Laurent Giles 'Jolly Boat' Exeter |
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Topper sailing in a breeze |
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Rupert
Really should get out more Joined: 11 Aug 04 Location: Whitefriars sc Online Status: Offline Posts: 8956 |
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Topic: Topper sailing in a breeze Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 9:12pm |
It will look all floppy and not at all like those used in pictures of squaddies sailing. Yes a 6:1 downhaul would be nice, but would probably rip the eye out of the sail. Even a 2:1 using an old block with a v jammer attached will help on the downhaul, just to get more fun in a breeze. A newer boom would be good if the old one really is the original skinny thing. That may have been bent and replaced, though. Easiest way to tell is to take a look at a newer boat and compare.
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Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686
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Longwayround
Newbie Joined: 03 Jun 16 Online Status: Offline Posts: 8 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 9:14pm |
Fair point. This is my boat: Ullswater last week.
Edited by Longwayround - 06 Jun 16 at 9:15pm |
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JimC
Really should get out more Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6649 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 9:38pm |
Bearing in mind the sometimes relatively modest cost of secondhand Toppers with all the bells and whistles, and the decidedly unmodest cost of purchasing all that stuff new I wouldn't be at all surprised if it were rather more economical to sell the current boat as is and buy one with all the trick stuff rather than upgrade it.
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Rupert
Really should get out more Joined: 11 Aug 04 Location: Whitefriars sc Online Status: Offline Posts: 8956 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 9:38pm |
I've seen worse. Owned worse, actually, but yes, it is pretty blown out. It is possible to get fake Topper sails pretty cheaply, or secondhand ones from people who take it seriously. You'll be amazed at how much nicer the boat is to sail!
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Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686
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piglet
Really should get out more Joined: 04 Jan 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 514 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 9:51pm |
Nice photo, don't worry about the boat, just enjoy the scenery.
You are a tad over the perfect Topper race weight anyway. I suspect 16### would be what is now called a 'pre-production' boat, never sure where that term came from but: 1. is the transom fitting a stainless plate or aluminium casting? 2. Is the bailer a plastic Superchute or a holt wedge shaped thing? If aluminium casting and Holt bailer then it's a pre-production and probably wouldn't ever be worth more than a couple or 3 large rounds at the bar. Enjoy the boat as it is or consider trading. If it's the later boat and doesn't leak then it's a viable foundation to build on. Hard to tell but it doesn't look like a skinny boom in the photo. The later 'fat' booms are the same size as the top section, 1 3/4" OD Edited by piglet - 06 Jun 16 at 9:54pm |
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zippyRN
Far too distracted from work Joined: 14 Sep 06 Online Status: Offline Posts: 437 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 11:49pm |
especially given that aft mainsheet is how the topper was designed ... i'm not sure where the reference to 'pre -production' and a 16k sail number came from ... surely pre-pro would be the toppers that were all or half GRP ...
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Riv
Far too distracted from work Joined: 23 Nov 13 Location: South Devon Online Status: Offline Posts: 353 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jun 16 at 7:21pm |
Variety is the spice of life and there is nothing wrong with an aft main, quicker to tack in light winds and easier to learn.
Frankly I feel that the emphasis on centre main is a barrier to inclusion and probably puts people off, it is really quite diffficult to do well and requires good coaching at times. Aft main is a bit like paddling a SOT, dead easy and works well, and look at the number of SOTs! My club has a rapidly expanding Canoe, Kayak group and a stagnant dinghy group. I know why. So lets embrace variety and enjoy the aft main. |
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Longwayround
Newbie Joined: 03 Jun 16 Online Status: Offline Posts: 8 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jun 16 at 8:18pm |
My boat is, unless I'm very much mistaken, equipped with the superchute and steel plate but even so it probably would be more economical to buy a newer Topper. That said, that would require me to spend all the money at once. :-)
Are there any genuine advantages to a centre main?
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Longwayround
Newbie Joined: 03 Jun 16 Online Status: Offline Posts: 8 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jun 16 at 8:19pm |
I am, by the way, delighted that my first post to this forum has got such a healthy discussion going. :-)
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JimC
Really should get out more Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6649 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jun 16 at 8:57pm |
Potentially controversial question! The main reason, AIUI, that the Topper went to the centre main was that the RYA wanted all youth boats to be centremain so kids learned with them from the start. There's a kind of sense in that since relatively few boats use the aft main as a default option these days. The centre main is not demonstrably faster round a race course in a Topper. By preference I think I'd possibly teach kids with a centremain and adults with a stern main, but probably depends where and what they are going to sail to a considerable extent. Because a stern main is so much more intuitive than a centre main its much more trouble going from stern main to centre main than vice versa, but equally its more trouble to learn to sail in the first place with a centre main. In higher performance boats a stern main has disadvantages, but such craft are tending to move from the conventional centremain with the last block on the floor to off the boom sheeting. |
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