Gem 550

[Mychael]

Can anyone give me opinions on this design? It is now made in Australia but from what information I have been able to find I understand it was originally a British design in the microton class.

mychael

[CT 249]

It's the Micro Cup class. Google their website, the class is shrinking but still gets okay numbers in Europe.

Great little boats, it'll be a real pity the class can't keep its numbers up. IMHO this should be promoted heavily here as it's a good class for young designers.

Castle 550 is very similar

[Mychael]

Thanks for that. I was never really in the market for a T/S, much prefer my keelboat for actual sailing but I am having mooring problems and cannot afford a pen.
Stumbled across reference to this boat and was wondering about it.
found a website for the builder and made attempt to contact to get an info pack sent down but not heard back as yet which was why I was wondering if anyone had seen these boats in the flesh and could comment on their quality etc, if anyone has sailed them even better.

I'm not into racing but the website mentioned a cruising version(as much as is possible in a boat that size) and that is what I could be interested in.

My local yacht club allows storing of rigged T/S on their on trailers and that would solve my mooring problems.

Mychael

[CT 249]

I sailed on one only once, years ago, and can't remember much about quality.

However, there's about 10 or more in Canberra so a drive of a few hours will give you an excellent idea about the boat. They aren't huge inside, nor are they tiny. I have to admit the Micros seem a great type to me.

The Gem is a little bit more of a yacht and less of a sportsboat than something like an Elliott 5.9. Having said that, overseas and perhaps in Canberra Micros have capsized at times but AFAIK there's no reason to think that they are any more liable to do that than any other reasonably quick boat of their size, nor are they more liable to get into trouble than lots of the slower craft of their size.

[Andy]

There was one on the clyde a few years ago, and they are pretty quick for their size and type. Perhaps not Sportsboats speed, but pretty good. As the sail area is limited, they seem to be designed more for efficiency than the outright power philosophy of many sportsboats (more like an NS14 perhaps) and of course most of them have pretty reasonable accomodation which is cool if you want to do a bit of camping on board. The Gem has been overtaken in design terms by newer 'Cruiser' class Micros, but its still a cracking wee boat - designer Rob Humphries (designed Kingfisher with O-C, and most recently the Russian VO70) used to say it was the design 'closest to his heart'. The class rules state the boats must be self righting from 90 degrees with 40 (?) kg at the masthead, and they must have a certain amount of buoyancy to make them unsinkable. They arent offshore cruisers, but they will take some pretty nasty weather if the crew can. Do it - i dont think you will be disappointed.