Where are Flying Dutchmen sold?

Greenheart

Greenheart

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The Flying Dutchman dinghy...what a legend. Youtube footage shows them to be big, fast, uncompromising, traditionally beautiful, the summit of dinghy sailing taste, power and speed, with a long Olympic history and great popularity internationally. Just one thing, though...where are 2nd hand FDs sold? Try Googling intelligently, and it's rarely possible to find more than half a dozen, worldwide. Not many across Europe, Australia, the US...very rarely one in the UK. Are they so adored by their owners, that they're never sold?
 
Flying Dutchmen

I used to sail and race FDs - they are everything you say. Still a few based at Lee-on-the Solent SC, although I don't know of any for sale. Sadly, there are very few left in this country but you may be lucky if you let the right clubs know that you are looking.
 
Ah, sweet memories! Used to sail them when I was young, the most exciting boat I ever experienced. My first boat as a kid was a Flying Junior, the youth-version of the FD.
It is a Dutch design, and still popular in Holland. The website of the class organization is here: http://www.sailfd.org/NED/indexnl.htm. On the site is a secondhand market (see '2de hands markt' tab) where you can find some FD's - starting at 1300 euro.
chris
 
I am sure there was a large fleet at Draycote SC between Leamington Spa and Rugby some years ago. Haven't been there for a long time but a check on the web-site might be useful.

j
 
You see them know and again for sale. We used to do our training on Flying Dutchman dinghies as part of the the Olympic team in Athens back in the early 70's; it was hard work but great fun.
 
In the sixteen months since I started this thread, I think I've seen just two FDs advertised for sale in the UK...

...one very antique, for sale in the far north with no trailer; the other very tidy, for the price of a Westerly Centaur.

Flying Dutchman championships always seem to be well attended, and the boats (new and old) look pristinely maintained, highly competitive. Perhaps they are owned and held in trust by families, who've sworn never to sell them?

Even by broadening the horizon and looking worldwide, it's difficult to find anywhere where more than two or three are regularly raced, at which place one might expect to find sellers and buyers.

They almost seem to be the stuff of ghostly legend... :( :confused:
 
dancrane said:
The Flying Dutchman dinghy...what a legend. Youtube footage shows them to be big, fast, uncompromising, traditionally beautiful, the summit of dinghy sailing taste, power and speed, with a long Olympic history and great popularity internationally. Just one thing, though...where are 2nd hand FDs sold? Try Googling intelligently, and it's rarely possible to find more than half a dozen, worldwide. Not many across Europe, Australia, the US...very rarely one in the UK. Are they so adored by their owners, that they're never sold?
Click to expand...

Schipol :D
 
There was one at my club years ago which belonged to an idiot, he just let it go; I did notice on looking at some hull damage that it was extremely lightly built, which doesn't bode well for old cheap ones.

Gentlemen sail Ospreys, dont'ya know. :)
 
Seajet said:
There was one at my club years ago which belonged to an idiot, he just let it go; I did notice on looking at some hull damage that it was extremely lightly built, which doesn't bode well for old cheap ones.

Gentlemen sail Ospreys, dont'ya know. :)
Click to expand...

Or Squibs.....:D
 
Well, well...five years on, I'm in a fixed-for-life love affair with my Osprey, so the opportunity to revive an elderly FD is rather a big project, and superfluous.

Just the same, I've had two enquiries in the last 12 months, asking whether I'm still interested, and it's hard not to embrace the chance of owning one...

...there's one in London, one in Scotland. Neither is new by any description, nor likely to be seriously competitive in the class. Tempting, though!

I know for a fact that storage for the one near Edinburgh is not available for much longer, so the owner has dropped the price again, to bicycle money.

She's definitely still in need of minor work, despite the current owner having done admirable restoration...

...I can put anyone who is genuinely interested, in touch. There are some sails, but no trailer. Buyer collects. She could be yours!

Screenshot_2017-03-20-12-35-39_zpsgfkylvg1.png


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Is the lady on the dockside in the photo below, waiting for some attention? Or just distracted by the lovely boat?

Screenshot_2017-03-20-12-38-00_zpsv00akvgl.png
 
Dan
You are wasting your time
It would take ages to fit a wheel house & it would look awful
Plus it would still be cold in the winter

The only plus is that the asymetric might fit but a lot of trouble to go to to find out :nonchalance:
 
Just for once, I wasn't thinking of myself. I'm genuinely sad to think that this nice old FD will end up in a skip or a bonfire if someone doesn't choose to take her on. If she wasn't 400 miles from the Solent, that might have been me.
 
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