Buying a sailing Dinghy
Discussion
The best way to get involved with dinghy sailing IMHO is to join in with the racing.
You will learn quicker and there is some direction to it, and people to learn from.
Choice of dinghy, it depends on who sails what at your club.
Because really, it's all about the people.
Ideally you want some people to race against who are comparable weight to you and a suitable skill level. It's great to learn from people better than you, but if they are olympic standard and over the horizon, you won't learn so much as from a few medium/good club racers.
Ideally it's nice to race against people you like and enjoy socialising with afterwards.
The L2000 is not IMHO a great boat, but at my mate's club there are a good little group of them having great racing.
It's pretty beginner friendly though and at least it has a decent spinnaker to make it interesting in lighter winds.
Racing against the same model of boat is more fun than arguing about handicaps and stuff.
The alternative would be to each buy a Laser 1 then at least you could race each other.
With well-used dinghies, you can often buy and sell without losing much so it's OK to try a class and move on. The thing which gets expensive is wanting new sails, Or collecting too many boats.
I don't know much about learning to sail from scratch, because most people I know who sail learned to sail from their parents before they were 10.
I know a few people who've done a two-day introduction then bought a boat and just got on with it.
You will learn quicker and there is some direction to it, and people to learn from.
Choice of dinghy, it depends on who sails what at your club.
Because really, it's all about the people.
Ideally you want some people to race against who are comparable weight to you and a suitable skill level. It's great to learn from people better than you, but if they are olympic standard and over the horizon, you won't learn so much as from a few medium/good club racers.
Ideally it's nice to race against people you like and enjoy socialising with afterwards.
The L2000 is not IMHO a great boat, but at my mate's club there are a good little group of them having great racing.
It's pretty beginner friendly though and at least it has a decent spinnaker to make it interesting in lighter winds.
Racing against the same model of boat is more fun than arguing about handicaps and stuff.
The alternative would be to each buy a Laser 1 then at least you could race each other.
With well-used dinghies, you can often buy and sell without losing much so it's OK to try a class and move on. The thing which gets expensive is wanting new sails, Or collecting too many boats.
I don't know much about learning to sail from scratch, because most people I know who sail learned to sail from their parents before they were 10.
I know a few people who've done a two-day introduction then bought a boat and just got on with it.
Mave said:
paintman said:
Join the club.
Learn to sail on the club boats.
Pick the brains of other club members.
Buy a boat.
Agreed Learn to sail on the club boats.
Pick the brains of other club members.
Buy a boat.
(also, try to get crewing with other club members!)
A few I know are really only providing training to juniors.
My club provides training to juniors, but numbers are limited and the course is spread over a few months of Sunday mornings and runs once a year.
It might be best to research the learning/training/boat use opportunities before spending a lot of money to join a club.
If you want to get up and running fairly quickly, it might be worth looking around to do a course over a few weekends or a week.
I'm sure some people are entirely self-taught, there are plenty of books etc, but a few hours on the water with someone who can teach would probably be good.
Crewing for other club members is a lot easier once you've got a basic level of competence.
Even at a fairly basic level, the crew is quite important in keeping the boat right side up and often plays a role in judging avoiding other boats etc.
The more technical dinghies need a good crew to do well, I've owned a few which I definitely wouldn't take beginners out on. It's easier if you're small and light, then you can be in demand in light winds, as the helm will do most of the balancing.
I assume it is in fact racing you want to do OP, going by the fact you've gone straight to thinking about a Laser which is not much use for anything else? The other popular thing to do with dinghies is chuck a tent onboard, a change of clothes and sleeping bag in a drybag, plenty food and drink and go off looking for secluded places other people and deeper draught yachts can't get near.
A few images posted by members of the Dinghy Cruising Association for illustration:
Dinghies are a fairly cheap way to explore by water as well as to see who can make one go fastest
A few images posted by members of the Dinghy Cruising Association for illustration:
Dinghies are a fairly cheap way to explore by water as well as to see who can make one go fastest
If the dinghy cruising thing becomes an interest I can recommend a book by Roger Barnes. He’s a fantastic sailor and a bit of a guru on all things dinghy cruising, regularly giving talks around the country.
His you tube channel
https://youtube.com/@RogerRoving
His book
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dinghy-Cruising-Companion...
Sorry if it’s racing that interests you it’s never been my thing and others are far better qualified to advise you.
His you tube channel
https://youtube.com/@RogerRoving
His book
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dinghy-Cruising-Companion...
Sorry if it’s racing that interests you it’s never been my thing and others are far better qualified to advise you.
jamieduff1981 said:
I assume it is in fact racing you want to do OP, going by the fact you've gone straight to thinking about a Laser which is not much use for anything else? The other popular thing to do with dinghies is chuck a tent onboard, a change of clothes and sleeping bag in a drybag, plenty food and drink and go off looking for secluded places other people and deeper draught yachts can't get near......
I've done dinghy cruising in boats sportier than the Laser 2000.Proper foreign travel to the Isle of Wight included.
But yes, racing is what it's about for me, it means I get out regularly. Some of the best sailing is in the winter, especially inland.
The 2000 is a pretty sensible boat, good for two adults, bit heavy, but the asy kite makes it interesting and gives reasonable performance.
A fairly deep hull you sit in not on.
The Laser 4000 was/is a more high performance option, the 5000 more extreme.
The 3000 was based on the Laser 2 hull shape, not exactly a bad boat of its time, but IMHO small for two adults.
I do some cruising in small yachts these days.
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