Wayfarer for a fat bloke

[Seastoke]

@Bigplumbs you could do a lot worse than nip over to the Ferry sailing club. I'm not a member but pop in occasionally and they're a great bunch of people. They also have a good selection of dinghies and I'm sure someone would be happy to give you a taster on something stable. Talk to Andrew at the yard as well, he often has things for sale. We're both Deben-based so I'll meet you there for a pint if you like.

What don’t you understand , he does not like beer. His wife is the boss.

 

[Hurricane]

I have no idea what a weather helm is and don't want to know.

I bet you WILL worry about weather helm.
Take heed of Chiara’s slave's comment.
Weather helm is when the boat's rudder is not balanced correctly.
As the wind builds up the load on the tiller (the sticky thing you use to drive the boat) meaning that you have to pull/push harder making it hard work to control.
You don't just point a sailing boat in the direction you want to go, you have to continually alter the tiller to keep the boat pointing in a straight line.
Poor weather helm makes this harder to achieve thus making an enjoyable sail less enjoyable.
I remember on my Hurricane that if the rudders weren't set up properly, weather helm was horrendous and it was impossible to control the boat.
Believe me YOU DO NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WEATHER HELM.
If Chiara’s slave is right and the Wayfarer has chronic weather helm,look for a more modern class of boat.

 

[Hurricane]

I know this is away from the original topic but wondered if you had found that, in your experience, enthusiasm for clubs had decreased over time?

I think it is a generational thing where my father’s generation did a lot more joining in and volunteering for club duties than my generation.

Or maybe it’s just me? I certainly relate much more to the OP’s disinclination to get involved with a sailing club than I would to joining one nowadays, although I was a fleet captain in one club many years ago and the commodore of my university’s sailing club - also some years ago!

They may be fine organisations but there’s also an appeal to just pottering about in boats on one’s own.

I was Commodore about 22 years ago and you are correct.
When I was Commodore, the sailing club membership was changing - more people wanted to just "turn up" and sail.
We set up a scheme where people could "buy out of their duties".
My club was more of a racing club - not many people wanted to go cruising on 500 acres of water under the Heathrow flight path.
But the racing was good and I enjoyed my time there.

 

[Major_Clanger]

There's a lot of well-intentioned advice pouring your way Bigplumbs but I'd suggest you ignore all of it (including mine) and just get yourself on the water on a gentle day and in a stable boat.

Ignore all the advice or this'll be one of those threads that eventually talks you out of doing anything (and I don't mean that disrespectfully to anyone). Just get afloat and take some common sense with you. You'll know soon enough whether or not the idea has mileage in it.

 

[Puffin10032]

If Chiara’s slave is right and the Wayfarer has chronic weather helm,look for a more modern class of boat.

Excessive weather helm is a sign of a poorly set up boat. Perhaps Chiara's Slave should seek advice from someone like Mike McNamara (who has won the Wayfarer nationals many times) about how to set the boat up correctly?

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Excessive weather helm is a sign of a poorly set up boat. Perhaps Chiara's Slave should seek advice from someone like Mike McNamara (who has won the Wayfarer nationals many times) about how to set the boat up correctly?

And you think a 30 year old boat (at least) that plums buys is going to be set up to win the nationals? No, it’ll be an old clunker from a council sailing centre, with all the faults I’ve described.

 

[westernman]

The Wayfarers I have sailed in at various times did not have any excessive weather helm. If you let go of the tiller they would gently round up into the wind.
May be we had a properly set up boat and we had more or less trimmed the flappy things right.

My memory of them is that they were relatively quick compared to GP14s (which had much less space in them), and tons quicker than a Mirror and a bit quicker than an Enterprise in non-planing weather. And of course acres of space, buoyancy tanks you could put your lunch in to keep it dry.

A nice boat until you had to pull it up the ramp.

 

[Greg2]

There's a lot of well-intentioned advice pouring your way Bigplumbs but I'd suggest you ignore all of it (including mine) and just get yourself on the water on a gentle day and in a stable boat.

Ignore all the advice or this'll be one of those threads that eventually talks you out of doing anything (and I don't mean that disrespectfully to anyone). Just get afloat and take some common sense with you. You'll know soon enough whether or not the idea has mileage in it.

It is apparent, to me at least, that plums will inevitably ignore the advice from experienced peeps on here - it appears to be in his nature alongside being mildly offensive and a pattern has emerged whereby his otherwise constructive posts have a tendency to degenerate to the point that he disappears for a while before reappearing to repeat the process. Just a personal perspective of course and perhaps influenced by engaging and seeking, alongside others, to offer informed advice and seeing what appears to be the inevitable response to it. All IMHO of course
.

