Hi, I used to do a lot of dinghy sailing, eg 3-4 days a week in Laser 2000's, 3000's, dart 16's and fireballs, but due to university commitments I have lost touch with the sailing world.
Can anyone recommend a dinghy that is good for single handed sailing, easy for me to get back in to but fast, trapeze it much prefered as I used to do all my helming from the wire on darts and 3000's.
I also used to do a lot with assymetrics on the above, would prefer one of these for when I get the hang of it. Any ideas?

I like the look of the Vortex now they have a kite kit, are they any good?
Also looking at the RS600 and 700.
Will be using it mainly for a blast about and club racing. Am 5'10" and 12st.

New RS100?

I think the Vortex likes to do cart wheels.

The 700 and Musto Skiff spring to mind but if you want to simplyfy things then the 600 and Contender are a good bet.

For club racing I would go for the 600 because of no kite so it makes going roud the cans easy (er).

There are lots of single handed cats out there too if you have the need for speed.

JD,
Mat the Crew has a point! I was PRO for the Shadow Nationals last year and have to say how impressed I was with the way the boat sailed. All of the boats mentioned so far are good but which is the best? In the end, it will depend somewhat on where you are - is this open sea or inland sailing. The 600 has always been under rated and is probably a better boat than it's bigger brother!
The MPS is another boat that has quality stamped all through it - a great boat if you want to do international competition later. The Contender, despite being 40 years old, is as fresh and exciting a sail 'On it's day' as anything'.
Strange that no one mentioned the Canoe either!!!

In the end though - it will also depend on what you want to do.... have you any of these boats racing already where you sail?

David

he did ask for the trapeze boats.

If you want to look at the hikeing alternatives then the IC as above or the Blaze or RS300 or maybe the RS100 or D'one.

It will be mainly inland sailing at Grafham Water hopefully, as it is close by.

In that case id say a hiker.
Inland waters are usually shifty but not been to gragham.
Big place I hear?

If its big enough its probably stedy enough for a trapeze boat.

Grafham is good, 1600acres I think, wind is steady enough for a trapeze boat (used to helm the 3000's on the wire OK). Would much prefer a trapeze boat as I really don't get on with hikers.

RS300!!! The way to go, fast, lively and will only fine tune your skills. The perfect inland hiker.. Fun in waves too..

I was in exactly the same situation 2 years ago and in the end choose the RS700. I've not looked back and can't get enough of blasting around Queen Mary (its doesn't take long to get to the other side) or joining the regular skiff sailors for a race.
It was close, but my reasons for buying it instead of an MPS were price (entry level boats are 50% less), more stable, semi battened main (more manageable in high winds) and the equalisation system.

Go on.... get one! Just remember it's a real challenge to master so don't expect to be any good at it for a while.

I sail a Vortex with assymetric at Grafham and love it. Bought it 8 months ago.

I used it to get back into sailing after a 15 year lay off.

I race it on Wednesday nights and have come to appreciate the stability it offers compared to something like an RS600/700 when learing to keep a trapezing, kiting dinghy the right way up when you are really rusty and slow. It is the slowest boat in the fast handicap fleet without kite and still among the slowest with the kite although it is a much more exciting ride with the kite pulling hard in a blow.

Sailing the boat is still a big challenge particularly tacking in a blow but then there is no learning curve if you can just get in and sail.

The cartwheeling isn't that bad and can be controlled, it would seem, by making sure you make good use of the Gnav and keep your weight back when bearing off. A mistake I have made and had some spectacular crashes with.

I looked at Blaze / RS600 /RS700 but decided on buying a boat that I could use to better effect sooner, particularly the RSx00, seem to require a lot of upfront skills that I just wouldn't have had.

PS. you are welcome to come down and have a look round if you want. email is simon *underscore* raglione *at* hotmail *dot* com

Worth bearing in mind that grafham has a really active Sprint 15 fleet and quite a few RS600