I’m going round in circles!

Ok, thought I'd never do one of these "what boat" threads but the time has come.

I have been sailing the Laser for 6 years, learnt a lot in it (as it has been my first boat) but the time has come to move on to stretch myself and progress my learning curve. I am not the most competitive person racing but race to get out there and try and win if I can. I did however manage to "strategically" win the TVLG Radial class, so I know I can win things but have got the "been there, done that" slogan running through my head.

So what do I want, something that I can learn more with, has to be singlehanded (have a 200 for the occasional times OH wants to sail) so been thinking of a trapeze boat, but then again, maybe not. The stats about 6ft, 12st (sailing weight)

I have been looking at the Blaze, 300, 600, 700, contender and Vareo.

Blaze - Ok, but not sure I'd get on with it, would it be a progression/challenge

300 - Knocked it out, cos its a "drop hiker" something I struggle with following a knee injury back in the kiddie days.

600/700 - look exciting, watch in awe as they fly past me and (i want to do that) comes over me!

Contender - looks a low boom, never seen one (apart form Villians old thing!) so don't know a lot about them.

Vareo - Looks good, got a kite but as you spend longer going upwind than down, will be a pain (from what I have heard) 70% of the time.

So maybe a trapeeze boat, not had a lot of experience trapeezing but did start off crewing on a Dart Hawk (F18) or a more advanced hiking boat

So rather than the go for my boat answers, I'd like, what would you go for answer.

Thanks

If you have bad knees then I would try a trap boat. Although if you stayed in the laser for six years with bad knees then they can't be that bad.

I would not rule out the 300 as it is a very comfortable boat to hike from and you can pretty much hike straight leg if you raise the toe straps enough. Also it does not need any grunt to sail it. I think any of the boats you have suggested will improve your appreciation for trim/pitch etc. I think Mr Moore might be taking offers on his 300. If you want a test sail you can always look someone up on http://www.rs300.org.uk/ or pm me if you  want sorting out and I'll try and find someone in your area.

I got bored in the laser quickly and then was looking for something to push my boat handling on, I dont think anything (apart from an IC) would have worked quite as well on my appreciation of just what constitutes a flat boat as the 600 did. I couldn't agree more with TT, the 600 is a DREAM to windward, even in a chop it goes upwind like a train. The only thing I miss from the laser is the close racing, but I've only started missing that in the last 4 months or so as I have finally got up to the standard of being able to get the thing around a race course at least as fast as most of the open meeting fleet.

The only downside is how much good it has done for my repair skills, they do seem to have several little niggles in their design, like kicker bolts that you can't get at to tighten, and daggerboard cases that seem to constantly leek. Looking back at how much time I've spent on mending the 600 maybe I wouldn't have gone for it if I had appreciated how much work it needs but I think its worth it for the feeling of flying past just about everything to windward.