Which boat?


   I had a 29er almost all the way through my time at uni, got a bit of stick cos its a kiddies boat, but it was great fun, pretty forgiving and the best bit was club racing every weekend, and whatever you get that will be the best bit.  Of the boats you have mentioned:
800 if you have only a small amout of practice with high performance asymmetrics then this will be a VERY steep learning curve, you will do a lot of swimming and finding people (who know what they are doing) to sail with could be hard.  Also 800's a expensive to get hold of and run, you would be looking to spend the better part of £6000 for a decent one i'd have though.  
Laser 4000, great little boat, if a bit heavy, lots of great value second hand boats, but you are better of asking redback about them.  but i would suggest around the £3000 would get you a good one.  
29er, great boat, loads of fun, easy to sail, forgiving, fast, and built like a tank (without the weight) so last for ages, a lot of kids will be getting rid of boats now before they go to uni/start racing 49ers, so there will be a fair number of well maintained boats on the market, you can pick up earlier ones for around £2500 but for a really good one with spare bits probably look around £3500.  
The other thing you have to consider is how much money you will have to spend on the boat at university, i was always getting frustrated never having enough cash to do more than replace stuff as i wore out (if i was lucky).  
hope this helps

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Phil eltringham Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 16 Mar 04 Location: England/Hitchin Online Status: Offline Posts: 1105	Post Options Post Reply Quote Phil eltringham Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Which boat? Posted: 17 Aug 05 at 7:00pm
	I had a 29er almost all the way through my time at uni, got a bit of stick cos its a kiddies boat, but it was great fun, pretty forgiving and the best bit was club racing every weekend, and whatever you get that will be the best bit. Of the boats you have mentioned: 800 if you have only a small amout of practice with high performance asymmetrics then this will be a VERY steep learning curve, you will do a lot of swimming and finding people (who know what they are doing) to sail with could be hard. Also 800's a expensive to get hold of and run, you would be looking to spend the better part of £6000 for a decent one i'd have though. Laser 4000, great little boat, if a bit heavy, lots of great value second hand boats, but you are better of asking redback about them. but i would suggest around the £3000 would get you a good one. 29er, great boat, loads of fun, easy to sail, forgiving, fast, and built like a tank (without the weight) so last for ages, a lot of kids will be getting rid of boats now before they go to uni/start racing 49ers, so there will be a fair number of well maintained boats on the market, you can pick up earlier ones for around £2500 but for a really good one with spare bits probably look around £3500. The other thing you have to consider is how much money you will have to spend on the boat at university, i was always getting frustrated never having enough cash to do more than replace stuff as i wore out (if i was lucky). hope this helps
	FLAT IS FAST! Shifts Happen

kasey3000 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 06 Apr 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 401	Post Options Post Reply Quote kasey3000 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 17 Aug 05 at 6:58pm
	The laser4k is an excellent boat to get into high performance sailing, trapezing and asymmetric handling...they taught me lots when I sailed one! You can buy decent ones for about 1800-2500 now, and they usually have lots of spares with them! They are usually ready to race and they don't tend to need any upgrading.....if they do it'll probably be newer sails, but that only matters if you want to go and win the nationals! I wouldn't say the 800 or 29er would be very good....cos the 29er is a youth boat and the 800's are still quite highly priced...if you're a student and not wanting to spend loads on a boat! The 4k is would also be good if you haven't used asymmetrics and trapeze's much as they are very forgiving and can practically sail on their sides before you finally go swimming! Check out http://www.laser4000.org.uk/cgi-bin/yabb4k14/YaBB.cgi it's the 4k forum where you can find boats for sale, and also ask all the class sailors about the boat...it's a great class and very friendly so you'd have loadsa fun! If not a 4k tho...hav u thought about a Cherub?
	49er 908

HannahJ Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 23 Jul 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 861	Post Options Post Reply Quote HannahJ Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 17 Aug 05 at 6:03pm
	29ers are fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun
	MIRROR 64799 "Dolphin" The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist hopes it will change; the realist adjusts the sail

CurlyBen Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 17 Aug 05 Location: Southampton Online Status: Offline Posts: 539	Post Options Post Reply Quote CurlyBen Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 17 Aug 05 at 5:35pm
	Hi guys, need some advice! I've been sailing for 5 years at my school, 4 of which I spent in the first team. That was team racing in 420s, which has been great but I'm more interested in high performance - especially after my instructor course last year and teaching for a month! I'm going to Bristol University in October - just as my parents move away - and I'm trying to figure out where I go next with my sailing. I plan to join the uni sailing club, sailing down at Chew Valley, where I sail at the moment (though being at boarding school means I haven't been down much). However, that's going to be more team racing in fireflies, and team racing means no spinnakers or trapeze. I'm 18 now and pretty experienced, but haven't used spinny/trapeze much, though I'm confident enough using them. I'm not going to be committing myself just yet, but I'm thinking of buying something along the lines of 29er or Laser 4000, maybe an 800 - I like getting wet! First I'm trying to figure out if it's feasible, so if anyone can give me some advice on what kind of amounts I'm likely to be spending once I have the boat/what to get/how to improve that'd be great!