Single hander for over fifties

Originally posted by nickd Decisions decisions! Well I've rulled out Vortex and Topaz, so that's progress (putting aside the dozen or so other good suggestions added to the short list!). I'm looking forward into meeting some people from this forum when I do hit the water

In a Europe the boom goes way up when you release the mainsheet in a tack. I thought I would struggle with that when I sailed one a couple of years ago but it was not a problem. The OK is better with a deep cockpit but it seems to be better suited to slightly heavier sailors, the Europe is definitely a lightweights boat.

Edited by Sam.Spoons - 18 Jun 20 at 11:11pm

Originally posted by nickd "<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", "Segoe UI", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; : rgb251, 251, 253;">PS the Europe is a girls boat" </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", "Segoe UI", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif;">Haha, you should see the car I drive - you'd realise that I care little for such issues!</span> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", "Segoe UI", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; : rgb251, 251, 253;"></span> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", "Segoe UI", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; : rgb251, 251, 253;">Seriously though, many thanks for a lot of very helpful advice there.</span> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", "Segoe UI", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; : rgb251, 251, 253;"></span> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", "Segoe UI", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; : rgb251, 251, 253;">Nick</span>

No, it really is a girls boat, it was an Olympic girls boat so more suited to their build. I learned a lot once from following one such girly expert up a beat, so it/s not to say anything bad about it, but the boom effectively touches the deck, if you think Contender has nose rash issues, the Europe is in another league.

Hi nick we're similar weight but I'm shorter, I'd add the Solution as one to look at, no kite but as someone else said unless you have a big enough area you're pretty limited, the RS100 or D1 are probably a bit on the big size.

Everyone will tell you to buy what they sail and I guess I'm just as bad, but to get to it, I went through the following single handers, Blaze, RS100, Laser EPS, Solo (briefly), even have a little minisprint which isn't really a proper boat these days unless you don't mind trailing miles behind everyone then pissing them off by stealing their chocolates on handicap. Two others I liked but for different reasons didn't go for, the Aero 7 and the D0 and if I were to put them in order I'd say 1st D0, 2nd Aero, 3rd Solution and 4th= the Blaze & EPS. Kites are only any use on the sea if you are serious about racing, until someone comes up with an acceptable way of firing a symmettric kite from a single hander, I can't see them ever gaining momentum on smaller inland water. There's a very good guy amusing us at Htyhe with his Vortex antics, I'd cross that from your list for now and anything made from washing bowl material as well.

That's my three happorth, welcome back to sailing.

PS the Europe is a girls boat
PPS Had a very serious look at the Byte C2 which I thought was a great rig, but the boat is too short, something I'm wrestling with, with my current sea ride, a Farr3.7.

Edited by iGRF - 18 Jun 20 at 4:29pm

I currently sail Sprint (Dart) 15, Unicorn, and Phantom on a large inland lake. I used to have a Vortex, bought when they first came out and I was looking for an easy to trapeze single-handed monohull. I'd just come from a Dart 18 and thought they might be the best of both worlds between a cat & mono. Actually I thought it was the worst of both worlds! Not good in light winds and slow to tack, but nothing like as fast or nice to sail as a Sprint 15. Admittedly mine didn't have the later kite, but even with, they're no match for Contenders etc with similar PY in any wind condition. Sorry to any Vortex lovers out there!