what sail boat to get next ??

[jez33]

OK as some of you might remember from my past post i have a comet sailing dinghy which has taught me loads about sailing but now i feel ive progressed enough to try some thing a bit faster.

so what do you recommend to me that might cost between £100 to £500 that will be pretty quick,can sail single handed but large enough for may be a passenger, sea worthy not just lake, and reasonably stable as my comet wasn't all that stable with a strongish breeze behind..
plus is a boat with a jib the type of boat i need to progress to or should i stay with just a main ???

just looking for names of boats to put into my searches on ebay so any help will be appreciated..

 

[Bodach na mara]

Just search for "sailing dinghy" and you will get loads. Of dinghies and a fair bit of [--word removed--] as well. You may need to refine with -aquaglide-rudder etc to get rid of the auctions for bits rather than boats. And aquaglides whatever they are.

 

[Gin]

Well, it may not to be to everyone's taste and it could be a little cramped under the boom but you wouldn't go far wrong with a Mirror dinghy.

Very seaworthy, tough, stable and versatile- can be sailed two-up with two sails or singlehanded with one(or two of course).

We had two of these for about five years and the youngsters had great fun in them, as did I.

Ours were grp, good condition and with launching trolleys and were sold at £350 each- the Rapide road trailer went separately at a bargain price of £100

 

[TigaWave]

My old Merlin Rocket? £400
OK its not that stable, it is wood and it is old but comes with trailer trolley pretty new sails including a spinnaker to play with as you progress, a rudder that actually cost £450! and a few new bits of string, actually lots of bits of string!

If you live near Plymouth I'll deliver it as well!!

 

[jez33]

Thanks for the offer of the merlin, yer as you say i live miles away from plymouth.
( kenjohnson ) funny you say aquaglide. this was my very 1st sailing boat. i still use it but it is very slow though compared with my comet

want do you all think about the lasors. i guess they are faster then my comet but are they more stable then my comet and still capable of sea trips..???

 

[TigaWave]

lasers are very tough little boats, I have one for the Plymouth winter series and have taken mine outside the breakwater in 2m seas and 25knts.

 

[amadeus]

Lasers are tough but tip over a lot. I once capsized 17 times in Plymouth harbour during a student championship and I wasnt last! What about a Wanderer or an old Wayfarer? They are sturdy and tough and you could start doing a bit of dinghy cruising as there is room to sleep in the bottom of them.

 

[Searush]

[ QUOTE ]
lasers are very tough little boats, I have one for the Plymouth winter series and have taken mine outside the breakwater in 2m seas and 25knts.

[/ QUOTE ]

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif yer'l 'ave fun getting a passenger on one of them!

I'd go for a decent enterprise or similar. With a "racing rig" they are pretty fast, enough room for 2 yet easily sailed solo & light enough to launch/ recover solo. Speaking of which, the Solo and also the Lark are pretty good too - and falling out of favour with racing fraternity so lots around at good prices.

 

[Saguday]

GP14. Much more stable than an Enterprise. Put a jib on instead of the genoa and they can be sailed single handed. Loads of room to carry stuff, can cruise, race, outboard, are excellent sea boats, have a spinnaker to play with for the enthusiastic crew and have a great class association. Ours was £600 including road trailer and was the best purchase we ever made.

But I'm biased /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Eventide26]

Or the standard long established Wayfarer, I would assume a good progression.
When I was younger we went from a Wine Glass dinghy to a Caprice, then and Eventide. Small but gradual stages.

I'll echo the GP14, in fact any of the GP class, all a pretty good boats, and easy to maintain too.

 

[jez33]

thanks for all your input, ive got all the recommended boats on my ebay searches now.

ive got half an eye on a laser still but in your opinion will it be less stable then my comet ? im pretty sure it is faster then the comet..

oh i forgot. one of my club members pointed out that my mast n perhaps boom comes from a laser so would this combination not be as quick had i got the original comet mast n boom ? the sail is from comet..

an earlier post recomended a miror dinghy.. i knew they were stable but are they still quite slow ???

 

[Searush]

The wayfarer & gp14 are excellent FAMILY boats, but at 14 & 16' long are big for single handed launch & recovery. THAT'S why I suggested the 12' enterprise & slightly smaller lark/ solo's. Incidentally, an enterprise with a cruising rig is not unstable, and even a racing rig can be modified to reef if you want less "excitement"!

By all means if going mob-handed, or always got a crew with you get the bigger boat - it is much better for 2.

