The Contender

I know I'm joining this late and mostly it's all been said but I have to comment on the low boom thing:-

1, In a force 4, if you can get under the boom without letting the kicker off then you either don't have enough kicker on or you need more mast rake. When you accept this then the boom hight just isn't an issue.

2, When you let the kicker off in a tack it goes plenty high enough and help the boat not 'stick' in the tack.

I've had 2 Rondars now which have had a crack on the joint between the side deck and the cockpit (on the edge of the radius on the cockpit edge) I don't know how it happens and it's not serious but might get some money knocked off when you're buying. Also I'm beginning to think that lighter is actually better for a Contender if you are club racing because you are so much less disadvantaged in light wind that it gives you better series results.

Boats are scarce at the moment which makes me feel a bit guilty for owning 2, but it does mean that if anyone in my neck of the woods wants a demo I'd be happy to oblige and even give on the water coaching of sorts.

Your not selling it to me!

Only joking, I can deal with low booms, I guess releasing a bit of kicker + mainsheet before the tack might help!  Thanks for the opinions everyone, my budget is really very small (having boat a new boat and negotiating the purchase of a house in London...) so even the cheapest 600 might be too expensive.  An IC isn't a bad idea, steep learning curve though!  Moth's also interesting, but probs out of my range.  I'd thought about a Blaze but I've got enough rack assisted hiking on the B14 and wanted something different, plus again not enough cash!

I'll be inland on averagely small water so the Contender could be the way forward.  If anyone knows of a really cheap IC though I could be tempted!   

Ahh that's a way to do it.. I've been trying to adopt the more traditional "kiss-your-a$$-goodbye" approach, swiftly followed by the Starfish position (sprawled flat on the cockpit floor while the legendary eye-at-the-back-of-my-head watches the boom do what booms are supposed to to (I used to be a teacher, after all).

Coincidence of vocabulary: isn't "boom" a pretty adequate word for it, evocative of impending pain, when it comes to a Contender?

Yep. Really low. Wish I'd had a carbon boom on mine - would have reduced the pain a bit .

Col