Bottlescrews???

Not all progress is actually progress, super light boats are less stable and less forgiving to sail, super fast boats don't suit small inland waters (yes you can sail them inland but it's far from ideal). Some of those '50s/'60s designs like the Albacore and Enterprise were right from day one and much better suited to the lakes many of us sail on than more extreme boats. The RS200/400 are a success because they is not too light, radical or challenging to sail.

Edited by Sam.Spoons - 20 Apr 21 at 2:15pm

Had a look for Albacores... not exactly what I'd call value for money, best part of 12 grand (Pinnel & Bax)for a tin masted twin sail and sails that look like dacron and not that sophisticated selling for over £800 quid, and it's advertised as a beginner/entry level boat.

It says it's a 'National Class' is that why the price hike? I mean you couldn't exactly call it a premium product, makes even the ROLY POLY 200 seem a bargain..

But thanks for pointing out the systems, if ever we get a chance to go to an actual dinghy show ever again I'll have a look, if I'm spared that is, 2nd lethal injection today.

Originally posted by patj Grf you'd love the shroud fixings on our old Albacore - two hooks just below the side decks onto which the eyes on the shroud ends fit - so easy to set up. The hooks are on top of muscle boxes which have lines out to cleats so are held under tension and can't slip out. And above the decks in the shrouds are shroud levers - flip up to release, pull down and lock before rounding the leeward mark.I find the levers easier to operate than the rope version on the newer Albs, possibly because of the positioning.

Sounds cool, all these great ideas, all on different classes, imagine if there weren't fixed class rules eveerybody could enjoy all the good things in some sense of uniformity and wouldn't the pricing have fallen if everyone started using similar stuff, you know like even the holes in the chain plates being the same diameter might have helped.

Were Albacore a big deal? Like back in whatever day? Genuine question, I wasn't really that around and other than 505s, Scorpions and GP14s (because their owners were so tight when they came into the old Racing Sailboat shop we took over and nobody wanted to serve them) I didn't know a great deal about what was going on in the seventies when I guess they were big.

Things like Albacores have pulley systems on the shrouds so you can adjust the tension by pulling string rather than trying to lose the tips of your fingers with a Highfield lever. I suspect you could double that up with a track like the Tasar as well to give you all the adjustment you could wish for, well until it all comes off in one go and your mast jumps off the foot and punctures a hole in the deck that is.