Victoria Sponge
New member
Our friends have sold their Cornish Crabber and bought a Wayfarer. They say they will get more use out of it. What does the panel think about Wayfarers?
Wayfarers
- Thread starter Victoria Sponge
- Start date
sarabande
Well-known member
excellent and very versatile small boats. Cruising, racing, or simply messing about.
Tough, good seaboats, lots of clubs support them, and many many longer distance trails and cruises.
Tough, good seaboats, lots of clubs support them, and many many longer distance trails and cruises.
onesea
Well-known member
As above but:
Heavy for going up and down a slip easily,
Heavy work single handed,
Worst of both worlds not a keep boat and not light enough to be a dinghy,
No in built stability,
Should of bought a GP 14 style or Drascombe style boat.
Do you not love boats they all have +'s and -'s.
Heavy for going up and down a slip easily,
Heavy work single handed,
Worst of both worlds not a keep boat and not light enough to be a dinghy,
No in built stability,
Should of bought a GP 14 style or Drascombe style boat.
Do you not love boats they all have +'s and -'s.
Kelpie
Well-known member
Wayfarers are pretty legendary as cruising dinghies, having been sailed across the North Sea several times and even to Iceland. Active owners' association and strong racing fleets. Always plenty of them for sale, and it's easy to pick up spares as they are so popular.
One of the few classes of dinghy that can treated like a miniature yacht- you can change sails, reef, etc whilst underway, leave them on a mooring, sail them wearing normal clothes rather than a wetsuit. The trade off is that they are not quite as 'exciting' as the more extreme dinghies, but nevertheless they have a very good turn of speed and you can stay out even in quite silly winds. They motor well, there is dry stowage for lunch and gear, and they aren't bad to row either.
One downside is that they are quite heavy. I just use a car for towing up the slipway rather than knacker my back.
Coincidentally, I am putting my own Wayfarer up for sale shortly, as we have too many boats and something has to go. I've had her a few years so time to let someone else have some fun.
One of the few classes of dinghy that can treated like a miniature yacht- you can change sails, reef, etc whilst underway, leave them on a mooring, sail them wearing normal clothes rather than a wetsuit. The trade off is that they are not quite as 'exciting' as the more extreme dinghies, but nevertheless they have a very good turn of speed and you can stay out even in quite silly winds. They motor well, there is dry stowage for lunch and gear, and they aren't bad to row either.
One downside is that they are quite heavy. I just use a car for towing up the slipway rather than knacker my back.
Coincidentally, I am putting my own Wayfarer up for sale shortly, as we have too many boats and something has to go. I've had her a few years so time to let someone else have some fun.
stevebrassett
Well-known member
I've only sailed a Wayfarer once. It was fitted with a trapeze and went like a train in heavy winds.
Victoria Sponge
New member
Yes, I'd heard that they are heavy. I'm concerned now as my friend has a bad back.
maby
Well-known member
I grew up on Wayfarers and love them. It's a beautiful boat to handle and you can go anywhere in one. But they are heavy! I sometimes go sailing on the Queen Mary reservoir near Heathrow - last summer I was queing up to rent a dinghy and a middle-aged man in front of me was trying to rent the Wayfarer to try out because he was thinking of buying one. The girl on the desk told him that she was not happy renting it out to someone without experience to single-hand, so I offered to crew for him.
Now, when I was twenty, I used to sail a Wayfarer with a little slip of a girl and we never had any trouble launching it and recovering it between us. Thirty-odd years later, this guy and I nearly killed ourselves launching the damned thing - we got it into the water, then had to tie it up and retreat to the bar to catch our breath before rigging it and setting off...
Now, when I was twenty, I used to sail a Wayfarer with a little slip of a girl and we never had any trouble launching it and recovering it between us. Thirty-odd years later, this guy and I nearly killed ourselves launching the damned thing - we got it into the water, then had to tie it up and retreat to the bar to catch our breath before rigging it and setting off...
maby
Well-known member
He (she?) could look at Wanderers - slightly smaller, a bit lighter, but very similar to the Wayfarer.
Searush
New member
I chose a GP14 for sailing with the G-kids simple because it was much easier to launch/ recover & easy to single hand too. But I sailed with a pal on his Wayfarer & it was OK for two retired & porky but fit blokes to handle, however, I wouldn't want to try manhandling it a on my own or even with the good lady, whereas the GP14 can be launched & recovered on your own & still has room for 2 adults & 1 or 2 kids.
Sailfree
Well-known member
Wayfarer is a crapboat and some 12,000 idiots have bought one - including me. Obviously any other boat that only sells a few must be better. Wayfarer can do everything but not as good as some boats built specifically for one particular purpose.
