My Boat List

Topper (s/h)

Laser is a perfectly decent choice for a first boat and can be had for pocket money but IMHO there are nicer boats to sail out there. WRT Supernova, I bought it to sail inland after sailing the Blaze both at home and on the sea for about a year. The main issues were to do with the FB sail which I found hard to read and the tiny raked rudder which seems to lose any traction at extremely low angles of heel. They are very popular though so can't be too bad. Budgetwise, a functioning Laser can be had from around £300, Supernova or Blaze from, say, £900-1200. Look for overall condition at that age, Lasers can have problems with the mast pot so fill it with water and see if the level drops over 15-20 mins, all boats can develop small leaks so a little water in the hull is not an automatic fail (both my Spice and Blaze take on a little) but a dry hull is obviously better (but check before doing the mast pot leak check). Most leaks can be solved by resealing fittings but check deck to hull joins and around DB case/hull join.