Silver Dream racer article

Originally posted by Bootscooter He certainly has - 96Kg now!!  Was it SailFest 14 we last saw you? Hi mate Callum (on the right of the pic) is even bigger than him! There's a really good piece on Callum written at the Euros in Barcelona (Cameron has linked it on his FaceBook page - link in my signature).

Originally posted by Dougaldog Do Different - worry not, you do not have to apologise for a thread hijack from a Javelin - I am a long time lover of the boat. Another of Peter Milne's finest and a damn good boat it is too. It would be a tough question to answer - which is the better boat, the Osprey or the Javelin. If I had any impact on the editorial direction (as I had once before but that is a different story all together) then I think my plan for some comparative boat tests would make for some interesting reading. With the extinction of the FD in the UK, you'd only really have 3 boats, the 505, Osprey and Javelin......I could see a soul searching article coming out of that. Damnit - it should be done!

You just want the excuse to go and play...

The Javelin is a lovely looking boat, but to me arrived just a little late to the party. Kind of to the 505 and Osprey what the Lightning 368 is the the Laser and Solo, a lesser known gem, and none the worse for that.

Rupert,

From where I sit I would say that you have summed the situation up perfectly. By the time the Javelin appeared the Osprey already had the available market share sewn up. You want Olympic glory - sail the FD. Top notch international sailing but without the Olympic hassle - the 505 did all of that and more. Which left the then market for the top predators to the Osprey, with the Javelin doing well in those locations where it could attract a critical mass. Still think that it would make for an excellent article though - the sort of 'warts and all' (and all of the above have them). But what it would do is to shine a light on that Osprey/Javelin question, 'the same but different'.

Dd to DD....calling, Over!
505s are now massive in Germany, indeed they are the powerhouse that is driving the fleet Ditto Contenders and...FDs.
Jim C - I think along with Gordon 1277, your comments on the FD rig might raise something of an eyebrow. Sure, some of the early boats, with the soft grp hulls (Tiptree marine....OMG!) and unsorted rigs could be a bit Crufts like, but a sorted FD was something that had to be sailed to be believed. Yet, it was a technically demanding boat that took hours of rig tuning (far more than you needed in a 505, which is itself a technical boat to be playing with) but....it was worth it. Driving an FD upwind in breeze has to be one of the all time great experiences to be had in a small boat. You had waterline length, a beautiful hull, acres of sail.... sadly the powers that be let the boat struggle with a stupid spinnaker set up for far too many years.Every year along at Eastbourne the FDs would race boat for boat with the 505s - if there was any breeze the Dutchman would storm upwind, only to have the fiveos pile in over them on the reaches - even stevens on the run. Gordon 1277 has many more sea miles in an FD than I so I hope he will add his 5c worth - and it will be worth paying attention to as he was a front running crew in both the FD and 505!
D