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del.icio.usI have sailed a lot of different types of dinghies over the years. Some I have enjoyed, while others left something to be desired. On this page, I will review some of the boats I've sailed.
Sailing dinghies are very sensitive to the weight of the crew, and how many crew are on board. I myself am 6' 2" (188cm) tall, and have weighed anywhere from 140 to 180lb during my sailing "career".
In general, I prefer doublehanded boats. They are often much faster and having two people makes docking and beaching maneuvers much easier. The teamwork involved is also a big part of why I'm into sailing to begin with.
Laser
The laser is by far the most popular sailing dinghy in the world. In this case, the popularity is deserved. The laser is inexpensive to run because of its simple rig and ease of transport. It's light enough to be lifted on top of a car by two people of modest strength.
The sail area is a bit large, which explains why there have been other rigs made for the boat, such as the Laser Radial. Even a tall, heavy person would have a hard time sailing upwind on a brisk day with the standard rig. If the Laser had just a few more square feet of sail, it would need a trapeze. Luckily, hiking is very comfortable, if a bit wet from the shallow design of the hull.
The Laser planes readily on reaches. It also stays on a plane easily, pretty much no matter what the skipper is up to. When sailing on a run, the boat becomes very unstable and can roll from side to side. It is actually more stable when sailing by the lee, which is a bad idea on most other boats. In very heavy winds, the unstayed mast bends forward when heading downwind, which can cause strong lee helm.
The hull has a few weak spots. If the mast is dropped into the hole in the deck, it is possible for it to go right through. The mast itself can also break in high winds, because of the high loads from having no stays.
Laser II
I first sailed a Laser II in Kingston, ON when I was getting my Bronze V sailing certificate. I also raced Laser IIs competitively the following summer, so I have a fair amount of experience with the boat.
In general, the Laser II is a good boat to sail. The sail area is well suited to the beam of the boat, and the single trapeze setup. The rigging is simple enough to keep costs down, but advanced enough to be tuneable. The cockpit is very small, but with one crew member on trap, it isn't an issue that comes up often. The short daggerboard trunk also gives the crew a reasonable amount of space when dealing with the spinnaker. The boom is a bit low.
The Laser II does have some weak points in its design. The short daggerboard trunk, while good for space, is not very good for strength. It doesn't take long for cracks to begin to form, and repairing the trunk is not easy, because the shape must match that of the daggerboard. Also, I was skippering a boat when the mast broke and dropped my crew into the water. Broken masts are not rare on Laser IIs.
Other than that, the Laser II was a good boat to build racing skills on, and the starting lines always had a lot of boats. The newer models probably last a bit longer in the weak spots than the older ones. I would recommend a Laser II to someone of average or small size who wants to get into racing at a low cost.
Albacore
I will admit right away that I have a biased view toward the Albacore. The first dinghy I ever sailed was an Albacore, and besides a brief period where I sailed CL14s, I did almost all of my basic sail training in an Albacore.
The Albacore has no trapeze or spinnaker, making it suitable for teaching beginners. The boat is also very unforgiving, which forces skillbuilding. Keeping the hull flat is very difficult; the boat seems to want to roll about 5 degrees from vertical before it settles down.
The sail area of the Albacore is way too large for a crew of two with no trapeze. Even a crew of three can have a hard time controlling the rig, especially upwind. Most trapeze boats will leave an Albacore far behind when heading upwind because of this. Gybing in high winds can also be very interesting. Attempting to gybe an Albacore with the centreboard down will almost definitely turn it over in a most spectacular way.
One look at an Albacore is all that is needed to see that it is a very old design. The boat has seat tanks separate from the gunwales, which is a design that has been mostly forgotten on newer boats. The tanks are too small for the volume of the hull, so the cockpit fills up with hundreds of litres of water during a capsize. The large volume of water actually helps with righting the boat, and makes it easier to climb back in, but bailing it out is a chore. On some hulls, such as those made by Ontario Yachts, the centreboard trunk allows water to come back in while it is being bailed. The water in the boat makes the auto bailers useless, because the boat cannot build up enough speed for them to work.
The Albacore is not a good boat, by any measure. It is fast, in fact, it is rated as faster than a Laser, but keeping the big rig and unstable hull under control is difficult. It steps up onto a plane easily, and can get going so fast that the rudder becomes very sensitive to even the slightest input. High winds make an already fussy boat very deadly. The fear while sailing it is what makes it so exciting. I would probably not recommend an Albacore to someone, but I would recommend taking one out on a very windy day to have the unique Albacore experience.
420
The International 420 is not the best boat I have ever sailed. It was clearly designed for small children or women. The sail area is very small, which means the trapeze is only useable on the windiest days. I once took a friend out on a very windy day and as soon as he hooked up and went out on trap, the boat dunked him into the water. The sails are simply too small for tall or heavy people to make use of. Hiking on a 420 is not particularly comfortable either, especially if the hiking straps have been deleted in favour of the trapeze.
The low bow, which is a design feature that was clearly taken from the International 505, allows a great deal of water to splash in when underway, especially sailing down the back of a wave on a broad reach or a run.
I would describe an International 420 as an International 505 for small people. It has a rig complete with trapeze, spinnaker, and so on, which makes it very technical, but the boat is just too small for big people.
29er
I first sailed a 29er back in 1999, when the boat would have been a very new class. The sail number was only three digits, and it was actually being used as a demo boat, which I think is how I managed to get a ride on it.
All of the sail controls are where they should be, and nothing gets tangled. It's almost too perfect. The asymmetric spinnaker is as simple to use as a second large jib, and makes years of practising fast pole launches and spinnaker hoists seem like a waste. The open cockpit design makes hiking comfortable, and getting out on trapeze is very easy. Tacking and gybing is also much easier, thanks to the reasonably high boom and absence of a large centreboard trunk.
The 29er is a fast boat. With no real effort, the boat will plane on just about any point of sail, even in relatively low winds. Much unlike many older dinghy designs, it steps onto a plane gradually instead of feeling like an on/off switch.
The only real fault that I could find with the 29er is the difficulty of launching it from shore. The large sail area makes it a bit of a handful while pulling it on a dolly, or while trying to board it on the water. I think that is a small issue to deal with for a boat that is otherwise pretty much perfect.
