Dinghies among yachts

We take a look at some of the dinghies in display at the London Boat Show

The annual London Boat Show can be a tough place to visit for the typical dinghy sailor. With a good proportion of space given over to the big powerboat stands and much of the rest given over to yachts, the dinghy-relevant stands are mostly squeezed together in one section of the North Hall.

Of course part of the reason the dinghy classes are buried away is due to the Dinghy Sailing Show in March which attracts many more small boat sailors. Interestingly, though, this year for the first time there is some dinghy focus on the final weekend of the show with some racing taking place in the large dock directly outside the show and a number of class associations being invited for the weekend. The timing of this does seem odd with the Bloody Mary, the event that traditionally coincides with the boat show having taken place last Saturday - a week before this. With close to 500 dinghy sailors in London last weekend it seems unlikely they will be all coming back this weekend simply to attend the show.

While the dinghy footprint at the show may be small, a trawl around this area on Friday uncovered the following:



RS Q’Ba:

Always top of the list at the Boat Show are what are generally considered to be the big three, Topper, RS and Laser. The first stand we came across was that of LDC, home of the RS range. The RS team have a new boat out in the form of the more-than-a-little-oddly-named Q’Ba (top). It only really needs one to glance at the Q’Ba to see exactly the field the boat is heading for: the inexperienced two handed beach boat market. This being the case we can already see a major problem for the boat and that comes in the form of the Laser Pico, which has had this market sewn up for some time. However, given the RS building pedigree, particularly in the UK, and the size of the market we still suspect this boat will be popular.

It is, perhaps, rather easy to look at the Q’Ba as a dumbed down version of the very successful RS Feva, which has been taken up by junior sailors throughout the UK in significant numbers. RS, though, view the Q’Ba less as a dumbed down Feva and more as a grown up RS Tera. The Tera, it was explained to us, was built so that kids could have a robust and fun boat that is easy to sail, however, it is too small for some parents to sail with their children which is where the Q’Ba comes in.

The boat has a range of rig options and comes equipped with a very quick to use rigging system that we like the look of. For the most part we can see the Q’Ba going to sailing schools as a two man trainer but with the more advanced rig (above) it could also be suitable for racing.

Laser Bug:

On its own little section of the Laser stand resides the Bug (below), which Laser are presenting at the Boat Show with much fanfare. Clearly a lot of effort is going into pushing this boat to the crowds. Unfortunately, it is fair to say – as much as one can without sailing a boat – we are not all that keen on it.

Clearly this is a boat that has been designed as a trainer for very young, Optimist-sized, children. Our main issue with the boat is the inclusion of a wheel moulded into the bow and two handles that extend out of the back of the boat to pull it up the slipway -wheelbarrow style. While we are all for convenience and are happy to be proven wrong, but this wheel system feels like something of a gimmick. We suspect the boat will be highly unstable as it is pulled up the ramp and it presumably comes with the additional disadvantage of teaching children to hold a boat by its stern, not to mention the possibility of their being hit on the head by a boom.

Aside from the wheel we were not all that taken with the styling, but then the Optimist is not the prettiest of boats either. Perhaps the young children it is aimed at will appreciate its aesthetic charms, it is hard to tell.

One thing that is for sure is this is a cheap boat to buy the kids and to some extent that ensures a good deal of success. The boat is £1450 ready to sail including VAT, an extremely attractive price; though this goes up if the sport option is purchased.



Topper:

Topper Sailboats have a new addition to their stand in the form of the Topper Topaz 14 catamaran. The boat, as is the norm these days, has a number of different iterations, but we were most taken by the singlehanded spinnaker option called the 14 Xtreme.

The boat is similar to the bigger Topaz 16 catamaran, launched last year, but has a slightly more extreme design with finer bows and significantly less rocker. It is fairly clear this is a boat designed as much for the racing market as it is for anything else.

What is most attractive about this boat is its price. At £4,690, it comes in at just £200 more than the cost of a Laser with the G-XD pack. We think in terms of simple sailing it represents much more fun and considerable bang for your buck.

Perhaps more interesting than the Topaz 14, however, is a boat that is not on the Topper stand and is, in fact, not yet in production. While chatting to Rob White at the show he revealed to us that with the Tornado apparently out of the Games for 2012, he, along with long time designing partner Yves Loday, will be producing a new F18 class with a prototype boat hitting the water in spring. Watch this space.

Hartley Laminates:

Last year Hartley Laminates launched their Daemon Cherub design at the Dinghy Sailing Show, so as soon as we saw their stand at the Boat Show this year we wandered over to find out what was going on with the boat. Unfortunately we quickly noticed a distinct lack of Cherubs on display and when we inquired were told that production had been stepped down due to a women’s high performance two person dinghy not being selected for the Olympics.

This is too bad as we liked the boat and always thought the plan was to continue building them irrespective of the ISAF vote. Perhaps the market is simply not there at this time.

Aside from the Cherub some fun can be had on the Hartley Laminates stand wandering around and looking at the changes they have made to a wide variety of classes, such as the Wayfarer and Wanderer.



Marlow Ropes:

One of the biggest draws in the dinghy section was the International Foiling Moth (below) on the Marlow Ropes stand, a cunning ruse to get passers by to look at their ropes. In fact Marlow does have a lot of new gear on display.

Primarily they were showing off their new ropes for dinghies including one with a completely water resistant jacket (above). What makes these ropes particularly special is that although they have a high strength core and a jacket they are still totally waterproof, saving valuable weight in your boat, whilst maintaining the strength needed for sheets, etc. The new rope is available in 6mm, 7mm, 8mm and 9mm.

Also on the cards, though not at the show, is a new rope system specifically designed for rigging. Essentially this will go up against the increasingly popular PBO rigging. The rigging rope will have a very open pitch allowing the fibres to be as close to 0 degrees as possible, where they are at their strongest. While the rigging is not likely to be lighter than PBO, it does have one distinct advantage in that it is able be cut to length by anyone, while PBO rigging must be manufactured to a specific length. While special terminals are required for PBO, the Marlow offering can simply be spliced back on itself easily due to the loose weave. This means Marlow will be able to sell a reel to a boat builder who can then make shrouds and forestays for all sorts of different classes.