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Solo fleet still growing
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pondmonkey View Drop Down
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    Posted: 24 Oct 12 at 5:54pm
Originally posted by getafix

 .....I think you'll find there's many around here who won't agree with you.

and how boring life would be if we did???  I got the piss take, no offence taken at all... yep asking for to a level, and you know what my shoulders are broad enough to take it.  But below the banter is an underlying flaw in the 'system'... I can't quite see what the future is going to be with dinghy sailing, it's just so expensive for such little return- you need the passion to stay engaged, hence the reason to make the most out of what's on offer now and not belittle it too much in the process.
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Steve411 View Drop Down
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Posts: 705 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Steve411 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Oct 12 at 6:48pm
Originally posted by pondmonkey

maybe the odd one or two local one-dayers... and of course there's the nationals next year at HISC, over 120 boats expected.  I'm hoping to do the first weekend... SteveB's taking it over from there on in, so at least the average points should go up, even if the poor boat's helmsman finally looks the right age to sail a Solo.  LOL
 
I was hoping the average points might go down, not up, but you're probably right. Smile And I'm definitely loooking the right age now - thanks for reminding me!
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Roger View Drop Down
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Posts: 524 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Roger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Oct 12 at 7:02pm
Originally posted by getafix

 
 
.....I think you'll find there's many around here who won't agree with you.
 
Maybe on this forum..... which of course represents a very tiny percentage of dinghy sailors in the UK.
 
But facts would "suggest" you are wrong Wink, and that a large number of people want close class racing and a well supported and extensive open meeting schedule. To a certain extend the boat is irrelevant, although slower boats provide closer racing, it's all about being faster round the course than the next man/woman in whatever weapon you have chosen.
 
Sure when you turn up there will be a small number in with a shout of overall honours, but even for those at the front of the Solo fleet then a bad day means there will always be the next guy down the fleet to challenge you, and for those who don't normally challenge at the front there is always the day when everything falls into place and you get to beat the hot shots.
 
In short always somebody to compete against, always somewhere to go and sail in a class open, and as said earlier very low depreciation compared with many classes..... you can't beat them so join them.
 
 
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pondmonkey View Drop Down
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Posts: 2202 		Post Options Post Options   Quote pondmonkey Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Oct 12 at 7:06pm
Originally posted by Steve411

Originally posted by pondmonkey

maybe the odd one or two local one-dayers... and of course there's the nationals next year at HISC, over 120 boats expected.  I'm hoping to do the first weekend... SteveB's taking it over from there on in, so at least the average points should go up, even if the poor boat's helmsman finally looks the right age to sail a Solo.  LOL

 

I was hoping the average points might go down, not up, but you're probably right. Smile And I'm definitely loooking the right age now - thanks for reminding me!


Ah yes, points in reverse - been watching too much ACWS again.
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Posts: 895 		Post Options Post Options   Quote tickler Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Oct 12 at 8:20am
Having sailed my Trafalgar period Solo all season I feel able to comment. The best thing is the comfort. When you sit on the side your legs drop into the well like a dining chair where they slip neatly into the straps. Downwind you can sit side saddle on the centreboard case capping. The bad thing is the thwart....well not a thwart as all it does is carry the traveler which I never use and the only way of getting forward in light wind is to stand up and step over it. The boom is very high. The boat is very stable. All season I have only put it in once (entirely my fault and under the greatest provocation) and other than that the gunwale has never been under.  What don't I like? Mine is ridiculously heavy for some reason and it is sluggish, slow to get away. I can hold a Lightning up wind but they leave me down wind. My boat was given to me and has been safe fun but I am now restoring a Lightning for next season, much more responsive as well as lighter. I think that if I wanted a boat for good fleet racing it would be Supernova, we have 12 at our club. The circuit is well attended, if not as busy as the Solos, but they are a modern responsive boat, particularly the latest ones.

Solo for sale. All plastic, solid as a rock, cheap.
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pondmonkey View Drop Down
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Posts: 2202 		Post Options Post Options   Quote pondmonkey Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Oct 12 at 9:19am
Originally posted by tickler



Solo for sale. All plastic, solid as a rock, cheap.

Fuller... Earth to Fuller.

Thanks for the feedback Tick, glad you've enjoyed it.  If you fancy a swap at next year's FOM to see the difference (improvement?) in a modern epoxy solo, I'd love a go in the lightning (despite being grossly too heavy)


Edited by pondmonkey - 25 Oct 12 at 9:19am
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getafix View Drop Down
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Posts: 2143 		Post Options Post Options   Quote getafix Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Oct 12 at 9:42am
Originally posted by Roger

Originally posted by getafix

 
 
.....I think you'll find there's many around here who won't agree with you.
 