But the OP asked for OCCASIONAL crew use and that's very different. I Know several people with gp14s & I enjoy sailing with them - are real "small yacht" feel - but they don't go out on their own. It's not impossible, it's just too much bother.

Lots of others to consider (small 14' Hobie cat is fast, stable & can be singlehanded) go to your local clubs (or any public leisure sailing site) & see what they have. Especially the single-handers. Every one loves their own boat, but ask them what they like least, or would like to change if they could. The answers will tell you a great deal. When you think you have identified the boat you like, go for a sail in one & give it another dose of thinking.

 

[DinghyMan]

An Enterprise can be sailed and raced single handed quite happily and has room for two or three at a push and can be launched and recovered single handed. I've got a full size and threequarter sized set of sails and have used in it some quite wild weather. They do have a reputation as being unstable but can also be great fun.
I've got a wooden one that hasn't been used for over a year with road trailer, launching trolley, and two sets of sails which I intend to sell when I get around to it. It was stripped and repainted & revarnished two years and needs a bit of revarnishing and using - open to reasonable offers is anyone is interested...

 

[grumpy_o_g]

The GP14 is definitely more stable most of the time than an Enterprise and also has a Spinnaker (not compulsory to use it of course). I suspect that the single chine on the GP14 gives it more initial stability than the Enterprise as it feels less "tippy". The GP14 is less responsive though and slightly slower most of the time but not dramatically so - a good helmsman could easily make up the difference. The Enterprise feels slightly less stable but I don't remember her as being much less likely to capsize - she responds quicker to gusts but it's also easier to to spill wind by luffing.

Top end Enterprise racing was VERY competitive which helped put high-quality second-hand boats on the market and also meant that rigs and sails were developed to get the very best out of the class criteria. The Enterprise is also well-balanced when sailed under main only, can't speak for the GP 14. I've had no problems with an Enterprise in winds up F7 in fairly sheltered water but then I'm no lightweight (used to crew Ospreys).

I would say both boats are fairly capable of handling a moderate sea state; the short chop in the upper reaches of the Crouch was never a problem but both need to be sailed appropriately in longer seas.

The statistics are closer than my memories of sailing them would suggest:

Enterprise : 13' 3" overall, 5' 3" beam - 113 sq ft main and foresail - Hull and rig weight is 207lb

GP14: 14' overall, 5' 5" beam - 138 sq ft main and foresail - Hull and rig weight is 240lb

Both very good boats but if you want speed then an Enterprise will pick up her skirts and really move on a beam or broad reach in F4-5 or above - the one area where an Enterprise is significantly better. You'd need two crew and spinny up to keep up in a GP14. I had one glorious sail in an Enterprise reaching in a good F6 or even higher for several miles down-river and then back. It was like being in a speedboat she was planing so well. I was keeping up with the Hornets (a much bigger boat) and it DEFINITELY wasn't my helming ability that was doing it.

Bottom line - I think the Enterprise is a much nicer boat to sail, but it's not as if the GP14's a not also a good boat.

 

[jez33]

cool. i think the Enterprise is the one i would most enjoy then.
i take it though that if i did capsize alone that it would still be righted no prob ??

by the way , as you might know ive still got a lot to learn about sailing and i want to ask 'whats a spinny up ??

 

[grumpy_o_g]

No problem righting an Enterprise though I have seen a few with way too much buoyancy in the sides. That means that, when the boat capsizes, there's not a lot of the boat in the water and, instead of lying along the water, the mast is pointing down into it. As a result those boats tended to go right over and lie upside down in the water. Any boat's a bit harder to get upright in those circumstances.

Sorry, Spinny is just short for Spinnaker. I reckon you'd need to fly the Spinnaker on a GP14 to keep up with an Enterprise going downwind. No problem with that except that it's not too easy without crew. Remember that we're talking one boat gaining a few hundred yards over a mile at the best though. You'd struggle to notice it if you didn't sail them together.

 

[jez33]

i just seen on ebay a mirrow dinghy which admitidly to me sounds slower then my single mast comet but this mirrow says it comes with set of speed sails. will that make it much faster well atleast more exciting then my comet to sail ??

ps, are all the lasors unstable or just a few of their models?

 

[Twister_Ken]

Look at a 420. Can be sailed singlehanded, or two up with a spinnaker and even a trapeze when keenness overtakes you.

Some quite cheap ones about, though they may be a bit shagged.

 

[jez33]

damn i got out bid a few times on gp14 and an enterprise dinghy too.

i see tho some one recomended a mirrow dighy too. will the mirrow be slower then a gp14 ??