Hi im pretty light and im only 5ft 5" and id like a singlehander for club racing. I have a bad back so i cant sail singlehanded trapeze and i sail on a smallish lake. My price range is up to £2000. Im about 11 stone and not too sure on what boat i could sail with my weight. Im also pretty experienced as ive been sailing a long time.

 Thanks in advance

GBR 221 “Rawhide” ex. “Scorch” for sale. Razorback carbon hull, Claridge decked, Linton foils, Rowsell & Morrison 3 mains/3 jibs, Superspars, minimum weight, combi-trailer. Competitive conventional canoe or ideal asymmetric conversion. Based at Llandegfedd. £2200ono. Ring Terry 01633 895177

just out of interest how deep are canoes boards? do the use a centre plate or a dagger board and how do they get their rudder off to come in because it cant overhang the stern can it?

ok you know what I'm gonna say...but hey!!!

Go for test saili in a Byte CII, the boom is pretty high and its more comfy to sail than a Laser.  You are right at the top of the competitive weight limit so if your not planning to put on weight you should be fine.  Plus the boat is very light so this will help your back when moving it about.  You should be able to rustle something up for around 2 K

ps. A Europe, blimey surely a contender for the lowest boom award!!!

Still not sure why trapesing hurts your back more than hiking. My abs may have suffered but my back has never been better since I switched to the wire!

Try a Vortex. Hector is about your size. Boom is quite high and the ride is forgiving.

Byte CII for its lovely betwaithe designs rig. 

But the splash / flash is good too - and the rig is cheaper.  The splash rig is a radial equivalent and the flash rig is a laser equivalent.  Slower than either, but less hard graft too.

Ultra low effort - a Comet One.  Great on small ponds and rivers.

I've overtaken lots in a blow, even in my ancient laser 1 !!!   River boats really I guess, but there are a couple of older blokes at our club who are very happy with theirs on a reasonable sized lake.

As a 5'5" approx 11stone sailor with a bad back, I've been quite interested by this thread! I've sailed pretty much all the small singlehanders, so here are my views. Laser - side decks are so wide that the short legged among us find it pretty painful sitting out. Streaker - never owned one, but borrowed one and it was good fun and about the right size for a short As*. Comet - excellent in the light stuff, hell on handicap in a blow. Europe - exact opposite of the Comet - really come alive in force 4 and above, but in the light stuff the low boom and centremain made tacking a pain. British Moth - fantastic river and light wind boat with short hull and huge sails, but doesn't half nosedive in a breeze, as I found on Sunday...Solo, also currently owned - the fullybattened rig and traveller take some getting used to, but the ability to make the rig suit your weight is good. Not cheap compared to the others, though. Lightning 368 was nice to sail, but again the mast a long way forward. Topper was fine in a force 4 and above, but in anything less you need to be 8 stone. Minisail is great fun, but the rig was totally uncontrollable with a very bendy boom. Sliding seat versions good for a laugh. The Tonic was one of the best hulls for a singlehander I've had (at least in shape - the later ones didn't split in 2!) but the rig needed alot of work to make it truely fun. Most boats are a case of Oh Sh1t, splash - the Tonic gave no warning at all of the impending swim! I've not sailed the Byte since the rig changed, but on the earlier version the boat was nice and the rig truely horrible, so maybe it is now a great boat.

Most of these boats are between 11 and 12 feet long, and are fairly similar in speed - what is really needed is a new design of 11 to 12' singlehander that is nearer the Laser in speed but still can be sailed by the smaller person on restricted waters. Oh, and it needs to be cheap, please! Maybe I'd better design and build it...

By the way, I'd have to agree  with others that trapezeing is less painful on the back, but trapezeing on 85 acres doesn't sound ideal.  

Nobody has mentioned the RS300 which offers a phenominal level of performamce for a hiking boat.  Quite a challenge to sail but once mastered .......

Ian

I've sailed Ian Moss's Blaze at Whitefriars, and it does feel good. At 5'5 and less than 11 stone, I just found it rather big in anything over about a 3, and also big to lug around the boatpark. I guess the trouble is I've grown up sailing Fireflies, and anything much longer than that feels too big for a singlehander!

As for the 300, I'd say that 11 stone is on the light side, as from what I've heard the smaller rig doesn't seem to be as quick as the big one even allowing for the lighter person? Please correct me if I'm wrong! Laser EPS on the other hand loves a light weight helm.

I'm not an expert on the 300 although I've been really impressed when I've seen them on the water.  I don't know if the small sail is competitive for class racing or not but this is pretty irrelevant if we are only talking club racing here. 

Ian

Well i'm the same weight as you and I moved from a 300 to a Byte as I was fed up with worrying about going out if it was 4-5 now I love the big winds and will happily sail long after the race officer has packed up and gone home.  S it depends where your sailing and what you want.

Not that the 300 isn't a great boat tho!!

I'm about the same size (slightly over 11, at the moment) and don't get on too badly well with the Blaze as the wind gets up. The 'average', if there is one, may be slightly heavier but the good thing is the controls are simple but effective so the rig depowers nicely to keep you in there. I was actually about 2 st lighter when I first started in the Blaze - no fags and middle age sorted that out!!

Going OT a bit, but how does increased rake depower the rig? Are you talking about upwind or offwind?