Pico versus Topper

   Picos are from the Laser Performance Europe stable owned by the infamous Rastegar who had the Laser build rights taken away. 
We had a thread recently suggested he’s not been paying Pico designer Jo Richards his design royalties, as happened with the Laser and Bruce Kirby.

Whilst this is peripheral in some ways, it does not bode well for the reliability of replacement Pico parts, so is yet another reason to stick with the toppers

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fab100 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 15 Mar 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1005	Post Options Post Reply Quote fab100 Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Pico versus Topper Posted: 15 Jun 22 at 8:31am
	Picos are from the Laser Performance Europe stable owned by the infamous Rastegar who had the Laser build rights taken away. We had a thread recently suggested he’s not been paying Pico designer Jo Richards his design royalties, as happened with the Laser and Bruce Kirby. Whilst this is peripheral in some ways, it does not bode well for the reliability of replacement Pico parts, so is yet another reason to stick with the toppers
	Great book for Club Sailors here

CT249 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 08 Jul 06 Online Status: Offline Posts: 399	Post Options Post Reply Quote CT249 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 15 Jun 22 at 9:04am
	Thanks very much everyone, lots of great information and a fairly obvious vote to keep the Toppers. As others have noted, we can fix them ourselves as one design status is irrelevant, but it's been very valuable to get the input of those who know the boats better than we do. We do have an odd hole down here in that we lack a class between the Opti and similar prams, and the Laser 4.7. If we keep the Toppers going they'll fill that hole. Cheers

NickA Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 30 Mar 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 784	Post Options Post Reply Quote NickA Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 24 Jun 22 at 8:51pm
	Toppers are very flexy, it's like sailing Tupperware, also very narrow and too small for adults, personally I really dislike them and reckon they only survive in the UK because topper got them adopted as an official youth class. My kids much preferred picos so we bought one. Picos are stiffer and more responsive to their controls ( the rudder doesn't stall out for one thing) But Picos are heavy and you can't get parts for them. Double handing picos is indeed a bit lame but, unlike a topper, you can and my twin sons enjoyed it aged 9 or 10. You can also (sometimes) get battened "race" sails for picos which transform them into "nearly" a radial .. they go up wind properly. At my club we use picos for adult single handed training and kids double handers training. We have Toppers for kids wanting to single hand who have moved up from oppies ( which I also hate with a vengeance btw) I'm 175cm and 78kg and kept sailing our pico for years ( in F5+ only mind ). Certainly does plane ( good wind, bear away, shift weight back) makes a lot of splash when doing so and driven hard down wind the nose will go under water, followed by the whole boat which then stalls and pops back up again .. managed to pitch pole mine just the once. Great high wind toy ... but I have a contender for that now :-) Edited by NickA - 24 Jun 22 at 8:53pm
	Javelin 558 Contender 2574

423zero Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 08 Jan 15 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 3420	Post Options Post Reply Quote 423zero Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 25 Jun 22 at 11:17am
	Topper is brilliant for adults and juniors, talking 'beach toy', smashing through the surf, reaching backwards and forwards along the surf line, just need to remember to lift up the dagger board and never have it more than half down.
	Robert