Bought our 1st one with new partner in 1992. Bought 2nd one with racing in mind in 1994. Bought a Wooden one (then 15 yrs old) in 1997. Bought the new Mk 4 in 2011 fully kitted out just for racing. Latest can just about plane up wind in the right conditions. Latest is certified for 6 adults for training. People do cruise them extensively but a bit basic for us!! At various international events a few boats crossed the Irish sea before competing and a few years later a few sailed across the north sea befor competing.
I have also owned a Dufour 36 & 38 and currently a Jeanneau43DS. Pleasure per £ the Wayfarer has the rest beat hands down, We will be returning early from our Summer cruising in France on the big boat to take part in the WEstern Championships in Poole. The last internationals at Portland there was over 100 competitors from many countries. For racing I believe the RS fleet has big numbers but many boats sold after a few years as sails and spares are not cheap from RS. With a Wayfarer you can buy any part from anywhere providing it measures to class rules.
Just cannot understand where they have found so many idiots over the last 60yrs to buy a new Wayfarer when it is such a crapboat! Yes a Wayfarer can be a seagoing boat and is one of the heaviest dinghys but thats why they are quick to help each other push it up steep slipways but my 8st partner and unfit (with a prolapsed disc) fat me manage it on our own when we need to!
Bought our 1st one with new partner in 1992. Bought 2nd one with racing in mind in 1994. Bought a Wooden one (then 15 yrs old) in 1997. Bought the new Mk 4 in 2011 fully kitted out just for racing. Latest can just about plane up wind in the right conditions. Latest is certified for 6 adults for training. People do cruise them extensively but a bit basic for us!! At various international events a few boats crossed the Irish sea before competing and a few years later a few sailed across the north sea befor competing.
I have also owned a Dufour 36 & 38 and currently a Jeanneau43DS. Pleasure per £ the Wayfarer has the rest beat hands down, We will be returning early from our Summer cruising in France on the big boat to take part in the WEstern Championships in Poole. The last internationals at Portland there was over 100 competitors from many countries. For racing I believe the RS fleet has big numbers but many boats sold after a few years as sails and spares are not cheap from RS. With a Wayfarer you can buy any part from anywhere providing it measures to class rules.
Just cannot understand where they have found so many idiots over the last 60yrs to buy a new Wayfarer when it is such a crapboat! Yes a Wayfarer can be a seagoing boat and is one of the heaviest dinghys but thats why they are quick to help each other push it up steep slipways but my 8st partner and unfit (with a prolapsed disc) fat me manage it on our own when we need to!
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DJE
Well-known member
Great boats. Sailed one for years both racing and cruising. We had a boom tent too, the whole thing.
The weight is only a problem when moving then around ashore, afloat I think it adds to their seaworthiness. You really need a launching trolley with a third wheel to save your back. Then fix a single block to the trolley handles, run a long rope down from a strong point at the top of the slip, pass it through the block and haul the boat up with a 2:1 advantage. That's how I used to do it when single handed as a fit 20-something or with two of us and a heavy load of cruising gear on board.
We had a choice of two headsails and two slab reefs in the main to cope with a wide range of wind strengths. I sometimes sailed single handed on windy days with two slabs in the main and no headsail.
richardbayle
Member
Best boat I ever owned. Never had so much fun as in a Wayfarer. Heavy tho' as you get older, but for absolute rock safety for a family, none better and a great racing class.
Did Three Rivers Race on the Norfolk Broads several times and beat all the other dinghys.
Did Three Rivers Race on the Norfolk Broads several times and beat all the other dinghys.
DJE
Well-known member
They must have improved enormously since No. 3002 then! An early GRP example before they learned how little resin and glass they could get away with, so a seriously heavy boat.
billg
Member
Super boats. Yes they're heavy, but that's the reason you can walk about the boat (and even stand on the foredeck) while sailing, which I defy you to do in any other dinghy. With two sails they are almost impossible to capsize -- the only reliable source of a swim is an unintended (or incompetently executed) gybe in really heavy winds with the kite up.
The only downside of their popularity is that the cheaper end of the second-hand market contans an awful lot of ex-sailing school boats, which have got an awful lot of hours on them and were often not very well set up in the first place. If you want a cheap one which can still be raced successfully then go for an early wooden boat. Ours was more than a decade old when we bought it in the early 1980's and was still winning club races when we sold it in 2004 .
