The ubiquitous Streaker..

Finally had a go in one, one of my Wednesday Afternoon lot has brought himself one of those Rooster jobbies like the one I saw at the Dinghy show, he's got it to supplement a Supernova which he find tricky when it's breezy, going into irons and all that, like me he took up sailing very late in life so has no residual motor memory to fall back on in tricky situations.

What did I think of it, well to be honest after my EPS it's a bit tame, like the Solo, I'm not quite ready for it just yet, having said that I can see as an all weather craft you race with rather than worry about staying upright in I can see it's merits, although it does feel a bit 'dead' in the after section the steering felt heavy, like the difference between a car with power steering and one without, which i normally put down to balance.

It also seems to be, certainly in the breeze we had wednesday that the place you need to sit seemed to be right at the joint where there's a seat across the middle forcing you to sit further back than where I think the balance point should be. Then the sail, it seemed very small, then again mine is probably too big so it's just a subjective view.

It has a daggerboard, those stupid baler things which will in all probability take ages to drain if you do ever go over and recover, i hate them we've got them in the Alto they should have been outlawed years ago and anyone making a boat with them flogged.

I didn't spend much time in it, which kind of says everything, it must have been OK at some time in the sixties but now?
An Antique childs toy to demonstrate how bad sailing was for your Grandfather, don't ever buy one. Would be my best advice.. not that anyone would ever listen to me and down the lake saying that, would be heresy..

They must be selling to all those cheating pot hunters after a lipstick handicap...

Originally posted by iGRF Originally posted by Medway Maniac Heavy helm on a Streaker? Well not heavy like an RS500, but heavy big bit of wood on a stick, and nasty flat sided no shape foils, the one thing that has constantly surprised me in dinghy land is the terrible foil shapes you are forced to tolerate in the name of 'class is all the same' racing. Other than the set that first came on the Alto I can't say I've been impressed by any foil on any boat I've brought, and to think we used to be in Awe of hand made Milanes daggers we used to buy for our racing windsurfers back in the day, where did that woodworking skill go I wonder..

I did check the rudder was down and as I said it was probably acceptable the boat had just finished a race, but the sail is a fairly unsophisticated low aspect triangle and it wasn't windy windy. The EPS has always had a very well balanced feel, it's the joy of it, so it's just a comparison and probably as different as chalk and cheese.

Had I gotten into it after say a Solo which is also a tad on the ponderous side steering wise I probably wouldn't have noticed it, I just like light helms that can be fingertip guided. A blunt slab sided foil doesn't help, the narrower the entry the more sensitive a foil feels I've found.

They do vary a lot though, you have to admit that, and the bloody negative effect having too wide a foil has is every irritating, case to point my replacement Alto blade. I find RS rudder foils not very nice to handle.


The balance of the boat bit I wasn't referring to the rudder, that was just that point in the boat where I 'feel' I should be sat. I think this probably comes from Boards, they are super sensitive to where you stand because they have a lot less volume to support you, so arse dragging can become a real issue, it's something I've noticed with folk in boats they don't seem to pay as much attention to where they're sat except in extreme circumstances (No wind or Very windy) and I often find myself lazily sat at the wrong point purely by the badly sited controls (they're set too far back in the EPS.)

Edited by iGRF - 02 May 14 at 1:27pm