Wire in the blood

I gave up because I moved to somewhere that is not suitable for a Contender, and I'm more interested in fleet racing where I live than travelling 40min to somewhere I could have sailed it in a handicap fleet.

Yep, N12s used to smash us in 420s during our inland puddle winter series when I was a kid.

I can’t remember the handicap difference (we were 115 I think, Laser 114). Lasers and 12s destroyed us over the water, never mind on handicap

There’s usually no set rules on these things, but a lot of sailors will try wiring and come to the conclusion it’s not right for either them or their location. Personally I enjoy the feeling of it, but I do know some people who say they feel disconnected from the boat more.

On the latter point about location, I know if I were choosing a boat for restricted waters it would always be a hiker. Even on open lakes like Rutland or Grafham, the variable wind would steer me more towards hikers over wires these days, but I might choose something more powerful- a D-One, RS300 or Blaze springs to mind, assuming I’m buying it for pure sailing rather than the racing.

Where wires really come into their own is upwind in open water - be that sea swell or estuary chop.... that stuff is hard work in a hiking boat and the wire would always pay for me in those conditions.

Out here in Valencia I would love a Contender one day... that would be a cracking boat here.

Edited by turnturtle - 08 Jun 18 at 7:08am

Edited by KazRob - 07 Jun 18 at 8:55pm

I'd wired once on a Tornado roughly around the same time I started windsurfing ('78/9ish) then when I got back into dinghies (2008) I bought the Spice and, basically learned to trapeze, helm from the trap, fly an assy kite and relearn to sail a dinghy. The Spice was a perfect boat to do all that on and sailing it still gives me a huge buzz even though I mostly sail (and race) singlehanded in the Blaze now.