a 29er for dads?

Originally posted by Dougal Originally posted by Medway Maniac Menorca, by the looks of it.   But those racks are further in than some twin-wire 800 set-ups use - you'd need a fair bit of lard on the wire to hold that up.   Definitely Minorca Sailing.

Has the sailing school aluminium mast too.

I like trick of the light version, but sadly no, it had an ali mast as it was spec'd for sailing schools. We did have a twin wire version a few years later also on an ali mast!

The single string 800 setup also utilised the weight equalisation system I believe. The Sunsail boats had the wings pretty much in the most inboard configuration. For those who raced with the single string setup back in 99 & 2000 most were way further out. The tramps had a big foam wedge in the middle to assist getting out on the wire. From memory there were about 4 or 5 single string boats competing in the 2000 Nationals in Phwellhi, but by 2001 all the boats were being raced as twin stringers. Many of the early boats upto 830 were sold with the single string kit so perhaps some still have it available.

Originally posted by Medway Maniac Agreed, the self-tacker could usefully go (saving a bundle on the track and car) - crews usually complain that they don't have enough to do on asymmetrics (which is why they tend to buy Fireballs for rent-a-helms).  Switching the jib on gybes is another opportunity to make themselves count. You don't have to go for a large 505 jib, but something just a tad closer to an overlap (jib leach on the mast in profile view) would make the jib easier to set perfectly and likely improve the boat's tractability. You could also ditch the battens and fit a furler. I hate high double floors such as on the Iso/Buzz, but a low one à la L2k is unobjectionable.  I doubt that raising the boom 5 inches would have much impact on performance - the jib should effectively 'earth' the rig to the deck for aspect ratio purposes (cut-outs in the trailing edges of wings have relatively little effect).  You could then do away with the side tanks and have a boat which floats agreeably low when capsized (which it currently doesn't according to my observation - lower than a 505, maybe, but that's not saying much). 505 aside, I'd guess the Alto is about the fastest thing you'd want at L&L.  The former 3k class sec sails at L&L, and I seem to recall him saying you wouldn't want an assy much faster than a 3k there.  The Alto's swinging pole might just let it fit in.

Tony, you make many interesting points here. I guess you have sailed an AltO, and I know you sail with them at Wilsonian SC.
1 You refer to a longer hoist. Do you mean to achieve a larger kite?
2 Do away with self tacKing jib. One of the design parameters was to minimise capsizability.
3 Leaving the jib jammed on a tack is not the best way to make a crew count!
4 Is an overlapping jib more efficient? The AltO does go up wind rather fast compared with comparable boats as you know from your club racing.
5 The prototype did have a non-battened jib with furler which I liked, but this had to go in favour of  esthetics.
6 This is the big one, double floor!  Self draining is ideal, but you refer to having double floor and doing away with side tanks. IMHO not so simple as that. Apart from  the problem of requiring  a much higher gunwale on a boat with a decent rocker as compared with a skiff type design, and thus more windage, no side tanks would make it far less comfortable when tacking in a hull which is of maximum practical width, and, who enjoys sitting on a narrow gunwale for long?
Of course like all dinghies, it will now and again turn turtle, but not very often. Not self draining is an incentive not to capsize and if you do when racing, IMO, you should pay the penalty of losing say 10% of the fleet.  Interestingly in the Olympics, the Finns and 470's avoid capsizing  in strong winds and waves. I wonder why?