Edition
Boats for sale
| Rossiter Pintail Mortagne sur Gironde, near Bordeaux |
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| Laser 28 - Excellent example of this great design Hamble le rice |
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| Laser 140101 Tynemouth |
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List classes of boat for sale |
A new old kid's boat - the Flying Ant |
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Chris 249 
Really should get out more 
Joined: 10 May 04 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2041 |
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 Topic: A new old kid's boat - the Flying AntPosted: 15 Jan 19 at 9:23am |
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Adam Beashel of Emirates Team New Zealand has updated John Spencer's 1950s baby Cherub, the Flying Ant, with a makeover that simplifies it for the 2000s. Adam is a former Ant sailor himself as well as part of a legendary sailing and boatbuilding family, and he's been trying to revive a class that has almost died (and that fact is yet more proof that the old claims that "skiff types are the future" are rubbish, just as similar claims about foilers are rubbish).
  She's a lovely looking little boat, simplified Bethwaite-style to attract modern parents and younger sailors, since the 15-16 year olds who used to sail the Ant are now too big for a 10 footer. There are moves to revive the class in NZ which would be great since the once-great high-performance kiwi dinghy scene now seems pretty sad. She probably wouldn't be a great boat for the UK, but it's a great way to try to revive a class. (I think the top pic is Adam's copyright but I know how enthusiastic he is about this and I'm sure he's happy to see the boat promoted.) Edited by Chris 249 - 15 Jan 19 at 9:32am |
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sailcraftblog.wordpress.com
The history and design of the racing dinghy. |
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423zero
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Joined: 08 Jan 15 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 3420 |
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Posted: 15 Jan 19 at 10:01am |
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One of our members had a Flying Ant until fairly recently, he now has a Cherub.
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iGRF
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Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6499 |
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Posted: 15 Jan 19 at 8:40pm |
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Super looking little boat, a lot of the look of my little Farr37 about it.
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Chris 249
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Joined: 10 May 04 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2041 |
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Posted: 15 Jan 19 at 11:26pm |
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Yep, both of them came from the NZ lightweight development dinghy stream.
One of the reasons I dislike the over-use of the "skiff" term is that it ignores the extremely important and innovative Antipodean lightweight dinghy development stream, which was often ahead of the over-hyped 'skiff' types. Another reason to dislike is that the two types were quite different in design.
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sailcraftblog.wordpress.com
The history and design of the racing dinghy. |
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423zero
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Joined: 08 Jan 15 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 3420 |
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Posted: 16 Jan 19 at 7:07am |
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The member who had the Ant had quite a well known Cherub "Egbert the nasty" blog on the Cherub website about it.
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iGRF
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Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6499 |
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Posted: 16 Jan 19 at 10:04am |
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Was it available as a self build like the Farr? It was clearly way ahead of anything available over here during that period, makes you wonder what our dinghy scene was doing, then again thinking about it, it doesn't, they're all luddites.
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Sam.Spoons
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Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3401 |
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Posted: 16 Jan 19 at 10:28am |
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I suspect UK designers were designing the right horses for our courses
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Spice 346 "Flat Broke"
Blaze 671 "supersonic soap dish" |
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Mark Aged 42
Groupie 
Joined: 24 Aug 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 98 |
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Posted: 16 Jan 19 at 11:40am |
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Amazing how close to the centre line the main is. And the slot between main and jib is tiny.
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Posted: 16 Jan 19 at 12:05pm |
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How different are the pictures form the 1950 original design?
The Hobie 405 filled this niche in the UK for the late 90's and 2000's when the popular 2 person junior boats were the traditionally canvassed Mirror and Cadet. RS Feva seems to be the equivalent thing now, and unlike the 405 it's proved more popular than the symmetrics. Certainly not as sporty a boat as these, however!
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iGRF
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Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6499 |
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Posted: 16 Jan 19 at 12:43pm |
Which is why I've got 9 year old Feva sailors parents on the phone wanting sponsorship deals for them to go kitesurfing. Putting kids in heavy old tubs we wouldn't want to sail ourselves is a stupid mistake, they of all people want the sizzle not the plastic sausage. |
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