20 years later

My Solution sailing mate reckons it's not great in the light due to that width, I've a feeling it will be better than the Blaze though relatively speaking. I was very tempted a while ago but there weren't any around that fell in budget and I've got pretty wrapped up in Blaze sailing now so will probably stick with what I know (unless my Blaze mate takes it into his head to change class, unlikely I think).

Well all that width has allowed me to at least be in the game when it's blowing four to five plus and I very rarely stack it, having said that I stacked it twice last weekend for stupid snr moment reasons and my dodgy sheeting system that doesn't sheet out smoothly or fast enough when I need it to.

It's OK in light, but will have a problem with Solo's in a drifter, mainly down to the class insistence on sticking to a stiff tin mast which doesn't vent the sail too well when it's very light. All the usual things work, staying up front, heel it and lay over on one side during a dead run with the forestay maximum slack and the boom out as far as the stays will allow when slack.

It's a good boat to battle Lasers with, they do have the edge despite what the PY suggests certainly on the sea, but on fresh water the Solution is quicker in and out of tacks and turns and in marginal planing conditions it has the edge so racing them scratch is fine or it would be except the Laserati like nothing more each year than to pounce on their extra few seconds, but then they're sad like that, lets face it anyone who sails a Laser has to be a little sad.

Edited by iGRF - 28 Nov 18 at 4:29pm

The width is what makes it.
Stable unlike a 12 which has less width at waterline
Lots of leverage
Less hard hiking
If they had put a carbon rig on it then we would not have had the aero.

I know it’s not that wide in the grand scheme of things. But that’s why I wanted a demo to find out what it’s like on the water and now I know. At least it’s narrowed down my choice of a second boat to a d zero or a return to a supernova ( but a new open transom one) Both of which are out of my price range at the moment. 

Edited by zeon - 30 Nov 18 at 1:00am

Originally posted by Sam.Spoons  The Solution is not that wide, the Blaze is 2.5m with the racks (but not much wider than a Laser without), as you say the N12 (nearly 2 metres wide at deck level) is much narrower at the waterline. Extreme width does mean that extreme hiking doesn't reward the energetic quite as much as in a narrower boat so taking a breather upwind when it's blowing doesn't carry the same penalty but hiking hard for as long as you can still pays off.

You can take a breather in terms of getting the boat round the course but not in relative performance terms. A wide boat delivers more performance for the sailor prepared to hike harder. If you want to perch go narrow!