Best handicap boat

The guys down at Ardleigh Sailing Club ran a £500 challenge- max budget was £500 for the boat.  They all bought old OKs and had some fantastic fleet racing... it would not nearly have been so successful if they bought all sorts of other sh*t and worried about handicapping each one.

Most class association websites have used sails for sale.
A wanted ad would probably get you on the water quite cheaply in most classes.
If you are really going to use the sails (etc), rather than just collecting spares, many people will turn out to be quite helpful. You won't get shiny harken kit, but simple stuff that functions is often there for the asking, at least on a loan basis.
People want to see more people sailing, racing and teaching sailing, many of us can remember being broke too!

Alas, half decent RS400 kites seem to be in short supply, the one I bought for under £50 a few years ago has now done me well over 100 races and is only fit for windy days. The cost of it per race is probably rising now due to the amount of spinnaker tape!

I long for the day when people realise tha tthe way to get faster isn't to buy a 'bandit' or the most expensive kit, it's to look after what you have and then go sailing in it, lots and lots.

I paid 700 quid for my British Moth in 1993, over the last 3 seasons I have spent about 1.5 K getting it into a sailable/raceable condition after abandoning it for years, including a 2nd hand combi. I've just ordered a new sail for her as well. If I was any good it would probably do better on the open circuit.

If I sold it (with new sail) I'd probably get ......... £700! (I don't care I'm not selling!)

Mind you, a guy at my club bought a solo recently; fixed it up, raced it and won - he reckons it owes him £375 in total!



Edited by tryinghard - 18 Apr 12 at 2:53pm

I dont have five grand,  isnt part of the fun like doing it up. Sanding, painting, putting new fittings on etc