Single Handed Dinghy Advice

Hi there,

I am a beginner adult sailor, currently on an adult sail training course which should take me to RYA level 2 in a couple of weeks. I am having the time of my life and cannot wait to get on the water solo.

I have been researching single handed dinghies. I am not sure about the Laser, at 42 yrs old and 14 1/2 stone (with dodgy hips and knees) I would rather sit in the boat rather than on it.

The Solo dinghy looks a good second hand buy. Cheap and stable - but not that fast.

The Supernova appears faster and may take me further.

The RS Vareo is the most expensive, and most complicated. The reviews say it is stable, but can also be fast. It has an asymmetrical spinnaker which sounds fun but perhaps may be a bit too much for me to handle to begin with.My club (Thornbury SC) sails on the tidal Severn river

What do you think?

The thing about boats is you ain't marrying them. If you want to dump them after 6 months its OK. There are people on this forum who seem to change class every three months - or that's what it feels like...

So there's absolutely no point in spending weeks agonising over what boat you want to spend time sailing in for the next ten years. Besides you won't really know what sort of sailing you want to do for a while yet.

So as a beginner my advice is to get one of the numerous popular classes that you can buy and sell easily, Laser or Solo are obvious choices, spend enough money to get something half decent that won't break (so not a thirty five year old glass fibre Holt Solo for example), and reckon that you'll probably be flogging it and getting something else for next season...
And don't give one moment's consideration to how far it will take you, just plan to be taking something else:-)

Edited by JimC - 06 May 13 at 11:35pm

Thanks for the advice everyone.  It is increasingly looking like a wooden (oldish) Solo.

Solo - yes

Quite so. Far better a wood Solo in reasonably nick than a tired pre foam sandwich one. There's something especially depressing about those seemingly unfixable bottom of sidetank leaks that let water into the tanks in more or less every outing.
The post foam sandwich Solos are as good as the pre foam sandwich ones... aren't... This applies to almost every class that was originally designed for plywood. Monolithic glass isn't really a great boatbuilding material, but if a boat was designed for it ab initio then the worst aspects could be minimised at the design stage.

Edited by JimC - 07 May 13 at 3:57pm