 

[Bigplumbs]

There's a lot of well-intentioned advice pouring your way Bigplumbs but I'd suggest you ignore all of it (including mine) and just get yourself on the water on a gentle day and in a stable boat.

Ignore all the advice or this'll be one of those threads that eventually talks you out of doing anything (and I don't mean that disrespectfully to anyone). Just get afloat and take some common sense with you. You'll know soon enough whether or not the idea has mileage in it.

That is the sort of advice I usually give people and it is very good advice. To be honest all of the real sailors have put us off but will still do it probably after we have finished several other DIY projects first.

 

[Bigplumbs]

What don’t you understand , he does not like beer. His wife is the boss.

What Brixham bound does not understand is. You don’t have to like Beer or football but pretending to like it when you don’t cos you think to be a real man you have to pretend to fit in. He also thinks there has to be a boss. Not up with the modern world you see. It’s called bull***t and Bravado and old BB got plenty of that as you all know

 

[Bigplumbs]

I bet you WILL worry about weather helm.
Take heed of Chiara’s slave's comment.
Weather helm is when the boat's rudder is not balanced correctly.
As the wind builds up the load on the tiller (the sticky thing you use to drive the boat) meaning that you have to pull/push harder making it hard work to control.
You don't just point a sailing boat in the direction you want to go, you have to continually alter the tiller to keep the boat pointing in a straight line.
Poor weather helm makes this harder to achieve thus making an enjoyable sail less enjoyable.
I remember on my Hurricane that if the rudders weren't set up properly, weather helm was horrendous and it was impossible to control the boat.
Believe me YOU DO NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WEATHER HELM.
If Chiara’s slave is right and the Wayfarer has chronic weather helm,look for a more modern class of boat.

But you were a racer. If you just want a gentle sail none of that matters. I do actually know the rudiments of sailing and have sailed once and also sailed RC boats

 

[Bigplumbs]

And you think a 30 year old boat (at least) that plums buys is going to be set up to win the nationals? No, it’ll be an old clunker from a council sailing centre, with all the faults I’ve described.

Wrong and Wrong. I dont want to win the nationals you fail to understand big time

 

[Chiara’s slave]

But you were a racer. If you just want a gentle sail none of that matters. I do actually know the rudiments of sailing and have sailed once and also sailed RC boats

Thing is, the things that racers think about are very much relevant to any kind of mucking about in boats. You wouldn’t buy and use a pig of a motor boat, and neither would I.

 

[Bigplumbs]

The Wayfarers I have sailed in at various times did not have any excessive weather helm. If you let go of the tiller they would gently round up into the wind.
May be we had a properly set up boat and we had more or less trimmed the flappy things right.

My memory of them is that they were relatively quick compared to GP14s (which had much less space in them), and tons quicker than a Mirror and a bit quicker than an Enterprise in non-planing weather. And of course acres of space, buoyancy tanks you could put your lunch in to keep it dry.

A nice boat until you had to pull it up the ramp.

The Ramp is absolutely no issue for us

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Wrong and Wrong. I dont want to win the nationals you fail to understand big time

Exactly. I understand completely, its you that does not.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Thing is, the things that racers think about are very much relevant to any kind of mucking about in boats. You wouldn’t buy and use a pig of a motor boat, and neither would I.

You say you dont want to put anyone off. Do you understand that that is exactly what you are doing.

You also seem to think that everyone else including me are idiots and cant do stuff. I do an incredible amount of stuff all self taught. For example almost all building trades (Excl Plastering), Mechanical work on cars, Boats, RC Planes incl Jets. My general view is. If that bloke can do it so can I. I will now wait for the inevitable comment about Brain Surgery or similar.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Exactly. I understand completely, its you that does not.

Wrong again. Sadly you did not even understand the thing I told you you did not understand

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Suit yourself. You’ll certainly be put off sailing in a clunky old Wayfarer.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Suit yourself. You’ll certainly be put off sailing in a clunky old Wayfarer.

Many Many other sailing people both on here and talking to them in the real world say the opposite. Lots of decent ones available for £1,000

 

[Puffin10032]

And you think a 30 year old boat (at least) that plums buys is going to be set up to win the nationals? No, it’ll be an old clunker from a council sailing centre, with all the faults I’ve described.

I think you might have a somewhat distorted idea of the used dinghy market if you believe that ex-sailing school boats are a significant percentage of the boats available. And you weren't talking about any 30 year old boat; you made a specific, provably false, claim about all Wayfarers. I realize that you're trying to help but I can't see how your statement has done that.