New Name For The Aura

Well said Sumo.

I have sailed a few boats, competatively as a crew and helm. Doing open meetings, nationals and europeans.

Is a Vago as good as a 4000, 800, cherub etc. not at all, it's slower, and some of the controls are harder to get to compared to lots of other boats. does it really matter? Not to me as a helm, I prefer to crew a 4000, but not helm it.

I prefer it to a 200 or a 400 though. The crewing position for the 200 seems designed to hurt your knees unless you get it exactly right, the kite is too small too. The 400 felt odd to me, but that was possibly due to not having enough weight for the wind speed.

The Vago is good fun, doesn't break in high winds or hasn't so far (that is 25 plus average speed, gusts to 40 knots) unlike the 200 where the mast bent in a big gust when going downwind (looked to be about 35 knots), but again that may have been partly my fault due to not pulling in the main enough.

I am not really a very good helm and the Vago is more than enough for me at the moment. I wouldn't be able to handle a 4000, 800 or silmilar in anything like the winds I can sail the Vago in.

I don't always want to be whizzing about at high speed either, sometimes a nice potter about in a boat you can sit in comfortably is good too. You can't do that in a 4000, 800 etc. they need to be actively sailed or they capsize.

So as a trainer type boat the Vago does all I need it to do, and it's a lot more fun then most others I have tried. Saying that it is a trainer type is undermining it a bit too, as it is a lot more than that.

Flying down wind with the hull out of the water to the centreboard with me as the helm is exciting enough for me at the moment thanks.

Deciding on the Vago came after quite a bit of thought. We had a 200 but sold that as our knees weren't up to the stresses of crewing it. The 3000 and 29er were just to cramped. The 400 too much of a big boys boat. The fast  asymetrics with more space 4000, 800, etc just too hard at my age. So what else was there for the price with an asymetric kite and a trapeze fo rme to helm? You don't have to answer that as it was a retorical question as far as I am concerned.

ummm, now where's that crash helmet?

500 wasn't out at the time.

I had a long chat with Nick Peters when they were testing the prototype.

He said the 500 was designed as a youth boat for people who didn't want to or couldn't get into the 29er squad. It looked too cramped for us when we looked at it.

Also after having owned a 200 and seen the build quality of the new ones, a cheap glass boat didn't really hold much interest. 

I wouldn't say that RS have build quality problems, they do produce a large number of boats and therefore there will always be bad ones in the batch but their after sales service is superb, they are quick to fix any problems, free of charge.  I got a new boom for free back when I had my Vareo and it folded up in a gybe, they were excellent. 

I can understand your preference for rotomoulded boats but they aren't for me.  However I am of the school that if you sail then you're alright by me, regardless of what. 

I wasn't dissing RS either or at least not on purpose, most other glass boats except for the 4000 are fairly easy to break. Other things tend to break if you hit them or they hit you in a 4000. It is just the experience I have had so far.

Rotomoulded boats bounce unless hit by a sharp pointy bit.

Glass boats crunch and need repairing as I know to my cost.