Advice needed - odd sized team!

I guess I was in a similar situation at the beginning of last season when I started sailing again after a 20 year break. My wife had never sailed before but was persuaded to try crewing an Osprey - she loved it so much we had our own a fortnight later. After sailing all year we are still very much learning what the boat can do but are still very happy sailing her. There is loads of room (The new mark IV has even more...) and she is very controlable in all winds. We have only capsized three times but she is a doddle to right again. The sheet loads can be a bit heavy but I guess that is true of any large trapeze boat.

Having said all that we do have a very active Osprey fleet at Kielder and we get loads of help and encouragement from them. Our challenge for this season is to finish before the rest have got ashore!

Thank you all very much for your thoughts.

I must admit I've never sailed a 505 or osprey but I'll definately take a look at them. I think to be honest it's the height of my crew that's a worry to me more than the weight. It's nothing short of miserable sailing a lot of dinghies when you're that tall and I guess that we'd be prepared to forego the trapeze etc for a couple of seasons in the interests of improving without swimming too much...

You're probably right "redback", I've spent far too long looking after other folks' sailing skills and not nearly enough time getting slick at racing! Guess we need a compromise between caution and stupidity..

Have sailed both a 470 and a fireball in the past and from what I remember, neither was too easy to fit a tall chap into?

Not a huge cat fan. Can't say why really, just didn't have as much fun - tried darts and hobies in the past.

Thanks for all the advice though - and I'll keep an eye out for any further musings from wise folk here.

Originally posted by Medway Maniac I think the point about the 505 being technical is valid, but it's also easy to sail and get started in, imho, and the tech stuff you can pick up in the fullness of time and on coaching days.

Agree completely with that, 505s have good performance and handling can be picked up quite easily but the art is getting the boat to go fast with fine tuning. I remember when the first 4000 turned up at my club and there was a bit of swimming involved from someone who moved from being quite competitve in the 505 fleet. I'm not saying the skill levels are higher but the 4000 seems to be tippier and being wider, there is more area to cross and less forgiving if you get it wrong. Also from the point of view of not racing, I'd be more happy going cruising and pottering about in a 505 than an assymetric and feel the boat is more flexible for general usuage, yet is faster than it's assymetric counterparts such as the RS400, Laser 4K, etc. Another option may be a Cat like a Dart 18 or Hobie 16 if you want a lot of speed for little hassle.

Edited by 49erGBR735HSC

Having owned a 5o5, I'd rather take a novice out in one on a blowy day than in any of the asymmetrics mentioned, 400 included - and I wouldn't fancy being 6' 4" in the front of a 400! Indeed, my first crew was a novice - 47 years old to boot (that wouldn't have been a problem, but he was too unfit even to get back into the boat after a (rare) capsize).

Osprey/Javelin - good suggestions, but my Fireball crew said he found the 'Ball twitchy compared to the 5-oh's he'd owned previously.

I think the point about the 505 being technical is valid, but it's also easy to sail and get started in, imho, and the tech stuff you can pick up in the fullness of time and on coaching days. Think how many dim yoofs you know who seem to have learned all there is to know about tactics/set-up after a couple of seasons 'squadding'?

 

If you both had a good lot of experience the 505 would be fine, but this is a big powerful boat that fifteen years ago was one of the most challenging high performance boats around. It hasn't got any less of a handful in the meantime! I'd feel very uncomfortsble about suggesting it for a relatively novice crew. The 59er is another boat in the same sort of category, for all it doesn't carry a trapeze it will carry the weight, but uit will be a mejor challenge.

I think you need to get an interim boat to sharpen up the skills at the front of the boat, because you don't want to buy a boat, spend all your time swimming andget frustrated. An RS400 maybe, although some folk spend a lot of time swimming in those, and I personally find it a bit havy on the mainsheet... Although I' no especial fan of the "sail whaetever is in numbers at your local club" philosophy, for an intermim boat that makes quite a bit of sense. It will be easier to sell on ther will be support in learning to sail it and so on...