Symmetric doublehander for lightish crew

You probably haven't considered a non spinnaker boat - there's one which is ideal for a lake of that size and great fun to sail. It's so lively and interesting for the crew that a spinnaker isn't necessary - take a look at www.national12.org for masses of information. We have a growing fleet on our lake at Spinnaker (circa 60 acres) as more and more realise the enjoyment we get from our boats, its particularly good fun being able to out point anything else on the lake!

Cheers

Thatshelped a lot, i never notaced the 420s tippyness before probably because im used to the boat, is a fireball a boat where you have to trapeze in light winds (3 and below) or one where you start in 3+, bcause in the 420 ive been out in high 4s - 5s without needing it. I dont mind trapezing anyway just curious.

Thanks again

i would say yes you would probally be trapzing in a F3, also you might be too light to keep up with the pack in F4-F5, so maybe consider a laser 2 until you get a bit heavier.

also a big factor is what is the main fleet at your club?

I had a 420, then moved to the Laser 2. Initial impression was that it was appreciably more stable (while lake sailing) initially (i.e. about the upright position) than the 420 - I found that as helm I could hike out without feeling fidgety about needing to come in quickly as I had in the the 420, while trying to sail it upright.

Once you let it heel, however, water comes over the gunwale and it capsizes more easily than the 420 which hangs on to a higher angle of heel before capsizing. For those reasons I capsized the Laser 2 much more than the 420, which I capsized only once in over two years - the initial stability of the L2 means you stop thinking about the risk of going over, then suddenly it has happened. On an absolute scale though, both boats are 'stable'.

You're right that the L2 is not much quicker than a 420 - especially in windy weather, but it is longer so in F.2-3 it goes faster, and with that marvellous big kite (the best symmetric kite I ever used) set on the long pole, it planes earlier than the 420. I'd recommend it, with the reservation that you need to do a lot of work on the standard boat to make it raceworthy. Not expensive, but quite a lot of little things, unless you buy a ready prepped boat from a class expert. PM me if you buy an L2 and I'll list the things to do.

Coincidentally, I bought a Winder Fireball as my next boat. We'd sailed the L2 with 19 stone all-up and it was fine - ideal even, but we felt too light in the Fireball. It's also very stable initially, and we managed OK up to F4, but an 11-12 stone crew was much better. The 'ball is a lovely boat though - far more of a thoroughbred than the L2, which could have been OK with an illegal re-rig. Laser themselves did the necessary when they created the 3000, but that's an asymmetric, of course, so of no interest to you.