £500 at the end of the race.
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That's a good idea!
 
Fittster said:
...anyone taking part in the race could equip his dinghy with foils/jib/new mast/etc as long as they are willing to hand over the lot for £500 at the end of the race.
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Good solution.

Minn said:
Call me a cynic, but creeping cheating would be inevitable...
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I expect you're right. I think it ought to be called The Draco Cup - in other words, even a hint of cheating would result in summary invalidation and expulsion of the boat.

Nothing to do with those Draco motorboats from long ago!
 
FullCircle said:
Minisails are around £100. You could get a new sail and string for sub £500.
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Yes, but you'd be a very very long way behind a knackered 505 or Osprey/Javelin etc. no matter how bad their sails and foils were. And if one is still in existence and sailable (no-one races them anymore), an old C-class cat like a Hellcat would beat the lot yet still probably sell for peanuts.
 
jwilson said:
Yes, but you'd be a very very long way behind a knackered 505 or Osprey/Javelin etc. no matter how bad their sails and foils were. And if one is still in existence and sailable (no-one races them anymore), an old C-class cat like a Hellcat would beat the lot yet still probably sell for peanuts.
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Is this handicap racing, or first past the post?
 
Twister_Ken said:
Is this handicap racing, or first past the post?
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Sorry, thought I'd made that clear, in the title...as far as I understand it, it's first past the post.

There are so many deep dissatisfactions caused by handicaps, with improvements over the status even within classes and differing reports continually coming in about how effective this or that class is, in these or those conditions...I thought having only cost as the limitation, makes a nice simple pragmatic basis on which to choose a boat.

The really appealing bit is how the grandest designs (which when old, quickly drop down within their own class) will remain quite near the top across a field of classes.

No great way to show sailing skills, but great to demonstrate how different various classes are - and how enjoyably superior certain designs feel, even when 'retired'.

I always liked Clarkson's old brown Porsche 928... :rolleyes:
 
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I once bought a 505 for £150. It sunk when we capsized it, and the thwart snapped when I hiked out but other than that, it was very sea worthy.
 
sighmoon said:
I once bought a 505 for £150. It sunk when we capsized it, and the thwart snapped when I hiked out but other than that, it was very sea worthy.
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Hmm...maybe the rules should include basic safety...as long as installing positive buoyancy doesn't also add performance...

...though it's hard to picture anyone spending a packet on a ropey old boat, just to win a prize which forbids and specifically doesn't reward updating/upgrading...

...the nice thing about old boats that were awesome when new, is that many rough edges & imperfections don't stop her responding readily, even if sailed undemandingly.

I'm sure my Osprey would only last about 15 minutes if treated in the way many classes' crews seem to when taking it seriously, but even with my dire sail-setting, we sped past a gleaming RS 200 at the weekend. Although, her helm might've been as out of practice as me... :rolleyes:
 
dancrane said:
Hmm...maybe the rules should include basic safety
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Lots of high-performance racing dinghies are "unseaworthy" by traditional standards, but it's no problem because they're watched over by a safety boat. I think that plus buoyancy aids would be an adequate precaution for boats which are frail or submersible through age rather than design.

Pete
 
500 quid! I've never paid that much for a dinghy in my life! In fact all five I have had, put together, only cost a little more than that & far less if I take off what I sold them for (the ones that weren't given away). {wanders off stage left shaking head & mumbling}
 
Searush said:
500 quid! I've never paid that much for a dinghy in my life!
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A lad with a lovely wooden Merlin Rocket told me he'd paid £650 for her, and seemed to be still in a slight state of happy disbelief about it. I could see why - it's pristine.

There's a fair price-difference between the clean, structurally sound bargain, and the really scrappy just-about-floats category...although anything which isn't competitive in class seems to take a tragic dive in value. Sailing isn't known for being cheap, but racing really competitively must be like buying & running a car with twelve cylinders.
 
This could be fun, but would quickly get silly.
I've seen a few I14's below 500 quid.

But I think the novelty would soon wear off and you'd be dividing that £500 between not many races and having a higher cost per race than my dinghy.
Also if you buy some thing for £500 and can't sell it or it breaks and becomes worthless, it may cost you more than buying a tidy racing boat in a good class for 3 or 4 grand.
I think my sailing costs in order of highest first are:
Club membership
Dinghy park
Depreciation
Sails
Insurance

Although the cost of driving to and from the club and having a drink after sailing ought to be in the list somewhere?

I think it could be fun if you restricted it to say 505's or Fireballs. My first 505 cost £250 on the water, but that was over 20 years ago. It hurt to pay over £100 in insurance.
 
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