beginners needing advice

Just a question to throw in, are you sailing inland or on the sea?

I have sailed all three of the options you list. All the boats are plastic fantastic by which they are all maintenance free and fairly robust.

The Laser Bahia is the newest of the three. Its a great boat but the main doesn't set very well and has rather a lot of ropes all around the mast to make it confusing.

The Xenon is a racey boat with a racing circuit. It is the most powerful of the three and it is a great boat to sail but may be a little to much to handle for a new sailor.

The RS Vision is a good alrounder in my opinion. It is wasy to rig and sail. It can be handles well and isn't as powerful as the Xenon but enough to learn on.

I know the Bahia and Vision can be reefed, unsure on the Xenon, so it is possible to still go out in stronger winds but be able to handle the boat. Instead of the Xenon, you may want to consider the Omega.

Personally I would go for the Vision. Why, they hold their value and can be sold on very easily. I would look at trying one out on the water first, depending on where you live, there are various RS achedemies around the UK that I believe you can try boats.

Another option is to join the local club and then get a sail in a mambers boat. If you mention where abouts you are, then I am sure someone here can assist. Oce you have found the boat you want, then Y+Y, Boatsandoutboards.co,uk and apolloduck.co.uk all have dinghies for sale advertised.

Everyone always gets this the wrong way round. Don't buy a boat first.
Find a local sailing club that meets the needs of your family. Then ask
several members about what sort of boat will suit the club, its always best
if there are several active boats of a similar type, as you will get tips and
friendly advice, rather than what numpty bought one of those!
You will probably find the club will have several boats that they will
lend/hire to new members to get their sailing experience up, then borrow
from/ crew for club members to see what you and the kids like.
Then contact the class association of the type of boat you have settled on
to find an up to date boat list, and get a second hand one, much cheaper,
and you will do damage as you learn, so a shiny new one can wait a year
or so.
Sailing clubs up and down the country are littered with nearly new boats
that were bought too soon and never see the water.

Hope this helps

AndyMck

Its so easy to put kids off.   What do they want to do? Go play singlehanded in their own boat? Race two handed in ditto? Both race with Dad? and so on.

Will they worry if they bash Dad's new boat?   In which case secondhand and battered will do for a while until they are used to sailing.

Thank you all for the great advice.

Our local club will be South Cerney in Gloucestershire. I think they have lasers for members to hire.We had already checked it out, but had thought it would be better if we had our own boat. So thank you for putting us straight on that one!.

I think it would be really easy for us to get caught up in the excitment of buying our first boat and get it completly wrong.

Thanks again

Lisa

 

Take a look at a 2nd hand Laser 2000 (IF there are some already at South Cerney).