Singlehanded skiff? Which one?

Originally posted by acidsalior Wat bout the hydrofoilers? 600ff or a moth. OR get a low rider then buy the foils separate after getting used to the boat? Adem

Your budget will get you a more competitive RS600FF than a foiling Moth of the same price. The 600 is a one design so as long as it's in good condition it will be up to speed. You can get a foiling Moth for under £4k, there's one on the Moth site for £3600, but it's a 14 year old design so although it will foil it won't be competitive once you master it, so be prepared to have to sell it and buy a more up to date design at some point.

 I think the jury's still out on which is harder to sail and they seem to be similar in performance in breeze, with the Moths foiling earlier in lighter winds, but the best advice for either boat is start with a lowrider then either convert to foils or trade up. It's a lot easier to convert a 600 to foils than a Moth as the 600 has a ready to assemble kit that just requires basic drilling and bolting, but to convert an old Moth you need to customise everything to fit.

 

We have a few of each at Chw, and they seem very evenly matched.  Possibly the Musto's are a tiny bit faster, but they all finish mixed up in a bunch . But it is hard to judge the crew skill factor.  On a side issue - if the Musto only has an (RYA supplied) trial number is that really any more valid than the foiling Moths guessing their own PY?  Should Musto's be allowed at the Bloody Mary?!  (Stirring the pot a bit more...)

Originally posted by JimC I just looked up PY numbers... is the RS700 20 points faster than the Musto Skiff as the numbers suggest? The Musto skiff number isn't actually far off the trial number we've worked out for the new spinnaker-free 50kg Canoes...

This MPS & 700 PY's are an age old debate.

There has only been 2 events where any number of boats have raced each other and that is the tide ride ...

http://www.mustoskiff.com/reports-and-news/2006/tide-ride.ht m

Both were pretty much a MPS whitewash. But was that the boat or the level of skill in the fleet?

My personal view is that the 700 PY should be raised to match the MPS.

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

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