RS700 vs Vortex

Sorry I think my point is being missed! The classes you mention all have a huge following: double handed hiking spinnaker, single trapeze spinnaker etc.

Whereas I think that there is not the volume of sailors in the single hander trapeze and assymetric... ATM.

However I would still suggest sailors who sail 470/fireball are very different...

Anyway who knows anything about the Vortex!!!

hey, well  this thread has been around the houses, never mind, made some interesting reading,

yeah the mps is going to be too much really,

the 700 is what i really want its just the expense,

intially its more expensive to buy and then again its more expensive to run, and i think that the vortex would be sailable across a wider weather range.

Hi Jon,

Please don't be too quick to write off the 700. We had by far our most successfull year to date in 2006 with record attendances at all of our events.  The '2007 MPS World Champion'  would look good on any professionals cv and I can fully understand why a couple of the 'profile' folk have moved on. Good luck to them.  However, as in all the RS boats the real strength of the fleet lies in the club members, not the top pro's. 

Longer term, the 700 Owners Association has only been operating for a year now and we've still got a lot of tricks up our sleeve.  I've tried both and the two boats are in fact quite different in character, I believe there's room in the market for both.  We just need to do some marketing and get this message out there, something the Victor boats and Rick have done extremely well for the MPS.  Anyway, don't dismiss us too soon...

Anyway, rant over and back on topic,

Sailor Jon, I'll happily reply your pm.  I jumped into the 700 from the laser a couple of years ago and have never looked back.  The only real alternative I was considering was to give up sailing so the 700 really saved me from a life of golf

I've never sailed the Vortex so I can't really comment on the relative merits of the two boats.  On the water they appear to be quite different beasts in terms of both difficulty and performance, so you should probably try both before you decide.

Ian

RS700 GBR960

www.sail4cancer.org

Hi Jon

There are a couple of RS700s sailed at Yorkshire Dales SC (Grimwith Reservoir) but sadly no MPS. Both are great boats and if I was going to sail at a less windy venue, was heavier&taller and had more money, I'd gladly sail either (although I have a preference for the MPS) .

You already know that there are nearly 20 Vortex at YDSC with regular turnouts of up to 10 boats. So a huge factor to be considered is the competition and fun that this fleet racing generates. And as you know there are a few recent converts to asymmetric & trapeze helming via the Vortex so you'd have lots of help from fellow enthusiasts, and competition at all levels of the learning curve from near beginner to ex international sailors.

Your own thoughts/comparisons about the initial cost, maintenance/insurance costs etc are all valid and let's face it, there's hardly anywhere regularly as windy as Grimwith so you have to consider how you'd feel watching the Vortex fleet blasting around whilst you watch because you can't risk a torn sail.

Some folk will tell you to jump straight into an MPS/700 - and just put up with a season of 'crash and burn'. In some ways they have a point but I think the Asymmetric version of the Vortex whilst a significant challenge in itself rpresents an acheivable way to learn the new set of skills required to trapeze / asymmetric helm.  And at the same time enjoying plenty of exciting sailing in almost all conditions at relatively little cost, and with good competition locally and at opens.

And of course there's nothing to stop you continuing to save your cash aiming to move on in a year or two - if you actually want to by then!