Singlehanded skiff? Which one?

There's a fair few people at my club gone for the 700 on a fairly practical basis- it's a lot cheaper than a Musto...

Edited by alstorer

They sent the 300s and 600s in just so three boats could have a sail???

Bad case of irony, I reckon... and it's true that the RS700 Nationals this year in Torbay were better attended than they have been in the past.

As for not selling abroad, there are a few RS700s in France. The French guys can't believe how cheap second-boats are in the UK and they are building the fleet over there.

700 or MPS... If one day I manage to handle either of those, I'd be very proud of myself!!  

I'm loosing count of the number of Musto skiffs vs RS700 arguments that have appeared on here, and am wondering why you guys havnt already read the previous discussions.

The comment about moving up from a 700 to a Musto Skiff, is not correct. Most of the guys who moved from the 700 to the Musto Skiff have done so because at their clubs a Musto Skiff fleet has grown where the 700 hasnt, or they just felt like a change of scenary. The Skiff has a couple of benefits, 1) it has a cleaner deck layout, 2) the wings are fixed and 3) with the likes of Sten, offering his help to the whole fleet the standard is pretty high, but in terms of sailing the boats there is little in it. Both have their quorks, and require the same skill level to sail them.
Just because the RS700 is a cheaper buy second hand does not mean the boat is crap, it just makes it easier to join the fleet. The support from RS is very good, as is the support from Victor if you have a skiff. The only point of notice really is that I would say the RS socials tend to be a bit better ! From many years of experience sailing my 600 & 700 at circuit events the RS fleet generally camp everywhere they go and make extensive use of the clubs bar in the evening. From the events I did in the 49er which were shared with the Skiffs, everyone stays in B&Bs and had half a shandy before turning in for the night leaving a rather stale, bored feeling and couldnt have been great for the host clubs either.

From my point of view ( and I have expressed it in previous discussions on this subject), There is little to choose between the two. If you have at least £5k to spend and you can find one, the Skiff is great and I would have been happy to have bought one instead of my 700. In my case however regularly recovering my boat onto a lee shore is easier without having to undo the cunningham hook, opening the halyard bag, pulling one side of the foot over the boom and dropping the main carefully so as not to put the kicker through it, while keeping the boat head to wind in a narrow tidal inlet just off of the slipway. On the 700 I swing the boat up into wind, ease all the control lines, yank the halyard out of the cleat pull the sail down, bear away and jump out onto the slipway, easy.

Paul

If you want to be different an assy canoe would be the badgers nadgers! Quicker than most boats up and down wind. Truly the best boat out of a musto or a 7!
Cheers,
Alex