Rise Of The Ok etc

In terms of people's ability hiring a club vago (we have three) we ask them to have around L3 or stage 4 to show their proficiency. Were they thinking of buying a boat I prefer to encourage them to find something that is sailed at the club already, since that will provide a knowledge bank to help them improve (assuming they are a novice) plus give them something on the water for them to gauge themselves against.

We do have one of the top vago helms here, but he only races it at bigger waters for opens, prefering his 300 for our shifty pit.

The up and coming fleet at Hunts is the Solo, because most people enjoy like for like racing - makes most sense doesn't it?

In the handicap fleet, which is the biggest, and of which I am Captain (because no one else will do it) the one assy that was racing has gone elsewhere for bigger water and better courses, and the others are mostly in twos and threes of the same class, eg two or three phantoms, two or three supernovas.  Most of these enjoy either racing against each other or racing to improve their usual position.

I am more likely to advise someone against buying something unsuitable for their size/weight/our water than I am to dissuade them from buying a py dog.  Anyway, most experienced racers would know what they were looking for - like you do - and most py 'dogs' are such because of either the water or the ability of the sailor.

Helmsmanship is hard to quantify.  I can sail my d one and my contender reasonably well, but they would be py disasters at Hunts.  If someone wanted just to have fun, yes buy one, but if they are only interested in results, go and sail somewhere else or buy a d zero.

Thanks Nessa- makes sense, and of course the mini-fleet within a handicap race is a crucial component of successful handicap racing.  That's why at my old club there really is only one sensible choice for the handicap fleet - an RS300.  

It used to be the laser was the go-to boat for the single handers, we even had three as club boats.  But I think now people are fed up of its vices and are instead turning to the supernova - three or four out over the summer - the solo - enjoying good fleet status - plus there are still a few phantoms hanging on, though they recently chose to give up fleet status.  There will soon be two d zeroes out racing, and I wouldnt be surprised to see that rise.  Watching them race at Grafham on sunday, whilst doing safety duty, it was clear there was a good mix of sizes, ability and gender.  The boat has simplicity on its side and I think that could pay dividends.

What's really sad is the complete demise of the double hander.  There are a few fireballs about, but my view is that the pit is too small, there is sometimes a pretty successful Merlin.  The Enterprise is likely to lose fleet status because of poor tunrout.  The lake cries out for boats like the Scorpion, but there are none. Very few people tried out the icon while it was here, the X0 based herewill soon be more easily available for trial, I wonder if more will try that, it is ideal for our venue.


Edited by winging it - 08 Oct 14 at 6:09pm

Totally agree, it's a great training boat, but I wouldn't want to race one.  They have a great social scene though, I think that's why they do the travelling.