Devotti Single Hander

There were no MPS's in the round Sheppey ask yourself why not when
Whitstable is just down the coast.

I will not ride anything, board, boat without a retracting centreboard for
lots and lots of reasons.

I love the visual appeal of the MPS and joking aside I really like a lot of
the guys over at Whitstable who evangelise them. If I lived there and
sailed from that club maybe I'd give one another try, but I dont and too
often I've been in the company of someone off the water with a snapped
mast head.

Nor do lots of others in South Coast locations or Lakes with shallows, or
tidal rivers.

Its why the whole Assym Skiff thing stalled. It's all very well for some
Aussie Guru to crack on about not needing a retracting CB when all they
do is potter about in Sydney Harbour.

It's why both the RS500, and Alto attracted me.

Finally way better sailors than me were forced to give up the MPS and
even now Force 4-5 is it's very top end, even the Whitstable boys would
baulk at sailing from Hythe, and we enjoy it a bit if the winds over 20
knots, maybe because we're windsurfers, but talk to an old guard five oh
sailor and they'll tell you 20 knots and above is where the fun really
starts.

An MPS with a retracting CB and kick up Tiller might be a whole different
ball game, but as I'm sure they'll be quick to point out, that wouldn't be
an MPS.

Some quicks thoughts:  The Blaze with kite is pretty close to what I was describing, although retro-fitting a kite system is never going to be as good as a purpose designed arrangement.  Also, the Blaze is already notorioulsy quick on a reach, so how much difference will the kite make.  Ideally, I would change the mainsail to be more optimised for upwind work, and leave the kite to get you the downwind performance.

See the Topcat for a kickup dagger rudder.

It all to easy as an outsider to a class, to suggest adding spinnakers and making the boat faster, but at the end of the day very few of us would sail in the class regardless of changes made, so our comments are not that helpful.

How many times have the N12, Graduates, Ents discussed adding spinnakers, the answer is rather a lot, and in all cases the classes have preferred to stick with what they have got, and rightly so. The boat was never designed for a kite and while it might encourage a few outsiders into the class initially, long term it will loose all the original class stalwarts and the new blood will soon realise that they would have been better off buying something designed for the job.

The blaze has its place in the market and a healthy class association so leave them to it.

Regarding a hiking singlehander with kite, while it sounds interesting I'd be a little unsure as to the real performance gain. To get down to PYs of 950 you need to create an easily driven hull with a powerful rig, and this will only work if you have enough righting moment to balance the power which means large flares or wings. Now both are in existence in RS300 and Blaze but neither is able to get to PY of 950, and the addition of a kite isnt likely to get it there either as the hull shape is too displacement orientated. If you look at most boats slower than a Fireball, an assymetric spinnaker doesnt really give you a great benefit as you cant generally heat it up to really get the boat going and then sail sufficiently low downwind. If you want a singlehander that really goes well upwind and down then learn to trapeze, or learn to compromise and buy a standard Blaze or an RS300.

Originally posted by hollandsd the 700 has a kick up rudder and thats what im looking at getting next year. easier to launch and recover than the musto

Actually I think launching with a kick up rudder is harder than a dagger rudder.

With a pivoting blade raked right back there are huge leverage forces on the blade and stock and it's hard to steer and you can easily damage somthing.

With a dagger rudder you can steer very well with only a small amount of blade down.

Originally posted by ifoxwell I agree... as a 29er sailor and ex Musto owner I find the dagger type rudder a pain. It all sounds like a great idea but standing at the back of a skiff struggling with a stuck blade as you approach a beech at warp speed isnt fun. Having said that trying to sail with a kick up rudder that refuses to stay down isnt fun either. So Rick... are you looking at getting a different rudder to go on your skiff, or a 700 to go with your new rudder?

Try reading what I wrote ...