The Real D-One Thread

Originally posted by kneewrecker   Any lessons for the future?  Sure, be carefully buying into an new class...

Its obviously safer to buy an established class that is already sailed at your club.

Originally posted by 2547 but how did he get there?

I think the key thing is I now know so so much more than I knew back then and of course I've now sailed them. My problem is always that I assume I know much more about stuff than perhaps I really do and if I don't know it I'll wing it anyway, always have done, probably because in other areas I really do know what I'm talking about.

So at the time of the RS100 launch I'd barely had two figure hours in a single hander and they were in the Blaze and Prior to that the Musto which if I recall correctly was before the crack on the head from the kiting incident that screwed up some of my motor functions.

So as useful as I might have thought I was as a rear end to a crewed set up, sailing a single hander and more importantly sailing it well, is a whole other ball game that I'd had nowhere near the hours under the belt that I have now.

I'm not saying I could sail a D1 to any serious level, but I'm a much better single handed helm and appreciator of bad and good design features, now than I was then, given I also spent a considerable sum finding out bad design features of a single handed boat with the proceeds of the sale of that RS100 and a little help from the taxman.

What one still wonders, given most folk learn from mistakes, is why after all these years, mistakes continue to be made in building the bloody things in the first place.

However the D1, particularly the mast, which if I recall correctly was the subject that created all the negative debate at the time, the 'ugly' thing not really being relevant since that will always be in the eye of the beholder, so the mast is actually really sound, the sail, well it's quite pokey and no it would definitely not suit me, even with the racks right out and I think even they would probably be the first to admit that Dans D Zero rig is more efficient at gust handling, but it's tiny nit picking differences and they are both nicer rigs than I remember either of the 100's being, they do at least go up wind which only the 10.2 was any good at as I recall, in fact that Zero is so close to the D1 you can't believe it. It's only when you turn and burn that the D1 shows its heels.

But there are lots of other nice features, the kite hoist and drop even though I did it exactly the opposite to the way they told me (It's alzheimers ) is smooth and easy. The controls all look so.. well professional, better engineered, and stable, it felt more stable than the Alto, no wobbles at all, does anyone ever fall over in it?
I don't like daggerboard and I don't like the shafted rudder, but I've come to have to use them with the EPS and at Hythe it would still be a problem for a sailor with less confidence, (which was me five years ago) and they are both smoother to operate than my experience with the MPS all those formative years ago when bad experiences crystallised views.
But not a problem at most peoples venues where trolley launches are the norm.

So, how was I wrong? Because I wasn't as experienced as I am now, but then nor are lots of people so our views are representative of our confidence is perhaps the best way to accept them.