What Next?

The Streaker is very similar speed to a solo and laser radial, if you are slow you can race against byte C2 and if you are fast  you can wind up the laser sailors.  If the solo fleet is strong at your club Id definitely recommend a sail in a streaker.

Having had an RS100 and then a Solo I came to the conclusion that having a boat you enjoy is the most important thing. 

Originally posted by turnturtle it could probably do with a little more diversity too Jeffers.... no women competing at the nationals?   Stark contrast to the Aero Southerns recently: http://www.rsaerosailing.org/index.asp?p=results&rid=3249

it could probably do with a little more diversity too Jeffers.... no women competing at the nationals?  

Originally posted by Papa Smurf I've always liked the Solution but, as you say, you don't see many about. We used to have four of them at our club but they have all faded away over the last couple of years. The class seems to have lost momentum, perhaps because of the arrival of the 'Zero and Aero.

My comment wasn't so much about the class, it was about the ability to buy a boat, they get picked up very quickly if they come on the market. As to the Class it is a bit North Centric because I guess all the early adopters come from up there, it also suffered at the time of your four with a bit of an unattainable yardstick which is now closer to where it ought to be versus the Laser, well until the laser decided to slow down some more thanks to PYAG muppetry.

Truth is you can have good battles with Lasers, on a Lake in lighter stuff you can trash them, on the sea in waves they'll trash you,like for like sailor weight and skill. You will also be able to mix it with the Solo's and this will give you the opportunity to sail alongside and watch helms that might be a bit better than you.

It honestly wasn't until i was able to follow some really sh*t hot helms for a bit, that I was able to mimic their sailing style and you can only do that initially in a boat faster than them, don't listen to all this class is best none sense, it really isn't. Until you are at optimum performance yourself, with your head straight and confident can you take folk on in a one design environment. Hanging on the rear end of a bunch of class fiends will condemn you to duckpond mentality and screw with your head, lose for a bit in something faster, study why you're losing, read all the books, but most of all stay in touch with the front of any fleet, there's more going on there you can learn from than bringing up the rear. I think a Solution is good for that on Lakes, I like the D Zero as well, but it might be a tad too fast for mixing it with Solo's and Lasers. Compared to the S boats it's a little more ponderous tacking, not much but on tree surrounded water you have to go where the wind says, whereas the D.Zero is more a res boat where the shifts don't Oscillate as fast and you can bang a corner with a degree of certainty. But either way, see what comes up either of those two would be good.