Hi wondering if anyone can help.

I'm looking to get into dinghy sailing, mostly on my local resevoir. My other half is new to sailing but keen to learn and v. competitive. My background is big boat racing, round the cans and offshore.

I think hiking boats rather than trapeze is our best bet with the flukey winds you get on lakes. Asymmetric are short listed for being easier (although they all seem pricey).

I have tried a rs 200 recently and we both enjoyed it but was wondering what a 400 is like by comparison (our combined weight is around 22 stone).

Should i be looking at anything else?

Thanks in advance.

James

Sorry to post another what boat - just read rest of forum and it is littered with what boat and has lots of help (I should stop being so lazy).

Regards

I taught my wife in a 200, and have also sailed a 400 a fair bit (but not with my wife). 

Benefits of a 200 - you'll never be overpowered, the kite is VERY easy, there are loads of them (easy to buy and sell).  Disadvantages - 22 stone is fine, but not if you're a 14/8 split - you sink the stern, they feel tippier than a 400. 

400 Advantages - beautiful to sail, very stable, lovely rig, faster.  Disadvanatges - kite is fractionally more fiddly (but still pretty easy), jib loads can feel high (I found thicker rope better than going 2:1), gotta hike more!

I prefer the 400 as a boat, but much will depend on your wife.  If she is 5'4" and petite then the 200 is probably easier.  If she is tall and athletic, I'd go for the 400 but you'd still be fine in a 200.

You might want to consider a laser 2000 as well or possibly a Topper Xenon or a Tasar (which has no kite at all).

Which is your local resevoir? Do they sail the 200 or the 400 or Laser 2000's? That will make a big difference.

The 200 is definately smaller and needs less grunt - but it is also tippier and likely to put you in the water more.

The 400 needs more sitting out, but it is more forgiving in that it takes a bit longer to do things, so giving you more time to react.

BOTH will require swimming while you learn! The 2000 will give you even more time to react, allow you to cruise as well as race (the fully battened sails are designed for fast NOT easy sailing), and hold their value really well.

22 stone is "fairly heavy" for a 200, so you will be disadvantaged in the medium stuff. 22 stone is "fairly light" for a 400, so sailing on the sea, in open waters or in winds of force 4 or more will be a proper handful. 22 stone is ideal for a Laser 2000.

Just stumbled across this post, though I'd add my little bit into it.

As TT said, I bought a 400 to learn to sail in. I came from a windsurfing background and am not a small guy (13st). The Mrs came from a yachting background so we bought a dinghy to meet in the middle. Both of us are very competative and have competed internationaly at various sports.

I loved the 400, it was fast, exciting, the sheet loads were not too high and it had a great grin factor about it. Yes the learning curve was steep, but I'd only sailed dinghies for 3 hours in total before!

The Mrs - she hated  the 400. She could barley sheet the jib in, could not raise the spinnaker quickly (or in a blow, at all), always dropped it into the water as it came down and worst of all, was too short to hike the damn thing! She ended up being scared of sailing which was no good for either one of us,

So, we bought TT's 200. It's more tippy for certain, and we've swum in ours quite a bit. It's a lot slower, but actually really good fun for the two of us. The front end complains every bit as much about not winning, but there is zero fear there, even in suicidal conditions. We are 22st all up so are in the upper end of the weight range, however, at the nationals last year there was a 19st crew fighting it out with the 24st crews at the front in upto force 6, yet at the inlands in a drifter the heavy crews managed to keep up with or beat the lighter ones so i'd say it carries weight better than you'd think. The comment about the 14st helm is right though, so you 'd need to get your weight forward if you are that heavy.

One other thing in the 200's favour is the number of boats in the open fleets as well as at club level. nationals was limited to 130 entries this year! Both fleets are very active so if you want to try one, join the 200 / 400 yahoo groups and you'll finad a willing local owner.

200's are nice

But they have the most dinky little handkerchief of a spinnaker

Indeed they do, and for blasting are not brilliant, but for fleet racing, maybe only the laser tops it!

They're great for blasting in anything above a force 4

Thats just going to be painful upwind!