Hi Mazzas,

In my opinion, at the moment I would not advise you to buy any boat until you know what you really want to do.  I do not know anything about dinghy sailing in the USA, but I would suggest that you get around your dinghy racing clubs first and see what is going on and what boats are regularly raced there.  Visit several clubs, on race days, more than once and see what is going on.  Talk to the sailors. Unless it is suitable, don't just join the first club that you visit or the nearest one to your home just for convenience, look for one that has good racing, good fleets, good organisation, training,a good social scene and members who you like and can easily get along with.  If you sail at a club, on the sea or inland, there is usually adequate support cover on hand to assist you if you get into difficulty.

My other bit of advice, for what it's worth, would be to buy a boat that suits your needs - if you are going to sail single handed then look at buying a single hander, if you are going to sail with a regular, keen and reliable crew then look at buying a double handed boat.  It is possible to sail any boat, single handed, in light conditions but with many double handed boats you will struggle in a breeze and particularly if you capsize. At you height, weight and experience you will struggle in a Laser (full rig) in a blow. I, personally, would not recommend that you get a 29'er to sail single handed.

If you really get into the sport of dinghy sailing and you do join a club, you will no doubt, eventually, want to start racing which adds to the joy of sailing and quickly enhances all of your sailing skills, besides sailing with like minded folks. If you do get into racing then, in my opinion, it is best to get a boat that is raced at that club and has a good sized fleet.  If you do this, you will always have someone to race against as the competitors in club fleets, in my experience, have all levels of skills and there will be others who are in a similar position to yourself.

Just one final thought, if there are no decent single handed dinghy fleets near to where you live, you could consider a single handed catamaran which, generally, go faster than most dinghies and are more stable for single handed sailing (you said that you wanted to sail a fast boat).  However, at your size and skill level I would not recommend that you get a 'high performance' cat as, again, you will struggle in a blow and particularly if you capsize.

I hope that this helps.

Ian  (Yorkshire Dales S.C.)

With the possible exception of the RS200 none of the boats you mention is suitable for sailing single handed, and the 200's performance is far from blistering (single handing a 29er can be done, but its not that great, the hull is just too twitchy with the weight of a second body removed).  For out and out speed the B14 and Vector are the ones to go for, I'm a B14 man myself and I can say that the boat is VERY fast in a straight line (and being a hiking boat its great exercise and very rewarding to sail). 

The main thing you need to decide is are you going to sail a one or two man boat.  Single handed, the best option for speed is the musto skiff.  However if you are already comitted to getting the 29er, maybe stick with it and get the X rig when that becomes available. 

I'm a bit biased but I genuinely believe that the B14 is the best boat of the lot, having said that you will have to import one as i dont thin there have ever been any in the US, and to that end going for the Vector may well be a better idea as you will be able to race against other boats if you want (unless you can covince lots of people to get B14s, which would be cool)  the optimum weight for a B14 is about 22 to 25 1/2 stone all up, so provided you get someone at least as big as you to sail with, you'll be fine. 

the final option, is get a second hand 49er, bit expensive to run, but is undeniably quick, and there will definately be people to race against. 

good luck with your decision, let us know how you get on

I would say go for the 29er - it was very entertaining single handed.  What you will need to do to make life simpler is to get a cleat platform attached to the boom so you can cleat the main.  If you look at http://www.single-handedskiffs.com - www.single-handedskiffs.com you can find a neat design for one of these...(That site has some good advice for boat handling etc.)

Also need to fit twin tiller extensions to helm from the wire.

Not quite clear if you will be mainly sailing solo or with a crew?

Nice one...I'm sure you won't regret it.

Give Ron a call;

http://www.mustoskiff.com/dealer-details/usa-and-canada.htm - http://www.mustoskiff.com/dealer-details/usa-and-canada.htm

He has used boats as well as new.

Let us all know how you get on with that 29er - especially single handed.

Here in the UK the 29er is the youth development skiff - training teenagers up to cope with the much faster and more difficult (and more exciting, I guess) 49er.  You don't find many adults sailing them and if you're over 21 there's not many people to race against.  But for blasting fun, they're a scream.  Very wobbly at sub-planing speeds and extremely wobbly down wind without the kite up - but once you get past the kite and planing barrier it should get better.  Old style dingies just disappear behind you.

Still less than sure I could single hand one though.  Still on the (slower, duller) Laser 3k and Buzz track.

Single handing a B14 ??? did someone really suggest that?  Lovely boat though (if you're not a trapeze buff) and cheap 2nd hand too.

Good luck & hope the water's warm in the mid west !!!!!!! 

 I sail a 29er singlehanded, which can be very exciting at the best of times. I weigh 11 stone (70KG) and apart from tearing my hands to pieces trying to control kite and main simultaneously it is fabulous fun. Though I'm not always competitive in the local club racing-- who cares when you can have that much fun!-- I can sail it reasonbaly up to the borderline of about force 4 but beyond that you just have to spend too much time luffing the main to get anywhere. I've only sailed it on lakes so far where the wind is particularly gusty and I reckon in more stable winds I could sail up to a higher wind strength.

What I will say, you'll have a fabulous time provided you can move around a boat quickly  and it never stops me from grinning, and if you want to get seriously competitve, get a crew!

PS get double tiller extensions fitted (1.7m long) when single handing it otherwise you can't reach the tiller from the wire!)

