The RS100 Owners Thread

Originally posted by Rupert Back in the 70's, the Laser was a sexy boat!

Er.. I was in the seventies and I hate to burst your love bubble, but .......

Ok, well I had the Rs100 for a season and I have been sailing the  D-one for 5 weeks. The real issue is that any boat where a single bloke is going to handle a decent sized sail plus a decent sized spinnaker in a boat that is going to sail under 1000 is going to be a handful in a breeze. Both boats are reasonably easy for a competent dinghy sailor up to say 12 knots. However once the breeze builds either will need plenty of practice. In my opinion neither is a boat you can drop in and out of, having not sailed for a few weeks and expect to sail them easily in a good breeze. They both demand practice as well as the racing and plenty of sailors just don't have that free time with busy lives and families, but perhaps got carried away, yes, perhaps bought into the hype at the time and thought 'well once I crack it, that's it' . Unfortunately, unless you are a small handful of non mortals, that is definitely not 'it'. In my opinion the 100 is a bit more tricky, it has more rocker and less leverage upwind so you have to work harder. I am one of the sailors that for a proportion of the year has my 3-4 hours on a Sunday morning, but no more, so I have the practice issue. Is the d one attainable - hell yes, is it a great boat up and downwind - yes, but do I have the time available to be able to sail it competitively on a breezy rough sea without practice.. err probably and sadly not. I have even considered buying a secondhand one and agreeing a kite free py with my club as it is still easy to gybe with just the main up and the wings are the most comfortable hikers going. You sit high out of the spray and can look around - That is the aptly named D 0.5 ! 

Well written post there Clive, agree with a lot of it and understand you are coming in to defend the 100 so perhaps a tiny bit unbalanced, but then so is my post.  I think that posh event was a little extreme, but I would not say the 100's were driven harder downhill then the d1's (why would I, I was leading the event after day1). The d1, does not need to be breasted around the course and is inherently more stable than the 100 so looks easier in my opinion.  It was also pretty breezy at that event (don't think you will disagree) and I had no problem with nose diving, neither has specky.  Albeit it's fair to say it can be bow happy in lumpier waters , but pitchpoling is not something that I have seen properly happen.  I agree with nick about the ideal weight range he is 86kg and 6'3 (?) perfect for just about any class.  But he is not a normal sailor, the wings help people like Charlie chandler (current national champion) weighing 70-75kg race on the same course as myself and Dave Gorringe at much much more.  The racing is really close across the fleet and nick by no means has it his own way mixing it with others in the fleet half his weight again.  Like I said the boat is not perfect, but then I don't think any boat is, sailing is all about compromise and that the best thing about the sport, our equipment is very versatile across a range of conditions.  I think one thing worth pointing out is that Nick Craig is the class treasurer and dearly loves his D1, I don't think he would share that commitment if he wasn't satisfied he was in a great boat, with great racing.

A gentle reminder Mike: the 100 rig is not actually unstayed - it has shrouds but no forestay - idea being to keep the mast in boat downwind. Upwind they do little or nothing. Downwind, no forestay to get in way of gybing the kite

Originally posted by blaze720 Mike L. PS - I'll leave GRF perhaps to introduce a seperate thread in due course ... he knows enough already !