r/dinghysailing

Looking to buy a dinghy to build skills and eventually buy a large cruiser one day.
The used dinghy options in my area are: Sunfish, Laser, 470, Thistle, Oday day sailer, Lido 14
There are a few others as well but I’ll stop there.
I’m thinking the Laser and Sunfish are too simple for skill building without foresails.
Thistle looks like the best deal but it’s not the most comfortable boat.
What do you guys think?

Hello! Bought an old Optimist from a now-gone sailing school and am having problems with the mast. Mast sits on a metal collar inside the bow. When I sail in anything but the absolute lightest winds, the mast lifts right off the collar and is then swinging freely, with only the hole acting as a fulcrum. The base of it swings so freely within the bow that it repeatedly loosens/knocks the metal collar free (otherwise screwed in). There are no stays, which I am reading is normal/regulation for an Optimist. What am I missing here? I saw a neighbor's near-identical boat with 3 stays, and they have no such problems.

I'm volunteering with a club to increase their youth engagmenet. The club is cheap, less than $500/year, and youth classes are very affordable (and free if you say that you can't pay). I also happen to be a market/demographics consultant, so my career is all around helping companies understand who their customers are, where they live/work/play, and what customers expect from their products. I want to leverage that thinking to get more people here out on the water, and beyond the "I grew up sailing and I want to get back into it and get my kids sailing" crowd.

Just starting out, I had some theories about why our youth engagmenet hasn't been stronger.

1. cost: this turns out not to be a factor. You don't have to be a club member to join, and you can do an entire 3-month session for $85 (roughly the same cost as eating at a Tex-Mex restaurant for 2, with 2 margaritas). As mentioned, it's free for those who can't pay. As the scholarship request rate is less than 1%, this hasn't been a barrier to entry. Even $500 to join later on is dirt cheap when you compare it to the popular sports around here (roughly 15 country clubs with initiations starting at $50K up to $325K, all with multi-year waiting lists, or $85 plus $15 for green fees/bucket of balls at most of the public courses). Even running will get you to $500 by your 3rd pair of shoes, and a full frisbee golf setup is $250. So again, it's not a cost thing. It isn't like the people who join a $200K initiation and $1,200/month are joining our sailing club, even though they are 3 miles apart.
2. convenience: this might be more of a factor, but their is no more of a time commitment than most any other after-school activity, whether it is band or sports. Plus, sailing is 1-2X a week, vs. many sports which have 4-6 practices/week and plenty of weekend travel. So if people were to say "convenience" and then I find out they are on a regional baseball team or watch TV/play video games for 5 hours/day, what they are really saying is "I'd rather not prioritize my time with sailing".

That being said, I think there is something to this when it comes to low income kids that may have parents (or single parent) working at odd hours and no transport. It was no big deal for people like me, who had a mom for a teacher, as her day at school ends at 4:15 and she can grade papers on the docks. So that may be something to look into.

3. sense of camraderie. Now we are onto something. Most of the people we get here in the youth program come with friends. Rarely to people just "stumble in" looking for something to do. It happens, but usually that's a case of a parent who sailed, just like it's often that kids in junior summer golf camps have parents that are golfers. So growing the sailing community at schools, and getting kids interested so that they bring their friends out, is a potential way to grow.

4. introduction to the sport: sailing isn't a sport that you accidentally fall into. If you didn't grow up around sailing, it can feel as foreign as piloting a plane. I often mention to people that I sail and they step back and say "you SAIL?" Where did you learn that? But when I talk to people from the upper Midwest, a very high % (comparitavely) grew up sailing or know how to sail. Same with people in parts of the NE and mid-Atlantic. It's a normal thing elsewhere, so why can't it be here?

If you're new to the sport, it can feel very intimidating, in the same way that tracking a car or joining a race-pace group bicycle ride can. Riding a bike solo at 18mph is one thing; jumping into a peloton where suddenly you're doing 24mph and a crash could send you and others to the hospital, are 6" from another wheel, and expected to pull through and move seamlessly, is very intimidating. Randos just don't show up without being introduced and shown the ropes.

I think somehow, getting over that intimidation hurdle is key, and that can start at a young age. A boat is like a car with no brakes. But you can see just how well small kids sail once they become comfortable with the gear, the technique, as we have the brainpower to adapt very quickly.

