well i have never had a go in one but they look like realy nice boats, and they have now got some nice carbon spars so fully upto date.  also quite cheap i saw one going for about £1000 not so long ago,  bns has recently turned her hand at contender sailing and loves her boat. 

the 600 looks like a nice boat but the contender has a better association and more boats at there nats.

If you are after a low budget classic with no kite I don't see you have any other choice...

Rick

I sailed a Contender for most of last season, and enjoyed sailing it a lot. I'd not trapezed single-handed before, and whilst it was 'entertaining' learning, I reckon they're fairly stable really - if you capsize then you can generally identify pretty quickly what you did wrong. You don't end up in the water wondering "what the hell just happened there?". Even fully tea-bagged, as long as you have a bit of speed, you can save a windward capsize.

The RS600 - which I hasten to to point out I have never tried - is much narrower and seems much more tippy and unforgiving, and has a fully-battened sail which can generally be an absolute b*tch. And their foredecks look so fragile!

Depends how much of a challenge you want - that's not to say sailing a Contender well is easy! Check their website http://www.sailcontender.org.uk/ - http://www.sailcontender.org.uk/  for an idea of prices - a reasonable 'starter' should only need about 1-2K.

Apart from anything else, the Contender is a beautiful, stylish design, even in 'plastic'. In wood - simply gorgeous.

Col

PS - For any that's wondering - I loved sailing it; just didn't enjoy racing it!

PPS - Matt'll be along shortly, I've no doubt!

Im not so sure about the foredeck on a 600 being fragile, in the light winds ive spent a fair bit of time prancing around on the foredeck and not even a slight sign of damage or lack of rigidity showing yet.......

Originally posted by combat wombat Thanks guys, Yep thought that might be the answer, I guess the 600 is a classic now but I've heard they are tippy as f$@k (but wicked fast as you say BBSCFaithful).  Also my budget for the boat is low since I recently purchased the B14 (with all the go-faster bits so not cheap!) and I don't think it would even stretch to a 600 (cheap as they are).  I know of a Contender going for £500 and another for £600, I'm not looking for a nats winning one just a nice trapeze boat to get used to helming from the trap and going fast in, then I'll sell both boats and go 49er Or 18ft Skiff... So Contender experts, what are the weak points?

The Contender has a plywood space frame under the deck supporting the mast.  You should have inspection hatches in the front of the cockpit or fore deck so you can see it.  You  need to make sure that the spaceframe is sound - easy way is to open the hatch and look at the frame with no rig tension and then get somebody to tension the rig up - if the space frame bends the boat is a dud.

The Contender is a beautiful boat to sail and look at.I owned one for 4 years and loved every sail (I only sold it because I couldn't justify it sitting there).Things to look out for;

Check the mast where the trapezee lines go in,it tends to crack there

 Blobbys was another good one (hadn't thought of that )

The deck is generally fairly solid but check for holes from hooks

and check the trailing edge of the foils they are fragile

Otherwise enjoy the boat it's amazing in a blow !

Rondar hulls in the 500-600 numbers will be in that price range, they are well built and robust. Most Contender Hulls can be made competative with the right rig. Wavelength mast and sail is the best alloy combination and still fast on the circuit, If a sound old hull has a good rig I would go for it over a newer hull and a poor rig. 

whereabouts are you .My mate bought one a couple of months ago for £300 admitedly it was pink but a contender is a contender is a contender really for that price mailto:i@d - i'd love a bonezzi but a bit out of my price range at the moment .And I think the class may be going epoxy soon too.So if you stick at it there may be some good boats going when all the top guys upgrade!

There are a few cheap ones on the class website at the moment check it out

http://www.sailcontender.org.uk/option,com_classifieds/catid,0/searchadv,/type,0/limit,8/limitstart,8/ - http://www.sailcontender.org.uk/option,com_classifieds/catid ,0/searchadv,/type,0/limit,8/limitstart,8/

£300 is VERY cheap and must be quite an old boat. Some are very reliable and still quite fast, but realistically, the £600-£800 bracket would give you a little more choice. The GRP hull doesn't require so much maintenance, especially if you sail in a place like ours! Some wooden boats like a Bonezzi would look like matchsticks after landing on our pebble beach!  

Whatever you find, good luck and see you in open meetings! (to anyone interested, a whole bunch of us will be on the IoW in June - last year was great!) 

Yep. Really low. Wish I'd had a carbon boom on mine - would have reduced the pain a bit .

Col

I find that the limbo technique works quite well when tacking mine.

From a kneeling and facing forwards beginning, start the tack / gybe and then lean backwards and place the back of your head where the tiller was.

WOOOSH there goes the boom straight over your nose.

Certainly encourages you to duck low enough that way!!

Ahh that's a way to do it.. I've been trying to adopt the more traditional "kiss-your-a$$-goodbye" approach, swiftly followed by the Starfish position (sprawled flat on the cockpit floor while the legendary eye-at-the-back-of-my-head watches the boom do what booms are supposed to to (I used to be a teacher, after all).

Coincidence of vocabulary: isn't "boom" a pretty adequate word for it, evocative of impending pain, when it comes to a Contender?

I kept finding with the KYAG approach that I always missed my head, but often got hit on the back or bum.

On a couple of occasions I have managed to get trapped between the boom, the main tower and the tiller extension.  Messy and very quickly wet

Your not selling it to me!

Only joking, I can deal with low booms, I guess releasing a bit of kicker + mainsheet before the tack might help!  Thanks for the opinions everyone, my budget is really very small (having boat a new boat and negotiating the purchase of a house in London...) so even the cheapest 600 might be too expensive.  An IC isn't a bad idea, steep learning curve though!  Moth's also interesting, but probs out of my range.  I'd thought about a Blaze but I've got enough rack assisted hiking on the B14 and wanted something different, plus again not enough cash!

I'll be inland on averagely small water so the Contender could be the way forward.  If anyone knows of a really cheap IC though I could be tempted!   

I know I'm joining this late and mostly it's all been said but I have to comment on the low boom thing:-

1, In a force 4, if you can get under the boom without letting the kicker off then you either don't have enough kicker on or you need more mast rake. When you accept this then the boom hight just isn't an issue.

2, When you let the kicker off in a tack it goes plenty high enough and help the boat not 'stick' in the tack.

I've had 2 Rondars now which have had a crack on the joint between the side deck and the cockpit (on the edge of the radius on the cockpit edge) I don't know how it happens and it's not serious but might get some money knocked off when you're buying. Also I'm beginning to think that lighter is actually better for a Contender if you are club racing because you are so much less disadvantaged in light wind that it gives you better series results.

Boats are scarce at the moment which makes me feel a bit guilty for owning 2, but it does mean that if anyone in my neck of the woods wants a demo I'd be happy to oblige and even give on the water coaching of sorts.