Suitable day sailing dinghy

Hello All,

The Dinghy Cruising Association recommend one stone crew weight per foot of boat for single-handed dinghy cruising. So for your weight that would suggest an 11 footer. A Mirror, Heron or Gull would all fit that bill. The Mirror would be the easiest to find second-hand. Compared to the other two though it's a bit cramped, not quite as good in waves and has a dagger board which I personally find a bit of a pain in shallow estuaries.

Enjoy whatever you end up buying.

Th OP said 'daysailing' which can mean anything from cruising, as the subsequent posts have assumed, to pottering in the sunshine.
If you are pottering about where help is at hand, then you don't need to worry about risk of capsizing nearly as much as cruising on your own.
If you want reasonable performance on nice light days, you want more sail area that if you are cruising along the coast in force 5.
When I was your weight, I used to sail an enterprise singlehanded up to about F3/4 without capsizing, it was a long time ago.
A lot is down to taste, do you want a two sail boat which is OK one-up, or a singlehander that can take an occassional passenger?

As an aside, don't dismiss racing, it's social, people won't mind you being there if you are sensible on the start line and there is more likely to be a rescue boat, a bit of help up the slip etc etc. You absolutely do not have to take it seriously. I would suggest having a look at some local clubs and maybe pinning down what you want from a boat a little.

A word of warning about bargain boats, those that are cheap to buy are often hard to sell if they are out of the mainstream at all. Some boats you might pay more but have a better chance of getting a high percentage of it back should you move on.

Would recomend a GP14.  Good sail plan - smaller main and larger jib. I stuck a roller reef on the jib and it is so easy to sail single handed. Easy enough to manage around on shore provided it is well balanced on a trolley & robust enough. Should be able to pick one up cheap too (paid £300 for my tub) bash it about and sell it for the same. Makes cruising more pleasurable if you do not have to worry about beaching your boat and scratching the bottom or have crispy sails you must roll up at each pub stop.

What about one of the Cornish boats, was there a Y&Y test on one lately? The most "famous" would be the Cornish Crabber. And what about the K1?

Edited by Contender443 - 14 Mar 12 at 4:39pm