Another What Boat Thread

Originally posted by Rupert Sounds like a Hobie 16 with the kite kit would be the answer - no boards at all to get into trouble with the stones, and nice and easy to sail - sailing well doesn't sound like something that is going to trouble you. And if you get a cat, dinghy sailors won't have to be associated with you.

Sail a Cat?

Gimme a break

I passed my eleven plus thanks.

Well a fine old state this has me in, I'm more confused now than when I
set out, other than a Javelin that the Kiwis have obviously fixed but our
yellow welly wallers keep symettric.

A contender, that's what? Like a Ford Capri Ghia isn't it.

Was pseudo flash for a while in the seventies.

Or was it an Escort Mexico - no, Fireballs had that designation.

Come on now there must be a decent retracting centreboard reasonable
volume assym single trapeze that can handle a bit of sea.

Who said there were boats for everyone when even the basic 505/470
concept hasn't been updated.

Well it does, wether they like it or not, displacement volume gives a hull
what it needs for crew & rig weight, they just dont know it yet.

They only got Assyms from us windsurfers along with fully battened mains &
scrim mylar and other laminates, but their sail furniture is still locked in the
80's, dont see too many "rocket tensioners" and the price they pay for sails
compared to us is extorniate for the work that goes into them.

But whatever, its a much less pacey activity, just the thing for old
windsurfers to quietly retire into - if only they made boats that old
windsurfers would like

Edited by Graemef

No its not a wind up both me and graemf are Windsurfers, I went into windsurfing from sailing and hes doing the opposite now that hes old and cant keep up with us young guns!  trouble is we cant find a boat for him! 

Edited by ssailor

Perhaps he is just tired of you deriding every suggestion that you have been given, based preconceptions that you seem to have garnered without much experience of the boats and systems you are slating? You say you have little experience of dinghy sailing due to your windsurfing past but you seem happy to instantly write off cats, symmetrical spinnikers and any boat that has a past longer than that of the influx of asymetrics without giving them a go. 

There's a number of perfect boats out there for you, but clearly you can't sail them! :p:

The reason you won't see a really quick assymetric with a pivoting centreboard is because skiff type boats require long boards with a very short cord as well as the fact that the centre of effort moves forwards when the kite goes up, so moving it back by pivoting the board halfway up will unbalance the boat.

So in short, why not learn to sail properly or stop complaining. There's some damn good boats on this list.

By the way, we took windsurfer rigs and improved them - fully battened sails don't work that well - semi-soft rigs (RS700/800/Blaze/RS300) are better suited to boats.

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