Where has she been all my life. Gimmie gimmie gimmie 

its only cos its red that you're all so interested

does look good though

It went for £500.  Someone got a lot of boat for very little money.

This does prompt a good question.....

Was someone in the right place at the right time and got a bargain or is the cost of 2nd hand boats in general coming down??

Nice shiny combi - £300

The flyer must be £200 - you could not buy the deck fittings for that let alone the running gear or mast and standing rigging

I say again, someone got a bargain - even if they only strip it out and put the bits on a fitting eating development class.......

The Bell flyer was let down because the spinny pole was too flexible, the sail was more expensive, the optimum weight was low and you had to make it yourself.

It is sad that people don't make their own boats, but these days building/buying the hull is the smallest part of the boating exercise. As was pointed out my Mr Contender, the trailer is the most expensive thing, closely followed by some decent cleats and string. Next is sails, then mast which is about the same as the petrol to drive it to a club.........

The shape looks OK if a little small. What I think Bell (if they were still in business) should do is sell the wood shapes with a frame to be tacked together with pins. Then include in the kit carbon mat and epoxy to 'mould your own flyer'.

On Bells part it may also have been a miss reading of the market. The market at that time wanted speed (or the persception of it at least) for sure, but it is cost and the notion that 'you pay your money and have the top kit'..... all in one, the package that can take you to the top - no more cheque book sailing. A laudable notion when you think back.

Hi people,

I am a bell flyer sailor from the Netherlands, see below. I find this boat to be very competetive.. A Buzz is no match for me.. All the stories i read about that the weight is too heavy... This boat planes with two persons (total weight 130 kg) from a light windforce 3. In strong winds the boat really flies like hell but is still really manageble. The total weigt of my boat is really +/- 100 kg sail ready.

The gennaker pole seems to be thin, but in strongwinds like 6, the only thing the pole does is bend...not break. The boat gains so much speed that the sideforce of the gennaker on the pole is not so big...

The deck where you sit on, is not so comfortable because you sit on it, and not in it. But you may trie to sit on a 49er comfortable but on your butt, and you can go swimming...This is not the case with the flyer.

The main is a good quality sail which can be trimmed very well.

I found it to be a very attractive boat wich can be sailed very competetive.

Best regards,

Dolf Broekaart

mailto:dbroekaart@hotmail.com - dbroekaart@hotmail.com

Hi Howard,

Firt of all, my firstname is DOLF, not Dorf.. (sounds a bit like dork).

The rigging of the boat is not too difficult. The spinnaker bag is supposed to be tied in the V shape of the spreader..The backside of the boat. (i wil send pics as soon as possible).

When you're steering downwind and ready to hoist the spinnaker, you first have to pull out the gennaker boom. This has to be done by the helm. After that, make sure you always hoist the gennaker on the right side of the boat. (don't know how to call it in englisch.. > low side..?).

Then you can choose to drop the jib.. Certainly the first times.. this is recommended.

Then the crew or the helm can hoist the gennaker... Doesn't really matter who.. Normally at my boat the helm does this.

Make sure you crew is ready to trapeze when there is wind, because you're going to need it.

When ever there is a big blow of wind, make sure you have the space to fall away with the wind so you can gain speed and keep the boat flat.

Gybing is also stupid simple... the only thing you need is good timing of your crew, to pull the sheet on the other side at the right moment.

I Will send pic's as soon as possible

Groeten,
 
Dolf Broekaart

Dolf

I take it that's an anti-inversion device near the top of the mast rather than a radar reflector? As what did the item start out in life?

Is inversion a big problem with the Flyer (it does look to have loads of buoyancy) or do you just sail on a shallow lake?

hi all,

Please find beneath the promised pictures..

The anti-inversion thing in the mast is a small bouy made of a typical HDPE Plastic. I heated it with a lighter, and pushed a dent in it, so that it fits around the mast. it has 10 l volume.. the water i sail on is very shallo,. In this way i can prevent putting my mast upside down in the mud.

Best regards

Dolf Broekaart

Looks very nice, Dolf, whatever the detractors say. Like a Cherub for grown-ups, actually.

Where in the Netherlands do you sail? I used to race regularly on the Braassemermeer, tho' my old club, Netherlands International Yacht Club, Woubrugge, is now defunct - victim of a property developer alas....

Sailed the boat for the first time on Saturday from Oxwich Bay on the Gower.  The wind was strong and gusty which made it "interesting".  She sails well enough but there were a few issues that I need to sort out.....

1) The toestraps are not easy to find in a hurry.  Because the boat is so open the straps tend to lie close to the floor.  I may need to put some semi-rigid webbing in place.

2) The rudder resonates at speed.  I've known this happen in daggerboards before and I've always just raised them until it stopped but I can't raise the rudder because it pivots.  I'll probably need to chop a few inches off (it is an exceptionally long blade).  Does anyone have any other suggestions ?

3) I seemed to be getting a lot of weather helm - I'm not sure whether this was connected with the rudder problem above or whether it's caused by the position/rake of the rig or something else.  Normally I'd expect to rake the mast further forward to correct this but to my eye the mast already looks pretty vertical.  It's possible that it may also be due to the way we were sailing the boat because I had a novice crew and the wind was more than enough to support his 14 stone on the wire upwind so I was being pretty tentative.  Does anyone have any other suggestions ?

4) The mainsheet swivel base and cleat have a very nasty habit of spinning to leeward if you relax the tension on the tail of the sheet.  This makes it difficult to uncleat when a gust hits. I'll need to play around with the fitting to correct this.

Apart from this everything was fine - no leaks, sails are all in great condition and the trailer rides well, the whole package looks very smart on the beach.  Not bad for £500.  Looking forward to trying it in a lighter breeze so I can get a better feel for the boat and see how she goes under spinaker.