While I’m waiting for more comments to the last posting (about pre-teens’ boating books), I’d like to present for your new comments the ways that New Zealand kids have become such proficient sailboat racers.
I have a personal bias against the Optimist class, although it’s clearly a winner for mass-market beginning sailors and racers. To me, she’s not a great boat. They do have a remarkably strong organization, though (HERE). And I admire their marketing and organizational skills. And there is no doubt that she is universally accepted as the ideal pre-teeen training boat. Notwithstanding all of that, she sails like a dog. Both of our pram-bowed Nutshells outsail the Opti any day of the week, even dragging a piece of 4×8′ marine plywood behind…
Common sentiment seems to be that we can’t have pointy-bow skiffs in less than.. 11 or so feet. I’m not sure whence this edict emanates, but it makes little sense to me. Of course, bluff-bowed dinghies/prams are easier (and thus cheaper) to build, and they have greater load-carrying capacity, and possibly (not guaranteed) greater stability. But have you looked lately at the cost of an off-the-floor, competitive Opti? If you want to win, it’ll be a minimum of more than US$5,000, just for the boat, foils, and sail. That’s insane. Bring amateur-built boats back. Build your own boat. Make her competitive, and win if you want. (If a kid builds a boat with his/her dad/uncle/mother/aunt/grandparent/neighbor/youth organization/yacht club, he/she will be a boater forever. Isn’t that what we all strive for?)
There are allowances for kids and families to build Optis in wood, but they’re tough. Old friend Dr. Joe Cater is doing precisely that with his Annapolis Family BoatBuilding event. I think we begat Family BoatBuilding with Joe Youcha of Alexandria Seaport Foundation in about 1998. We had three families building Optis in wood that year, and one — Teddy Hale — went on to place in the Nationals in the next few years in his wooden Opti. So… It can be done.
Starling
But I digress…
So, let’s think of a sailing ladder for kids. Let’s bring them up that ladder. It doesn’t matter if it’s sail or power or row/oar/paddle. My starting point for this argument is a safe and great sailboat that a kid can build with her/his parents or some other group, and can use and/or race (if they want). And we can discuss power and row/paddle/oar in a future posting.
We (in the US) have had a proud and historic dinghy heritage, as do many other nations. But I fear that’s in jeopardy. So let’s, instead, look at the proud sailing nation of New Zealand, which consistently has the greatest sailboat racers in the world.
P Class
All three designs I’m going to mention are still active today, and still being amateur-built (although there are some non-wood production builders getting involved. Which is fine. I prefer the do-it-yourselfness.) Each of the following classes are for solo sailors.
Begin with the P Class. This boat was designed in 1923 by Harry Highet. LOA 6′6″; 45 sq ft of sail area.
And then grow in to the Starling as your intermediate dinghy. Designed in 1969 by Des Townson. LOA 8′8′; 55 sq ft of sail area.
Starling2
And then to the Zephyr. She was also designed by Des Townson (in 1956). LOA is 11′0″; 80 sq ft of sail.
Zephyr
Aren’t these much better alternatives to the Opti/420 succession?
I’d love to hear what you have to say. I think we have a great opportunity here. I’m not saying we have to adopt the Kiwi model, but surely we can learn from them.
How about you Kiwi sailors — Please chime in with your impressions of these great boats. (I sailed a Starling once when I was on holiday in NZ, and loved it.)
Note on Comments — We’ve begun to be hit by spammers here, so now we have to approve your comments before they’re posted. We will try to approve them quickly. I apologize for that inconvenience.
Thanks to all who read and comment, Carl
