Forgiving trapeze boat...?

Originally posted by ratface p.s i know if i say Spice i will get slaughtered by people on the forum... however people at bough beach sailing club saw how much fun i was having at the weekend in it, not swimming like another twin wire boat there

May be built like a rock, but it sure goes like stink. It can be sailed in a lot of wind with just one wire, or both, It doesnt capsise almost every time you gybe ( *cough* Like someone ... ) and is basically guarenteed to come back in one peice .. no matter WHAT you do to it!

It may also be old, It may not cost a lot, It may be "slow" in some peoples eyes ( But most of those people have either never sailed one, or have only ever sailed "fast" boats ( I14 / Cherubs or Int Canoes / Other generic development classes )

And yes. We had a lot of people over the weekend basically asking to go for a sail on the Spice ( "I might have to have a go on that later or tomorow" etc etc )

Fireball ... Can be powerful, But very easily depowered. You can get a decent "Practice" one for about £750 .. Maybe £1500 if you want a decent GRP one. ( But of course, Wood all the way!! ) £4k would probably get you an old Winder ( Kevlar / Foam I beleive ) hull.

Either way, Try boats, See what works.

Or wait til the Dinghy Show, and see all the boats up close and personal. Pull ropes, Fiddle with stuff .. Thats what they are there for!

As far as symmetric spinnakers go, for light weights the Fireball, 420 or Laser 2 will do the job. You can spend anything from £100 to several thousand on any of them, but you will generally get what you pay for. Mid to high hundreds will get you something which might not be up to speed but which will give you a good platform for learning without too much breaking.

500/ V3000 from me aswell. Both good boats and the v3000 has been very well developed from the L3000. Avoid the spice like the plague, really horrible boats and no matter what you pay for one you'll struggle to sell it and loose money. Not to forget theyre horrible!

Half the wires, and half the kite area ... Close enough to half the boat 

But Jim, Its perfect for what they want.

To get the hang of twin wiring, why not sail a boat with 2 wires, and you can get the basics sorted. Who cares if its a dead class, its cheap to get into, and with two wires, its closer to the 800 they want to get into.

£1800 for a Spice, Vs £5k ++ for a 500. ( Half the boat for over double the price ) Wont matter so much if you go through the Spice's main, as it wont push the value down any more if its been repaired. Patches on a 500 main will drop the price a lot!