I'd also like to be able to work with boys and girls clubs and whatnot to get more low-income kids out here. Sailing, like rowing, comes across as a "rich kids" sport, even though it's not. My grandfather and his buddies founded their yacht club during the Great Depression and built all of the fleet boats in his basement on his woodworking equipment, with wood salvaged from the lumber yard scrap pile. That's also how they built the docks. Anyone can sail, and anyone can have a boat. I think to do that, we need to work to get people here, get them interested, make sure it's viewed as a fun thing to do, rather than just assuming they'll want to sail because they can for no charge.

Anyways, I'd love your thoughts on what has/hasn't worked for you or any other ideas. (and sorry for the weird spacing: Reddit formatted everything automatically)

I think the amount of work that goes into it is a large deterrent for most. Could another be the skills involved? Most people could learn to sail over the course of a day, but is that another thing keeping people off of sailboats? I’m sure most people just want to drop a boat in and drive off, but if the goal is to be out on the water then what difference does it make? Maybe we’re a strange lot. I think the cost of keeping and sailing a cruising dinghy is much less than any motorboat, and sailboats can be bought for just a couple hundred dollars that are adequate to get a person out on the water. Maybe I’ve answered my own question, but I’m curious what others think.

Hello all, i have taken a few sailing courses at my local bay and have rented their Hobie Getaway a couple of times so pretty new to sailing in general. Well over the weekend, winds were about 10 knots, but for some reason I was having a heck of a time tacking left (port tack?) Last time I went out i didn’t have this problem. It “felt” like there was a stronger current this time. But basically all my starboard tacks were easy. But i would go to make a port tack on a close haul, would fall off a bit to get speed and steer the tiller, i’d let the jib backfill and it would start turning to port and then kind of stop and then then start turning back starboard. Feeling like the current was pushing the front of the boat to the right. Any ideas what could it be? Thanks

Anyone have a place to buy reasonably priced sails for a 470? I’m seeing $1400 new for main at North Sails. Anywhere cheaper? Google isn’t being super helpful.
What is a reasonable price for Main and Jib on 470?

I am trailering a Vanguard 15 4 hrs north tomorrow and am strapping the mast to the roof racks on my SUV. I’ve never done this sort of trip before. Would anyone with experience recommend stripping the mast of its hardware, or is tying all components (stays, halyards) to the base more advisable? Thanks in advance.

Hey all, debating acquiring a sailboat and wanted some outside opinions. Use case would be casual daysailing with 2-4 adults and launching from a beach. We’re also looking for something with a spinnaker.

With these considerations we’re debating the omega and toura and wanted to see experiences and concerns anyone has. We’re leaning towards the omega but heard some things about stability and durability (mast filling with water when flipping and hull cracking near stress points). Also if there’s any alternatives out there we haven’t considered yet, (we’ve looked at wayfarers and the rs venture but want something below 400 pounds).

A problem for us is that we’re based on the US Gulf coast and the used market for what we’re looking for is pretty light. The sailing clubs near us use Melges 15s, but with 4 adults we’d be overloading that on crew weight.

For some extra info, we used to own a Laser Bahia but upgraded to a hunter 22. While the Hunter has been a great boat, we want something smaller thats easier to step the mast and launch. A hurricane took the pier we used to tie the hunter to, and stepping that mast every time we want to sail has been less than pleasurable. Our town lets golf-carts on the beach so something we could tow to the beach and launch by hand is what we’re looking for. There are a couple catamarans here that also launch from the beach but we’re monohull elitists who live for the heel.

Not sure what kit to get. Recently been dinghy sailing. A friend and I bought an old, needing some love, Mirror and have restored her.

Was sailing in early July for a few days and even a warm day, I found with spray I could be getting cold. I think this was largely due to getting a bit wetter than ideal during launch and the shorts I was wearing apparently having some kind of stay wet technology.

I don’t want to do a full drysuit, I feel that would just have me melt.

What I’ve been thinking of getting are the Musto 1mm wetsuit pants. Obviously wetsuits don’t keep you dry but use a layer of water to insulate. Would these be suitable? I don’t intend to be diving in and out of the water of course. Will only be sailing on lakes but would like to able to use it in not warm weather too. Would these only be suitable for summer months? Is there a good drysuit trouser out there? Don’t seem to able to find any.

Thanks folks, all my sailing experience is offshore so I’m used to a few layers, salopettes and a jacket.

Does anyone have any experience with these? Are they class-legal? I am looking at one and the sail has the vanguard logo and not the typical Opti logo. This would be for a kid to learn on and hopefully compete in some smaller races.