Cruising - Miracle or Solo or ??

Hi

Wondered if I could get advice please.

Mainly I want a comfortable, stable, spacious second-hand boat for under £1000 that could carry my weight (92Kg) that doesn’t involve a trapeze, ducking under low booms and has a good seating position.

The type of sailing I will be doing will be 90 % lake cruising / 10 % informal mixed class fun racing….i.e. mainly sunny evening after work / weekend sailing.

I need to be able to haul it and sail it single handed(I’m pretty strong) . ..if it’s got room for one more person... great however I think it is more important that I can haul it and sail it alone.

So far, the two boats that have caught my eye are the Solo and the Miracle.

I have no issue carrying out maintenance and I like the classic look. Reading the forums it appears many people do sail miracles sometimes singlehanded…

The specs of both boats look to me relatively similar in length and beam but of course in the flesh it may be a very different story and I have yet to be able to see both or compare side by side.

Specs ;


     Solo Dinghy     Miracle Dinghy
LOA
        3.78 m (12 ft 5 in)     3.89 (12 FT 9.5)
Beam
        1.55 m (5 ft 1 in)     1.59 (5 FT 2.5)
Draft
        1.07 m (3 ft 6 in)     1.07 m (3 ft 6 in)
Hull weight
        70 kg (150 lb)             77 kg (170 lb)      
Mainsail area
        8.36 m2 (90.0 sq ft)     6.8 m2 (72 sq ft)
Jib area
        NONE                     2.1 m2 (23.0 sq ft)
RYA PN
        1140                 1185


Has anyone experience of both these boats that can tell me if there is a significant difference …specifically relating to ;

1.     Boom height – I mean when your sat on the gunwhale and about to tack how much you have to duck to get across.
2.     Spaciousness / seating comfort ….The miracle is obviously a two person, the solo a one person ….but the casings of the Solo and the thwart of the miracle may make one more spacious than the other? …
3.     Speed – The canvas seems to be roughly the same 8.36 m2 versus 8.9 m2 (main and jib) …is one a boat considerably slower/ faster than the other ?

All feedback appreciated , feel free to educate me as Im a relative novice and finally if you think based on the above requirements I have missed out a more obvious choice please feel free to chip in….I have already discounted the folowing boats for my purposes ..

1.     Blaze – outriggers don’t appeal.
2.     Laser – too small
3.     Topper / topaz
4.      OK boom looks very low
5.     Any trapeze boats

cheers




Edited by Noel2016 - 09 Jun 16 at 5:39pm

Thanks JimC for your thoughts,

Would you know whether the Solo boom height without fistfuls of mast rake applied would be comparable , lower or higher to the Miracle ?

Noel

Even simpler than removing sail area is to get an eyelet put in, 4 inches above the clew, and connect the outhaul to that eye instead of the usual one.

A strap round the boom would clamp this down, and it would be like a miniature reef at the outboard end only.

However, there are plenty on ancient sailors out there who seem to manage fine with the Solo boom. (The OK/Finn is rather low though I agree!)

[QUOTE=MerlinMags] Even simpler than removing sail area is to get an eyelet put in, 4 inches above the clew, and connect the outhaul to that eye instead of the usual one.

A strap round the boom would clamp this down, and it would be like a miniature reef at the outboard end only. QUOTE]

I like the idea of that ...reversible and can be retro fitted if I find the boom too low.

Miracle a much nicer cruising boat than the Solo.