Maybe on this forum..... which of course represents a very tiny percentage of dinghy sailors in the UK.
 
But facts would "suggest" you are wrong Wink, and that a large number of people want close class racing and a well supported and extensive open meeting schedule. To a certain extend the boat is irrelevant, although slower boats provide closer racing, it's all about being faster round the course than the next man/woman in whatever weapon you have chosen.
 
Sure when you turn up there will be a small number in with a shout of overall honours, but even for those at the front of the Solo fleet then a bad day means there will always be the next guy down the fleet to challenge you, and for those who don't normally challenge at the front there is always the day when everything falls into place and you get to beat the hot shots.
 
In short always somebody to compete against, always somewhere to go and sail in a class open, and as said earlier very low depreciation compared with many classes..... you can't beat them so join them.
 
 
 
Ah Roger, I think you might find I'm more informed than you give me credit for, you see, and I whisper this in some circles, I am a former Solo owner and open meeting sailor in said craft.  I sold my nice, low maintenance Solo for what it cost me, so I have no axe to grind against the class per se, I think they deliver what they promise and perhaps more for some.
 
My only point is that at the end of the day, it didn't put a grin on my mug each time I went sailing, or even 1-in-2, and that's what did it for me at the end of the day, that and the fact that you just don't have the boatspeed to get away from some of the more 'average' sailors within your club fleet on a Sunday, who are sailing faster boats (Lasers, Laser 2000, RS200) but not very well..... all over your lanes!
 
So yes, I do think that there are a large number of dinghy sailors who choose the path less-well-trodden (Laser, Solo, Topper, Optimist) and opt for something else.

Winning isn't everything... with limited time to enjoy sailing, having a good time and enjoying your sailing is more important for me.  For some, the 'kick' of the racing will do that exclusively, for me, I get as much as a 'kick' out of a good blast as I do from the racing nowadays, particularly as the majority of my sailing is club racing (time/family/money), not open circuit anymore.
 
If I could travel to opens 1-2 times a month like I used to in Lasers I'd probably go back to those, the racing was/is fantastic and not as predictable as many on here seem to think.  Laser start lines with 30+ boats are awesome, don't believe anyone who tells you any different.  Solo sailors who do travel at my club tell me that opens are also great for them, maybe the more comfortable Solo would appeal if I could afford the travel budget and had the time.
 
For now, I'm enjoying sailing two-up, there's some good banter and the opportunity to stash a flask for the inter-race gaps in the winter in those handy bag things that apparently also get used for spinnakers that fly from poles attached to the mast (v old fashioned I know).
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pondmonkey View Drop Down
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Posts: 2202 		Post Options Post Options   Quote pondmonkey Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Oct 12 at 10:08am
Sounds like you were racing a Solo in a club handicap fleet Getafix?  Not sure it would be my first choice for that either, given very similar reasons to what you cite.  Clean air is just too important.  

Anyway, I think Chris and my 'love in' for the Solo can be tempered somewhat by a couple of other choices we're making- he's hanging on to that MPS (if I had one I would too) and I'll be continuing with the windsurfing, probably more at the coast next year (inland's just not great) and definitely with a good dose of wind snobbery that won't see me bogging around without enough breeze to get planing.   Light winds, inland, it's dinghy sailing (well racing, as there's no 'blasting' on offer) and the Solo is the only fleet option I have to do it in.
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Roger View Drop Down
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Posts: 524 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Roger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Oct 12 at 11:02am
getafix - I wasn't suggesting you were poorly informed, most of us here have experience of multiple classes, both in ownership and in having sailed them. Last count I had owned 11 different classes and probably sailed in more than double that over the years, and I bet thats no more than average at best.
 
I entirely take your point about handicap racing, its always a frustration in the slower classes with much faster boats on paper not getting away and making clear air virtually impossible, however there is often a satisfaction in beating them round the course, and I tend to try and treat it as good practice for boat positioning and tactics which will benefit when I come across stiffer competition at opens.
We all have different motives for going sailing, and I make no secret of the fact mine is competition, I don't get the buzz from just blasting around, guess I've been there and done that and it didn't work for me, I need competition to get me motivated, but I clearly understand others have different priorities and long may they do so.
 
Anyway back to Solo specific matters, and it looks like 5364 for pondmonkey will be the 78th new Solo this year to be registered, not bad in the current climate. 1 wood boat, three with wooden decks on FRP hulls and the rest FRP from Boon and Winder (Mk1 and Mk2), yes its a clear indication of why the Solo has seen such a revival over recent years, the FRP boats are less expensive than wooden boats, there is a choice, and the construction means 12 months a year sailing with little maintenance required.
 
 
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pondmonkey View Drop Down
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Posts: 2202 		Post Options Post Options   Quote pondmonkey Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Oct 12 at 11:35am
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