Looking for your opinion on dinghy sailing for fun

[mark]

Looking for your opinion...

[paulharrison]

What age group and number of persons in the dinghy to be used by?

[mark]

What age group and number of persons in the dinghy to be used by?

I hadn't a particular age group or number of people in mind, but I guess I was thinking of teenage and older (no upper limit)

[paulharrison]

There were five of us out in my Wayfarer last week in the bay, in the sunshine! Kids had a lot of fun swimming from the boat. My eldest and I sailed past Barnageeragh and back in light winds. Great boat for families. Daughters sail in Mirrors, they're great for teenagers.

[stan]

For racing, you can't beat the Laser (or Laser I). Absolute one design, and because they retain their value they qualify as value for money.

They are also great fun to knock about in. However, racing them competitively may not qualify as fun- you really have to work hard.

For racing at Skerries, it's the GPs. There's regularly a good fleet, and it's good racing. I think 5 different boats have taken line honours this season, and a couple of the others oh-so-close.

For fast, cheap and no pain, a Contender would be the go. And if you want to go at twice the speed of anyone else, and spend a lot of time swimming, it's a hydrofoil Moth .

Just my €0.02 worth.

Cheers, ...Stan

[HughShelley]

[quote="stan"]For racing at Skerries, it's the GPs. There's regularly a good fleet, and it's good racing.

I'm fairly new to the club & love the idea of a GP. I'm worried tho about the how hard it is to rite one after a capsize, is it difficult.?

[stan]

Hi Hugh, welcome to the club.

Re righting a GP14 - how would you rate your sailing skill level? Although the GP is a bit heavy, I think most people would be able to right one in 'normal' conditions. I (about 11 stone) have righted the boat in a force 4-5, scooping up Shae who is considerably bigger than me But in a force 5-6, we've seen even experienced guys struggle to get the boat up. I'm guessing if capsizing is a concern for you, you won't be out in those winds until you've got some experience.

I wouldn't consider a Mark 1 boat, as they come upright with a fair bit of water in, increasing the chance of further capsizes. Mark 2s come up dry.

If you're not sure, introduce yourself at the club and have a chat. Best way to be sure is to give it a try - but maybe wait for warmer weather. The GPs will be down on Saturday and Sunday.

For ease of righting of the boats at the club, the order would probably be something like:

Optimist
Topaz
Laser 1
Mirror
Laser 2
RS500
RS400
GP14
Fireball
Wayfarer
Mermaid

Of course, there's also the question of keeping the boat upright in the first place- Laser 1 rather more tricky, GP14, Wayfarer, Mermaid rather easier, than those positions.

Cheers, and good sailing.

[HughShelley]

Thanks for the reply Stan.
I have good cruiser experiance but not huge dinghy experiance. I have my level 2 dinghy cert & have a few hrs loged on the Topaz and a good few more on the club Omega. At the moment I won't chance the heaver winds such as today unless my crew has more experiance than me but I'm just trying to be safe there.

I don't expect/wish to capsize often, I havent yet swam in the club Topaz or omega...yet, I'm just trying to think ahead when I buy my own boat. If it can't be righted with only 2 people then I would look at something else. I do like the Omega but believe there is a better racing fleet for the GP14 & I would like to race.

I would love to crew a GP14 someday if thats poss.

Thanks for all the info.

Hugh.

[stan]

Hi Hugh, a more simple answer would be that a GP can be righted fairly easily by two people of normal fitness in 'normal' conditions. So I wouldn't think that should be a problem for you.
...Stan