minisail.

The old PY for the Contender was 105, the ToY was 111.

I had the larger, 10m^2 rig on mine, and I think the PY of 111 was based on the larger rig - still slower than a Contender.

Spot on.

My old Sonata helm was a national and european Toy class champ in the late '70s early '80s, he has told me that the the ToY was a developement of the Hornet as a single hander, drawn by Tony Allen and the name was an abbreviation for Tony's own Yacht.

In terms of performance he says that the Toy was faster than a Contender in the light but couldn't keep up in a breeze. The boat was tricky to gybe if it was windy and many helms would wear round, his technique was to gybe with the expectation it would go over, do a dry capsize and then be pointing in the right direction when it came up. He also had a smaller sail for high winds.

There used to be a large fleet at Hoo Ness YC on the River Medway (home of the Hoo Freezer), I think they had a fleet of Minisails/sprints there too.

Alright, here's a cheesy advert from Feb 1969 for the Minisail to bring us back on topic:

Must have been difficult to persuade people it was a serious racing class after that! Much like the car advertising of the day.

Note the totally inadequate boom and kicker and imagine what happened when he eased to mainsheet to try to go for a blinding reach!

But OK, the racers did improve on things, and a friend tells me that when he sailed a Fireball, the Minisails could keep up on a reach.

Edit: note the Design Centre label. I recall seeing a Minisail in the Design Centre when it had a showroom/gallery in central London.