Ramona said..

r13 said..
Yes sailed a few times on a 505 with mates - sublime 1954 original design with 2001 larger kite rule coming in. For sure the classic 2 handed single trapeze dinghy probably won't be surpassed...........the hull weight should be a lot lighter..................the J24 was a marketing success not a design success...........the Farr727 (original design 1972) was a far better design.

Never sailed a 505 but always wanted to. I had an old Flying Dutchman. They were probably the ultimate 2 handed sailing dinghy. It was like sailing a trailer sailer about, very stable and you could walk on the fore deck. Took up a lot of room in the yard though.

Yes the FD also designed in the early 50s. The boat for the big boys.....James Cook probably the best Aust fwd hand in the class for a long time and a big lad...........see good fb page here including the superb US aerial photo a bit down from the top of the page showing perfectly matching leech trim on the main and genoa............

www.facebook.com/Flying-Downunder-178274932242140/

Ramona said..

DrogueOne said..

Ramona said..

DrogueOne said..
Contender for me!
Learnt more about sailing in a couple of seasons than the preceding 10 years. Nothing beats single handed sailing from the wire.

Contender sailors need to be strong swimmers. I built and sailed a Farr 3.7 for one season only. Got tired of all the swimming!

Ha ha, yes! Spent a lot of time tea bagging. It's quite disconcerting when the boat sails away from you and you try get back. The natural instinct is to pull on the tiller and sheet to "get back" but that makes the boat turn away from you and speed up. Had to learn to shoot both hands forward when your feet came off the deck to bring the boat back to you. Not to mention the frequent visits to the forestay. Good times!
Never seen a 3.7 in the flesh, always liked the look of them, another great Kiwi boat.

The Farr 3.7 was an excellent boat but should have been 2 feet longer with the same rig.

Totally agree needs 14ft. After he agreed to my approach I designed the hull of this

www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/kurnell/sail-boats/carbon-fibre-single-handed-skiff/1260018730

for Jim Buckland in his quest to get a single handed main and asymm kite boat onto the world stage to combat RS and various others, and he built it superbly in carbon and put his novel rig on it.............it went like fertiliser off a shovel............but the big end of town RS and Italian yards marketing won out again...............on this count Julian Bethwaite has to be lauded for his achievements with the 49er and 29er.............of course well tutored by Frank................

JPK 1030 would be a nice more modern boat with similar parameters to my current boat. Otherwise a new generation Classe 40?