Sailing Dinghy Poll

Flying Scott.

Fast without athletic sailing. Lots of room.

 

I was fond of my M-16, too. Even though I've not sailed on an E-scow has to be right up there.

I really enjoyed my Merlin Rocket, too. Or are only US classes eligible?

So many classics were missing, too - Thistle, OK, Snipe, 470, 420, Flying Junior...

 

There's definitely a US bias to that list, and no cats...
At the risk of ridicule, I would like to add the RS400 and F16 cats.

 

Perhaps the thread should be "What is the best dinghy to sail", not the most popular.

The laser is undoubtably the most popular class but is a bit of a pig to sail. Uncomfortable to hike, wooden, soggy feel upwind but fast off the wind. Poor sail material quality, indifferent build quality. Hopeless fittings.

For the past 10 years I have raced a Finn and for 25 years prior to that an OK. At the same time I owned a FD and sailed a number of other classes. The FD is a truly delightful boat to sail, expensive.

The Finn is the ultimate dinghy and its obvious why it has been in the Olympic games since 1956. The hull shape is basically the same that was drawn up about 1936. Its just a delight to sail, has a pleasant motion through the water. Exciting and hairy in a breeze. The down side is the cost, I sail an older boat now in my retirement. To be competitive in the upper level requires about $100,000 a year which means sponsorship. For club racing however a second tier boat would be fine.

 

Ramona: Why would it cost so much for a Finn to be campaigned? Are you including travel expense as part of the cost? I know that the Finn is a highly developed boat but 100 large sure would seem to buy a lot of developement as dinghys go. I also know that it is a man killer if sailed competitvely in fast company.

 

Messabout. The Finn used to be a dinghy class for large athletic people, men in particular. Now its capable of being sailed by fit people of both sexes due to the very complex carbon fibre mast. This mast is also very expensive and is being built by only a handful of manufacturers in Europe.

The Finn class has a ranking system and to have any chance of getting ahead means you have to sail the circuit of class one Olympic class regattas. Most of these are in Europe, Melbourne and I think Rio de Janeiro for example. This means that an Australian Olympic aspirant needs two boats, one here and one in Europe. The Finn is expensive to start with, a good secondhand one that is competitive is about $25,000, new boat built in Europe with all the gear and import duties and taxes will be close to $50,000.

Older boats however are still great to sail. Around a sailing course you will get beaten by 7 or 8 minutes by the latest wing mast rigged boat.

I sold my last Finn a few weeks ago to a young bloke beginning an 8 year campaign for the Olympics. His father is going to have to find a lot of money from somewhere till he gets a sponsor and government grants.

 

At the moment I like the Explorer Class (open version) which is a large dinghy that fits 4 people, but I do like the INT 3M Class Tri's and the new OTB's tri's that are comming onto the market.

 

MG14

Aus 14 foot fractional sloop rigged assy single trap aparent wind dinghy.
Small but very efficient sail area. Can be sailed in NS or NS single, MG and MGB modes or converted to sportskiff. Easy enough to sail and right single handed. Planes upwind even single handed. I like its performance and versatility.

Ken

 

Swift Solo . . .

 

Ramona; If you are still out there, I thank you for the explanation about campaigning a Finn. I apologize for being a year late with this acknowledgement.

I had a CF mast a while back that was said to be from a Finn. It was very nice bit of work but I had no immediate use for it. I gave it away with an old Thistle that was being converted to a beach cruiser. I was ignorant of the probable value of that mast. In this part of the country (Florida) there a few if any Finn class boats. Your explanation about cost tells me why there are so few of them.

 

Its closer to 2 years. Good to hear from you tho. New Finn masts are about $6000 landed here. Good secondhand ones are still worth a couple of grand. One of the advantages of Olympic class boats like the Finn is the trickle down of secondhand gear. Those sailors at the top are sponsored and have gear supplied gratis. They sell on gear to make spending money so we all benefit down the road.

 

Fave Dinghy

Albacore...anything by Uffa and Proctor, like his Albacore.

Shark Cat, though Hobies are fun, and my little ancient Kite Dinghy.

I also loved the Banshee and Force 5.

I sailed I-14s back when they were earthbound, and fun, but never able to relax with a beer on them, and that plays big for me.

 

Favourite is a big word

But I love my Mirror dinghy.
I really enjoyed crewing Shearwater catamarans.
I got a kick out of the only time I ever sailed a Hobie 18.

But the Mirror is my favourite ;-{).

Gernot H.

I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks than in the drink with my boat on the rocks.

 

Beer Barges

+1 to that...I guess we could all have a garage full o boats, we had a choice.