RS Neo
Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: Dinghy classes
Forum Name: Dinghy development
Forum Discription: The latest moves in the dinghy market
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13983
Printed Date: 26 Jun 25 at 3:25pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: RS Neo
Posted By: Riv
Subject: RS Neo
Date Posted: 11 Oct 22 at 6:10pm
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Club Lasers are dying now and need replacement for next year, so RS has lent us their Neo Demo boat for three weeks.
I've just put it all together and seems ok. Anyone have any experience of them they'd share. If they are liked by club members we'd be buying three. ------------- Mistral Div II prototype board, Original Windsurfer, Hornet built'74. |
Replies:
Posted By: tink
Date Posted: 11 Oct 22 at 7:09pm
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I’d be going for a Fusion. Neo has carbon spars which doesn’t sound robust enough for club use. But it all depends on who is going to be using them. ------------- Tink https://tinkboats.com http://proasail.blogspot.com |
Posted By: Dakota
Date Posted: 11 Oct 22 at 10:30pm
| We probably need to know what these club boats are going to be used for before we can give advice . Are they going to be used mostly for training or are they going to be used for your members to hire and race ? |
Posted By: Gordon 1430
Date Posted: 12 Oct 22 at 8:28am
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We have had Neo's for at least one season and I havnt seen any problems or been made aware of any issues. I was on the sailing committee although not on the training side but would expect to pick up any negative feedback (like the general view on the Quest as a back breaker) ------------- Gordon Phantom 1430 |
Posted By: Peter Barton
Date Posted: 12 Oct 22 at 11:40am
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The RS Neo rig is near identical to the the RS Aero 6 so with a modern performance rig the RS Neo benefits in being a good progressive trainer. That rig paired with the roto-moulded RS Neo hull makes the RS Neo a robust and relatively stable option for beginners. These carbon spars are very robust, just like the RS Aero's are. I suggest more robust than metal overall and much more user friendly. The feather-weight carbon mast is a joy when lifting into the hull to rig or when righting after a capsize. |
Posted By: Riv
Date Posted: 12 Oct 22 at 12:38pm
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Boats will be used by anyone as general club use, went out this morning in light winds and it feels rather like a Pico. Heavy though. Over the week end there will be more people taking it out. We don't hire boats, members pay a £40/year boat use fee and then access is via booking on the club website. They can be used anytime, members are responsible for their own safety. ------------- Mistral Div II prototype board, Original Windsurfer, Hornet built'74. |
Posted By: Old bloke
Date Posted: 12 Oct 22 at 8:12pm
| One good thing about the Aero mast (on the Aero anyway) is that the sealed topmost and external halyard means it is reluctant to turn turtle when capsized. Assuming that the Neo is the same, that would be very useful at a relatively shallow venue. At the Dittisham Regatta , just across the river, I noticed that their D Zeros all had masthead wallybags |
Posted By: Paramedic
Date Posted: 12 Oct 22 at 8:22pm
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Posted By: Noah
Date Posted: 12 Oct 22 at 9:02pm
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I’ve had the misfortune (or ineptitude) to capsize my D-Zero several times in my short ownership and it has yet to even try to turtle. It, like the Aero, has an external halyard and I assume the mast is effectively sealed (even though there is a join). ------------- Nick D-Zero 316 |
Posted By: Dakota
Date Posted: 12 Oct 22 at 10:27pm
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I’ve seen loads of D-zeros racing, never seen any ever use a mast float. As it’s also has a carbon mast with a sealed top section and a exterior halyard , I cannot think it would be anymore likely to turtle than a Aero .
Anyone on here sailed both and can give us a comparison?
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Posted By: DeeJ
Date Posted: 12 Oct 22 at 11:15pm
| I had a quick look at Dittisham sc fb page . Couldn’t find any pics of D-zeros with ‘ Wallybags . There were plenty of Solos with them though. |
Posted By: Old bloke
Date Posted: 13 Oct 22 at 8:31am
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If you couldn't find them it's probably because they were upside down and not visible.
I have not seen a D Zero capsize and have no knowledge of any tendancy to invert, but D Zeros there were and they all sported wallybags. I believe the "wally" is as much to do with the similarity to the fish and chip wally as the presumed competence of the sailor |
Posted By: DeeJ
Date Posted: 13 Oct 22 at 9:02am
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I understand the term ‘ wallybag’ ( even though it can be thought a touch offensive to beginners to our sport ) , that’s why I was surprised so many Solos had them at the Dittisham regatta . As normally solo sailors are generally among the most experienced amongst us.
Looks a lovely place to sail
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Posted By: Riv
Date Posted: 13 Oct 22 at 1:19pm
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It would be a big plus not to need the masthead floats nobody likes them and they need buying and maintaining.
However the Dart mud is sticky and we've had to go out and unstick boats before. ------------- Mistral Div II prototype board, Original Windsurfer, Hornet built'74. |
Posted By: Old bloke
Date Posted: 13 Oct 22 at 3:45pm
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Apologies for hijacking the Neo thread
I am not a member of Dittisham but they seem to be really thriving and growing their numbers. The Solo fleet is strong and very diverse in its skill levels with a lot of "Dittisham Belles"and ex Salcombe"ladies that launch" also a number of ex Salcombe Solos looking for something less intense. So, plenty of potential capsizes who don't want to bend their masts. |
Posted By: Woodman
Date Posted: 13 Oct 22 at 3:45pm
| I've sailed and owned both and never seen any d-zero with a masthead float. The Aero is more on its toes so great fun but needs agility and the D-zero more stable so doesn't capsize so regularly. Both great boats. |
Posted By: RS400atC
Date Posted: 13 Oct 22 at 7:32pm
People who've sailed in shallow water with current will understand why masthead floats might be desirable. More so where there are lots of yacht moorings for your rig to tangle with underwater.
