Open my eyes for £700

   I'm fairly competent on single handed boats like lasers.  I have a few friends 

who I've taken out on single handed boats and they've enjoyed it and picked 

up crewing well.  I've just sold the topper I learnt to sail in and I'm looking to 

replace it with something with a crew of two and a bit faster.  I've got an 

initial budget of £700 however I have £300 spare to add to that if something 

nice shows up.  

So far I've spent a fair bit of time looking at laser 2's, and the odd 470.  It's 

not a very long list, and I'm hoping some one can open my eyes to what else 

is out there for a similar price.    

Author	Message Share Topic Printable Version Delicious Digg Facebook Furl Google MySpace Newsvine reddit StumbleUpon Translate Twitter Windows Live Yahoo Bookmarks Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic
Chris_r Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Newbie Joined: 12 Aug 10 Location: England Online Status: Offline Posts: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote Chris_r Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Open my eyes for £700 Posted: 12 Aug 10 at 11:52am
	I'm fairly competent on single handed boats like lasers. I have a few friends who I've taken out on single handed boats and they've enjoyed it and picked up crewing well. I've just sold the topper I learnt to sail in and I'm looking to replace it with something with a crew of two and a bit faster. I've got an initial budget of £700 however I have £300 spare to add to that if something nice shows up. So far I've spent a fair bit of time looking at laser 2's, and the odd 470. It's not a very long list, and I'm hoping some one can open my eyes to what else is out there for a similar price.

Guests Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Quote Reply Posted: 12 Aug 10 at 12:14pm
	Value for money wise (i.e. fun per pound) you won't do much better than a Laser II. There are loads of good ones available at the price you mentioned. Unfortunately though the open circuit in this country is now pretty much dead, if you want to do opens then forget it. At club level they will still win races once you've got the spinnaker sorted. Some of the sail controls on the L2 are a bit difficult to operate at the moment but there are some new class rules in the pipeline that will hopefully make these easier. So to reiterate: If you want to do opens check out the attendance figures and consider a boat with a good fleet.....If you just want some fun with trapeze and symmetric spinny and maybe the odd club race then for the price you mentioned the L2 is right up your street. A vid that was put together from some old footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NucUidg5TIs Edited by GK.LaserII

haroosh Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 14 Jan 09 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 521	Post Options Post Reply Quote haroosh Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 12 Aug 10 at 1:16pm
	Just looking at Apollo duck theres loads of options including older Merlins, Scorpians and Hornets. Only snag is they are wooden so need some winter maintanance but loadcs more character than some of the other plastic options?????
	Keith RS100 GBR 116 (XLR8)

patj Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 16 Jul 04 Location: Wiltshire Online Status: Offline Posts: 643	Post Options Post Reply Quote patj Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 12 Aug 10 at 1:47pm
	If you want to go out on the open circuit, try a Lark as it's popular with the younger age group and has a good mix of males and females so there's a great social life as well as competitive sailing.

haroosh Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 14 Jan 09 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 521	Post Options Post Reply Quote haroosh Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 12 Aug 10 at 2:01pm
	Yes the Lark is a great idea...
	Keith RS100 GBR 116 (XLR8)

Chris_r Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Newbie Joined: 12 Aug 10 Location: England Online Status: Offline Posts: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote Chris_r Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 12 Aug 10 at 2:27pm
	Thanks for the replies so far. Merlin and scorpion - both within my price range, a wooden boat wouldn't be too much of a problem for me but the thing that puts me off is that neither have a trapeze. (I realise I didn't mention this in my original post but it was something I've been looking for) Hornet - looks good, some have a trapeze, I'll add it too the list. Lark - for reasons mentioned above, popular looking boat, but it's missing a trapeze. I've also been looking at fireballs, anyone on here sail one?

Merlinboy Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 03 Jul 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 3169	Post Options Post Reply Quote Merlinboy Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 12 Aug 10 at 3:23pm
	I would buy a Hornet at that money. They seem like a lot of bange for your buck.

MerlinMags Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Admin Group Joined: 19 Mar 04 Location: UK, Guildford Online Status: Offline Posts: 589	Post Options Post Reply Quote MerlinMags Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 12 Aug 10 at 4:55pm
	If you want good racing have a look at which fleets are established at your chosen sailing club.

Noah Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 29 Dec 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 611	Post Options Post Reply Quote Noah Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 12 Aug 10 at 5:26pm
	You can find woodie Fireballs around at your budget - just check the website - http://www.fireballsailing.org.uk/classifieds/forsale_search .php. 'Classic' prizes at opens and nationals; trapeze (obviously) and a well sailed woody will still beat a badly driven glass / epoxy boat.
	Nick D-Zero 316

winging it Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 22 Mar 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3958	Post Options Post Reply Quote winging it Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 12 Aug 10 at 5:47pm
	there's so much more to choosing a boat than what you can afford. What do you weigh? how fit are you? Where are you going to sail? Do you have a committed crew, and how heavy/fit are they? Answer these questions, then you'll get much better responses and could avoid making a bad buy.
	the same, but different...