The only downside of their popularity is that the cheaper end of the second-hand market contans an awful lot of ex-sailing school boats, which have got an awful lot of hours on them and were often not very well set up in the first place. If you want a cheap one which can still be raced successfully then go for an early wooden boat. Ours was more than a decade old when we bought it in the early 1980's and was still winning club races when we sold it in 2004 .
Sailfree
Well-known member
They have.
W1 was 16' long and made in wood. They optimised it as two 8' marine ply sheets curved for a hull made it 15'-10" with the transom. Later the wooden shape was copied in GRP and sandwich construction added.
A number of self build wooden ones tweaked the rules on hull tolerances to their advantage. Wooden kits were unobtainable and some bought old boats and built new replica's with only the transom and W number transferred - someof these transgressed the rules and owners were spoken to!! . Wooden boats were sailed by the better sailors but once we bought a good Porter built wooden boat we proved they could be sailed "slowly!"
When Richard Hartley took over the rights to be sole builder he got the expert dinghy designer, Phil Morrison, to update it for GRP only constuction but took the best compromise hull shape from existing wooden boats. a Prior to this there were variation on self build kit boats in the keel rocker (beat better) and aft underwater profile (got on a plane quicker). New Mk 4 has hull buoyancy so more room inside with no forward and aft buoyancy tanks which allowed transom flaps to be fitted for fast draining after a capsize. Consensus now is that the Mk 4 sandwich construction is the fastest of all the Wayfarers. It has re-invigorated the class and made it a completely level playing field such that my friend who is a good sailor but not "expert" with a competent crew took one out of the box and won a race at Portland in the internationals and 100 boats competing. This has created a good secondhand market with keen racers selling their wooden boats for a new GRP. One good sailor though in a 60 yr old wooden boat still manages a top 5 finish in most competitions but the avarage joe gets the best out of a Mk 4.
Even the Mk 4 though has to comply on minimum weight so no advantage gained there!
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jon711
Well-known member
Beware of the early self drainers.... We borrowed Chris Jeckells boat for a nationals in Whitstable, capsized on the way to the start of the practice race, and found that when righted, with the water on top of the bouyancy it was top heavy. After being towed ashore, with a broken mast having bounced it on the bottom a few times, we then found out that the self drainering boats need to be sailed out of the capsize to keep the stability. New mast fitted overnight, and, finished the week in single figures overall, great fun, but hard work.....
Jon
Jon
Vallich
New member
Excellent choice by your friends Ms. Spong. I did my RYA 2 on a wooden version as have many other people - a great boat. I sometimes sail one on a local lake now and then just to ge back to dinghy sailing - a great boat. The training school boats I sailed were all aft-main but even then there is still lots of room. The Waferer World GRP ones are much more modern with self bailing and such like and centre-main. Plenty of other boats your friends could have bought but they didn't, they chose the Wayfarer that is sturdy, sails well, very forgiving and with lots of room - a great boat!
Seajet
...
Victoria,
yes they are very heavy boats, hence sailing schools like them as they have a small army to get them up slipways !
Also difficult to right from a capsize; a float at the masthead might be an idea, and a trial capsize by the club in shallow water definitely is.
Please advise your friends - and I cannot emphasize this enough - above all else a jockey wheel with a pneumatic tyre on the trolley makes all the difference between back-breaking hassle on the slip or not !
Andy
yes they are very heavy boats, hence sailing schools like them as they have a small army to get them up slipways !
Also difficult to right from a capsize; a float at the masthead might be an idea, and a trial capsize by the club in shallow water definitely is.
Please advise your friends - and I cannot emphasize this enough - above all else a jockey wheel with a pneumatic tyre on the trolley makes all the difference between back-breaking hassle on the slip or not !
Andy
Tidewaiter2
New member
Sounds like you were contemporary with Alice and I in W7241-MK2- same 8st/ 14.5 stone partnership! Marvellous what a large front jockey wheel and long pull handle on top of it, docking bars, with a low loading road trailer, plus a long block and tackle let you do with such a really really **** boat.
Dick Harrington & I did the Irish Sea xing to Strangford Lough Worlds in company with a Scots couple, and Bob Tarn & I did the nord Zee xing to DenHelder just before Ralph Roberts+1 and another coupledid that, and got to Ejsberg and Svendborg respectively. Bob ran out of leave, so we had to road it from Scmeeda to the Svendborg Int Rally-then Alice & I ended up at Hamburgsund in W Sweden that summer.
Went past all the old stops this summer on way to/from Gotland- bit warmer boat this time, but happy memories
Wish my knees and broken kneecap would let me play again:sorrow: but we have a geriatrics yacht now.Sigh
Victoria Sponge
New member
Thanks for all the really helpful posts.
