1 or 2 person boat for kids

My son, age 10, sails his Mirror singlehanded in conditions he is no way capable of handling in a seamanlike way, yet always seems to come out of it OK, and has yet to tip her in. And always seems to come in with a smile. Not many glass ones around, though, at a reasonable price.

Originally posted by radixon The RS Feva is a great boat and can be sailed with just a main sail alone but I wasnt aware of a sail that can be rolled similar to a pico. The mast is supported by shrouds for the kite, the jib is only rope fed so doesnt support the mast like other boats.

The feva's small rig doesnt use the shrouds, so the sail can be permanently stored on the mast, although im not sure if its wise to use the jib without the stays, we never tried that.

From my experiance of all of them the Topaz has been the nicest to sail, and it goes the best in light winds. However the kids at the local sailing club prefer the Feva, but that might be because they were on a trip away and had their first real taste of spinnaker sailing in one.
I'd certainly pick the Topaz over a Pico as they have more scope for upgrades (including a spinnaker), and when its light the Topaz seems to sail massively better.

If you do go for the Feva, your daughter should be able to manage the small rig on her own, when i taught in them we had 11 year olds single handing them up to a F3-4 without getting wet.

Originally posted by alstorer Of the teen-rotomolds, the Topaz is, by contrast to the Feva, by far the worst. i'm not quite sure exactly what it is about it, but having sailed all three (admittedly I'm far larger than they're designed to take) the Topaz is the most uncomfortable and the most frustrating to sail.

I personally find the topaz much comfier for a larger person as its got a more open design (you've got the gunnels that slope into a little foot kick in the middle and thats it, where as iirc the fevas got a lot more molding to get in the way)

But, thats besides the point because the OP isnt asking about one for adults

If you want her to stay interested, get what the other kids at your club are sailing. Then she's far more likely to be included as part of the group.. , and in my opinion, it's the social aspect of sailing and apre sailing thats most likely to grab kids more than any other.

Almost all the plasic boats are very very durable - training Toppers and Picos are certainly regularly run aground at our club with lttle significant damage.  The club Feva is very popular, but not singlehanded - its to big for the little sail and the kids have more fun messing about in Toppers - very often two up  - or more!

there is the tera, it only has one sail but I learnt to sail in one and have taken people out in it with me

Thanks to everybody for their continuing attention.

 

I bought a nearly new Topaz for my daughter at the beginning of the season from somebody at work (with a jib, plus all the extras - combi trailer, covers for everything etc.) I added a Race (Mylar) sail for when I wanted to have a play, but with the weather we had over the summer that sail hasn't even been used.

She's now decided she wants something faster (serves me right for taking her out on the Shockwave). So the Topaz will be going (any offers) to be replaced either by an older small cat, perhaps a Dart 16 or one of the Topaz ones, or we'll sail together on a Hurricane 5.9 in 2 sail mode (at first) until she decides it’s not cool to be seen with dad.

Edited by SX-ed up - 13 Dec 10 at 10:23am