What's the worst sailing boat?

[alahol2]

Iroquois cat - what's the point? A cruising cat that anyone can capsize. We didn't but one trip was enough.

One man's meat etc...
We sailed one for 13 years. Our kids grew up with it. It took us safely and quickly all along the channel shores of UK and France. I'd have it now except for the extra cost of cruising/upkeep.
Ours capsized twice, once before we owned it and once when we'd sold it. It's currently undergoing a comprehensive refurb.

 

[Seajet]

One man's meat etc...
We sailed one for 13 years. Our kids grew up with it. It took us safely and quickly all along the channel shores of UK and France. I'd have it now except for the extra cost of cruising/upkeep.
Ours capsized twice, once before we owned it and once when we'd sold it. It's currently undergoing a comprehensive refurb.

This might have been God - aka Oliver Lee - trying to send a polite message; what does it take, lightning bolts and UFO's ?

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

The worse sailing boat is the one that someone was unable to manage

 

[PhillM]

Laser two. Pre production. The manufacturer sent a load up to an under 16's sailing regatta in Bala lake.

Overpowered, twin trapeze and lots of swimming, I seem to recall we bent at least two masts in a weekend. I'm sure there were a few modifications before the final release. Don't get me wrong, it was lots of fun, just totally unmanageable by two skinny teenagers.

 

[Habebty]

No! My first ever sail was in a Bosun dinghy - one of the most exciting and inspiring moments in my life.

+1 - c. 1976 thanks Gosport Sea Scouts

 

[muyuu]

Bosuns are ACE. Yep, high loads because it's a very fast boat properly sailed. It's faster than many modern dinghies.

 

[Rivers & creeks]

Clueless about the Anderson 22, have you ever sailed one ?

The coachroof is wide for good reasons; headroom when sitting below, and more importantly, upper buoyancy in heavy seas, for the same reason Arun etc lifeboats have high coachroofs; the A22's coachroof is not that high, but it is wide, I once asked a novice crew to open the curtains ( we'd left in a hurry ) knowing the bow wave was halfway up the windows - you can probably guess his response, the second word was ' Me ! '

Going to and from the foredeck is easy - I retain hanked headsails for performance and fun - the swept shrouds make good handholds, going on deck is easy.

And she sails well, not like a shed.

Oh it's too easy - please be a bit harder to get

 

[Iain C]

Bosuns are ACE. Yep, high loads because it's a very fast boat properly sailed. It's faster than many modern dinghies.

Seriously, whatever it is that you're drinking or smoking, I'll buy your entire stock please...

High loads BECAUSE it's fast? With all due respect, that's utterly wrong.

 

[muyuu]

It has a respectable sail area so it can move its weight.

I sail a Bosun sometimes, and they sail fine. It has a better handicap than many modern dinghies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_boats_with_RYA_Portsmouth_Numbers

Couldn't ask much more for an old, heavy dinghy.

 

[Iain C]

But it is not, and never will be, a "very fast boat". It is a very SLOW boat, period. It's pretty much the slowest adult double hander on the list you linked to!

Fast boats do not have high sheet loads. Slow boats do. I have sailed Bosuns a lot and I have sailed 49ers and 18s a lot and I know the difference. Whilst I totally agree that a Bosun is a big, safe, seaworthy stable old bus, it is also undobtedly the least responsive, slowest, heaviest dinghy I have ever sailed. It's good at what it does, but fast, it ain't.

 

[mbroom]

Bosuns are ACE. Yep, high loads because it's a very fast boat properly sailed. It's faster than many modern dinghies.

Are you sure? I spent years sailing Bosuns...hateful, heavy slugs that took a lot of the joy out of sailing.

 

[rwoofer]

Bosuns are ACE. Yep, high loads because it's a very fast boat properly sailed. It's faster than many modern dinghies.

Had to double take on that statement too. Never heard anyone claim Bosuns are fast before.

 

[Rivers & creeks]

Ours capsized twice, once before we owned it and once when we'd sold it. It's currently undergoing a comprehensive refurb.

Some family sailors on here are well 'ard I'm glad it only capsized twice and not when your children were in it. I stand by my belief that it was a poor design that was responsible for holding back the development of cruising cats and suppressed the market for them in this country. As every multihull broker will tell you, the first question is "will it capsize?" The answer of course is always "no, it's not an Iroquois".

 

[aluijten]

Would have expected someone to mention the MacGregor by now. Or does that not even qualify as sailing boat?

 

[Twister_Ken]

Would have expected someone to mention the MacGregor by now. Or does that not even qualify as sailing boat?

Ah, but the question was "...that you've ever been on?". I suspect very few of us have ever boarded an M26 - we've been put off stepping aboard the death traps by the posts we've read here.

 

[aluijten]

Ah, but the question was "...that you've ever been on?". I suspect very few of us have ever boarded an M26 - we've been put off stepping aboard the death traps by the posts we've read here.

Good point! Missed that bit. Saw one actually not too long ago (pretty rare where I live) found it a bit toy-ish even from the looks of it.

 

[lw395]

But it is not, and never will be, a "very fast boat". It is a very SLOW boat, period. It's pretty much the slowest adult double hander on the list you linked to!

Fast boats do not have high sheet loads. Slow boats do. I have sailed Bosuns a lot and I have sailed 49ers and 18s a lot and I know the difference. Whilst I totally agree that a Bosun is a big, safe, seaworthy stable old bus, it is also undobtedly the least responsive, slowest, heaviest dinghy I have ever sailed. It's good at what it does, but fast, it ain't.

I don't think they are quite as slow as their PY implies, if you have a well sorted one, rather than the pot luck Whale Island issue.
Compared to say a GP14, rather than an Int 14 of course!
Neither do I think they are that stable, downwind in F5 I feel much more stable in an RS400 or Merlin!
A Bosun is great for two things, training and racing other Bosuns.
(and possibly putting fear into the helms of anything not made of armour plate?)

 

[southseaian]

Ah, but the question was "...that you've ever been on?". I suspect very few of us have ever boarded an M26 - we've been put off stepping aboard the death traps by the posts we've read here.

I've been on a M26, at the London Boat Show!
Lot of hard sell but I resisted
.

I saw a YouTube video of one in heavy sea and high winds promoting it's sailing "qualities", remarkable if true.

 

[Serin]

A Bosun is great for two things, training and racing other Bosuns.
(and possibly putting fear into the helms of anything not made of armour plate?)

I was kidnapped by a Bosun once and carried off to the Hamoaze (from Sutton Harbour) Single handed, strong breeze, me young and quite slight. Broad reach - the thing took off like a very heavy rocket and I could neither luff (without tripping the thing up with the boom in the water) nor gybe (didn't dare try - too busy sitting out with all my rather meagre weight) It didn't help that my practice of tying the jib sheets together failed me and the leeward sheet was sculling about well out of reach. Just hung on to my hat until I could get a bit of a lee under one of the warships that used to be laid up there and sort myself out.

I stuck to other, more friendly, dinghies after that.

 

[daviddb]

+1 - c. 1976 thanks Gosport Sea Scouts

+another 1 circa 1966 with 1st Batchworth Sea Scouts. Those awesome slow motion capsizes 5 up at Rickmansworth Aquadrome