Alto Dinghy

So how hard do the pros in M24s etc train? The few professionally sailed big boats I've hopped on board for fun never seemed to have anything like the regular training regime that a top-class non-Olympic dinghy crew tends to have.

I know a few pros from the front end of the M24 fleet. I've never asked them about their training, but at the Etchell/J/24 level I've been very surprised by how well you can do with little or no training.

If you define the most competative boat as being the one with the highest numbers then it has to be the Sunfish with half a millioin sold so far!

 

OK you haven't heard of them - here's a picture.

The most awful boat I have ever taught in or sailed for that matter. Absolutely clueless as to why the Americans still swear by them over something like the Pico. 

No wonder the Brits do well at the Olympics if that view is widespread the other side of the pond!

Weren't you able to show them the error of their ways by beating them once you'd passed?! (but maybe best keep them in ignorance...)

A friend alerted me to the fact that 'the Alto' had become a topic on the Y&Y forum while I have been on holiday. I have read with great interest the various comments and thanks to all for them. Below are my design parameters for the boat.These should answer some misconceptions regarding the class. A more detailed history of the developement will be added to the mid-May web page update.

After a long absence from dinghy sailing, I decided I would like to sail/race a fast, light, large and comfortable, easy to sail, boat.The Y&Y Racing Classes Guide was the obvious place to find a suitable class, and with the proliferation of new designs, surely one would fit. But no!

Easy to sail meant well mannered and seaworthy, thus pitch-poling and zigzag classes were out as well as wings, frames and skiffs on grounds of comfort.Having raced fiveOs for far too short a time in the early 70s and also having raced/sailed many other dinghies and skiffs, I felt that no design to meet my requirements could improve on the almost perfectly mannered and smooth lines of the 505 hull. A £200 FiveO number 6121 became Alto 1, the test bed for the Alto concept. Altos 2 and 3 have new hulls while 4 and 5 are old FiveOs presently being converted.

Crucial to the Alto concept is the Alto Swinging Pole System. This is not the same 'wobbly pole bowsprit' referred to in a previous posting and as is used by at least two other classes.

Watch the space. www.altoboats.com