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Posted By: Dakota
Date Posted: 14 Oct 22 at 7:41am
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I know of one club that made mast head floats compulsory during covid and have continued with this rule. It wouldn’t do for me, but their members seem happy with it
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Posted By: Do Different
Date Posted: 14 Oct 22 at 10:26am
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It really should be uppermost in a dinghy designers mind that their boats resist the tendency for inversion. It is a considerable safety factor and also means the boat can be up and racing again. Sealed carbon masts help a lot and rather than ungainly mast head floats I am surprised that more hasn't been made of thin (say 20 - 30mm) flexible foam in the top half metre of sails. The Hadron goes a long way towards this and it is hardly rocket science to work out, pretty much O level physics. |
Posted By: Riv
Date Posted: 14 Oct 22 at 12:39pm
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I expect that we will fit some sort of mast head flotation, all the other Dinghies we have use it.(with the exception of the yawl and lugger).
As these will be new boats I'll get our village sailmaker to put on sewn flotation to the top of the sails. The Wanderer class had a meet at our club last weekend and several had them ------------- Mistral Div II prototype board, Original Windsurfer, Hornet built'74. |
Posted By: Spindizzy
Date Posted: 14 Oct 22 at 12:47pm
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Trouble with sew in masthead buoyancy is you cant wrap the sail well around the mast on typical training boats that are usually stored assembled and wrapped. A clip on masthead float is probably still the best option for sailors that would benefit or feel more confident. Also in regions where there is strong current and wind a non turtled boat can drift away faster then you can swim to it. Seen several rescues where you pick the person up first as the boats already left the area by itself. Floats are great, just not in all scenarios. |
Posted By: Dakota
Date Posted: 14 Oct 22 at 12:59pm
Mast head floats are often a good idea for club boats. I take it your club members boats don’t have to have them ?
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Posted By: Do Different
Date Posted: 14 Oct 22 at 1:11pm
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I don't know if the volume is mandated by some marine safety code but to my mind many dinghies have buoyancy reserves either in the wrong place or simply too much volume. Putting volume down the side is the easy option but as shown by the Hadron there are better alternatives, all it took was logical thought. |
Posted By: Sam.Spoons
Date Posted: 14 Oct 22 at 2:48pm
Current can't cause a boat to drift away from a sailor in the water but wind certainly can. ------------- Spice 346 "Flat Broke" Blaze 671 "supersonic soap dish" |
Posted By: Riv
Date Posted: 14 Oct 22 at 7:05pm
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Fortunately the river Dart at Stoke Gabriel where we sail is relatively narrow and boats don't go far. We've had more trouble with masts in the mud and all the trouble and damage from that. ------------- Mistral Div II prototype board, Original Windsurfer, Hornet built'74. |
Posted By: Riv
Date Posted: 15 Oct 22 at 7:15pm
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Club members went out in 15-20mph this morning and here is a brief report from one of our organisers:
We had 5 manage to use the Neo today. We swapped around from Laser to Neo to compare on different tacks. It’s a great boat for large juniors or small adults. I pushed it pretty hard and found it was nose diving at speed. Up wind 8/10 Down wind 6/10 Reaching 10/10 Ease of righting 10/10 Adjustments 10/10 Need to have setup ‘bang on’ or performance lacks. Turtles quite easily but quick to right again. Very sensitive helm. Dagger “hums “ at speed. Not nice !!! Toe straps need shock cord (as we discussed). Overall - Will not replace Laser Will not replace Pico or Topper unless smaller rig available. Will be excellent in lighter winds for juniors and great for SMALL adults in a blow. ------------- Mistral Div II prototype board, Original Windsurfer, Hornet built'74. |
Posted By: Dakota
Date Posted: 15 Oct 22 at 9:53pm
| I always like it when my daggerboard on my D-zero hums . It means I am going really fast. 😀😀 |
Posted By: RS400atC
Date Posted: 16 Oct 22 at 9:35am
The alternative view is that an inverted boat won't drift away from the sailor in strong winds. I don't have a strong allegiance to either side. If you sail anywhere with actual waves, I think virtually all boats will invert unless you have a lot of masthead buoyancy. Or a ballast keel.
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Posted By: Do Different
Date Posted: 16 Oct 22 at 10:15am
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I don't disagree, RS. Having sailed the N. Sea off East Anglia, in actual waves a tendency for rapid inversion is slightly worrying if not too far out, masts don't do well supporting a boat as a wave passes. My point is some boats float so high on big side tanks that they are dying to invert. And then if some of the modern crop of light high floaters have a mast head buoyancy then they drift away. I believe some Phantoms have flooding partial side tanks. Yes of course boats need to float but only just enough.
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Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 16 Oct 22 at 2:03pm
Of course, the smaller rig version was the Q'ba. I know you can't put a Neo rig in a Q'ba hull, but does it work the other way round? ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |