where to start

I am looking to start sailing & am looking for a bit of advice as there does not seem to be any sail clubs close to me & this is the ususlly entry point.  

I am 6'3 & about 100k kilos.  My only bit of experience was a (very old) Yamaha Seahopper (similar to Laser), I found in a friends garage, made up what I reckoned was close to the orignal rigging & off I went. 

I want to find the magical dinghy that does it all.....it will let me sail single-handed while I hone my skills but it still needs to be exciting so I dont loose interest after a year or two. I am quite athletic & don't mind the odd dunking.  After a few seasons I want to be able to take my kids out & introduce them to sailing.

My research has got me this far......Single handed laser is too small. V3000 may be a good option.  Vago looks great fun (but has been criticised), RS400 looks good but apparently not for single handed (even for one as tubby as myself?), RS500 looks fantastic.  If I had the cheque in my hand right now, the 500 would be the one, but I may be out of my league & loosing sight of the idea of taking the kids out on it.  

Does this magical dinghy exist?

RS vission?

Vario might be the perfect option, virtually the same underwater hull shape as an RS500 but single handed.  Plenty of room for the kids and you can play with the spinnaker to keep things interesting.

Ian

RS700 GBR960

www.sail4cancer.org

 

 

With a 100 kg sailor, a 3000 will be fine to singlehand in most conditions, but not recommendable if the 100kg sailor wants to sail regularly with a crew in future. The 3k is a great boat but we can't pretend it's a great weight carrier, even if Dan and Andrew do seem to magic their way round the course with 26 stone (165 kg) on board!

Radixon - you have picked up on my dilema.  It's hard to pick something when I am effectively searching in the dark.   No water (of note) in Lux.  A long narrow lake in a deep valley is the only option, approx 200mx800m.  I am sure I should be able to find moew open water a couple of hours into France.  I am not expecting to find something for here, but am researching for my retun to the west of ireland. 

If head ruled heart, the Vision should be the clear leader, but the 3000 & Vario (which I hadn't seen before) look to be a bit more fun, but.....mossman has thrown a spanner in the works...tempting me to stick to a singlehander...my kids will be disapointed with you !  Still can't stop you-tubing the rs400 & 500 though.