PS

Forgot to add, I'm thiry five  so the twenty niner is not just for the Youth market

Looknig forward to seeing the 29erX in action though.

Encouraging news there - especially as 2nd hand 29ers cost less than laser's new Vago and look so much more cool.

Single handing a Laser 3k, I've found the main doesn't do much with the kite powered up, so can pretty much be cleated around a close reach position and forgot about.  Oops, no cleat on a 29er - but someone was suggesting a boom mounted cleat?  Goer or not?

Also, how do you tack / gybe with a double extension?  Drop it, run, hope and pick up again? Or what? I'm used to taking mine with me.

Presumably the 29erX won't be single handable!!!! Unless you're Mr J Bethwaite that is.

i dont think a cleat on the boom would work on a 29er! 

yer the 29er x definatly wouldnt be a single hander unless u were quite big and are very good at multi tasking!!  lol

Why not?  All you need to do is make a small bracket to fit the cleats to...

Alternatively you have to get very good at tying a quick slip knot in the mainsheet to stop it going out too far once you have hoisted the kite.

It is also class legal to put a standard ratchet block & swivel with a cleat on the floor of the boat (attached to the central grab rail) if you prefer sheeting from the floor rather than direct from the boom.

I've tried to think of different ways to cleat the main, and the only one I can come up with is a free rotating ratchet block with an adjustable angled cleat plate on it. The trouble is that when you cleat it off it would probably tie itself into aknot on the boom as the block is not fixed down. there's no other way that I can think of as you need the block on the boom to be flexible in order to get the correct purchase angles.

With regards to twin tillers, they are essential and yes you do momentarily let go of the tiller through the tack or jibe- but only for an instant. The other advantage is that when setting the kite, provided that the hull is flat on the water, you can let go of the tillers as there is enough resistance between the two of them across the stern that they hold the ruder straight whilst you hoist the kite- gets a bit iffier as the wind increases as it is really important to keep the hull flat on the water.

Mazza - as you said that you would be - "Mostly (exclusively, initially) sailing with crew"  I think you've probably made a good choice although I think you should probably have had  a look at your local clubs to see what they sail. blasting around alone is good fun  but it wears off. Sailing in a close race within a fleet can give just as good a buzz - albeit different. RE Blasting - Just a thought - Is yours a a windy location? Or is the mean wind speed below Force 2?

Reason I ask is that 29ers (and most skiffs except49er) don't really come into there own until a F3. They're ok but you'll find 'conventional' dinghies that are much more rewarding to sail in sub planing breezes.

As far as sailing single handed goes - get a singlehander. They are designed for it, go better in a wider range of winds are easier onshore and you can race competitively.

I can't understand  why so many on this forum seem to want to recommend doublehanded handed boats for singlehanded sailing. I'd say that in every case there is a better singlehander available. Can anyone look at the list below and tell me what doublehander is better for sailing singlehanded than something of the list?  (I know the list is incomplete so please don't berate me if your fave isn't there).

Optimist - Topper - Europe - Laser (various) - Phantom - Blaze - Int Moth - Contender - Vortex - Dart 15 - Shadow - RS700 - Musto Skiff - Int Canoe

Listening to your 'wants' and assuming you have decent breezes, from the list above, I'd go for a Musto Skiff as the best fit singlehander.

EDIT:- should have said I'm not familiar with the (presumably American) 'Vector' so that could be another good choice for singlehander -  but how would I know

Cleating - make up a platform on the boom and attach two cleats to it - one each side of the boom.  It is impossible to do it with a single swivel cleat.

Tillers - it is also a good idea to tie some shockcord to the tiller and the two grab rails either side of the boat.  This really helps stabilise the tiller and helps minimise steering wobbles when you move in and out of boat onto the wire.

In a breeze you can tuck the tiller extension behind you knee and steer by leaning from side to side.

I do agree with you to a certain extent- why buy a double hander when you want to single hand? I bought my 29er initially because I thought it would be a boat that I could sail single handed and then as my girlfriend got up to speed she could then join in ! Unfortunately she went and bought herself a europe instead! Also another reason for my choice of boat was cost, I would love to have a musto skiff but my 29er cost about £2,500 and you'd barely get the sails of a skiff for that!

what it has allowed me to do is get crew at my local club for serious racing whilst still allow me to push my own boundaries as a single handed sailor. I reckon that having spent a year on my 9er it will be quite a simple transfer to a musto skiff or RS700 in the future. In fact I was hoping to go and test sail a musto in the next month or so, but I don't think they are that suitable for the lake I mostly sail on.

on cloud 9er

You have a perfectly reasonable set of reasons to (occasionally) sail your 29er singlehanded.

But if you couldn't get a crew whenever you want to 'sail seriously' you'd still learn more in a proper singlehander. For your budget you could get an RS600 - and that would certainly teach you a thing or two and make any transition into MPS / RS700 very easy.

I'm not trying to persuade you to do this, just making the point that there's probably always a better singlehanded option available.

The 600 is truly a fantastic boat and definately more practical for inland/round the cans racing than the MPS or 700 as you don't have the kite to play around with. Also with round the cans sailing you very rarely have a decent leg where you can really get the kite and boat sorted and up to max speeds.

I must say that I never thought that I would find a boat that I liked more than the 600 but the 700 has surpassed my expectations.

My advice would be to try as many boats as you can before you buy.