Europe dinghy rig mod

Shortening the leech is an obvious thing to try. See if you can find an old sail to cut about.

Originally posted by Rupert Shortening the leech will affect how the boat sails upwind, as you will no longer be able to park the boom on the deck. My solution was to buy a Lightning 368.

Edited by Rusty69 - 22 Feb 19 at 8:09pm

Originally posted by Rupert Shortening the leech will affect how the boat sails upwind, as you will no longer be able to park the boom on the deck.

Cant see it making a lot of difference TBH. At the luff, sure, there's a buge pressure difference and end plating has a great big effect, but at the leech, where its already a mass of turbulence from the downward angled boom, I really would take a bit of convincing.

Originally posted by DiscoBall Or do both - get a 368 and shorten the leach slightly too.I tried out a 368 last year, though ended up buying a Europe (out of familiarity and just what happened to be on the market at the time, both are great boats with friendly classes).  Managed to bang my head on the boom on the first tack in both boats...  You might find, coming from a Europe, that you feel like you're going to run straight off the side of the Lightning. It feels a lot narrower!I think there are quite a few people looking for Europes at the moment.

Ha. No room for both.

I love the Europe, but i am too tall for it. It was a mistake buying it, although i have had fun. I should have bought something bigger to start with.

Originally posted by Old bloke The obvious solution is an aero. Lightweight and loads of headroom. It doesn't have a deep cockpit but then neither do the other boats being discussed.