WHAT IS THE FASTEST DINGHY? - The Best High Performance Dinghies for Club Sailors 

Even in 1959, when I first sailed in one, they were considered to be dead slow. But they were a one-design class that was well supported.

Exactly, even a rocket from the 70s is a much faster and prettier boat than a GP14. I have 1593 which is from 1963, obviously not competitive with the modern boats but still fast in the right conditions. But hard to sail. That's not a criticism of the GP14 but you don't sail one for the ultimate speed thrill!

Thanks for watching - stay tuned for more!

I've been dinking around the columbia river gorge in a supersnark. 8kts feels like 30

I hope those memories have left you with an eternal smile! I'm tempted by a lateish middleage move from Laser to Moth. I think there's a psychological shift needed.

@@Tomm9y my best days of life. We never got hurt. One time when we broke a mast. I little harbor 60 ft tow us back in to Newport. We where giving dinner and cocktails. 😃👍

It's a crazy expensive boat to make relevant tho. It's a development class so you can buy close to the front of fleet. They are a amazing boats but they don't even have a set hull???? If you want a crazy fast boat for sweetie money look at an old Laser 4000. It's an absolute bargain if you just want to go fast in a sailboat and you're not to fussed about class racing. It's quite hard to beat upwind because there's a lot of power and it's not very well balanced on the wind. Stay off a little bit and plane upwind. Off the wind it comes alive and a three sail reach in an L4K is something to remember forever. It's quite a heavy boat but off the wind it sheds it's weight and becomes a perfectly balanced surfboard that you surf the gusts up and down with absolute confidence. I have never experienced anything like it. Crazy forces in complete balance. Ecstasy. Luv and Peace. As an aside if you buy one the advice is to shave the daggerboard but our experience in not shaving it was it made this unholy harmonic series as we got faster and we found that really exhilarating to hit the third or fourth tone according to how fast we were going. If you're racing I guess cut it because there's wasted energy there. A cut daggerboard is more Fluro dynamic so you'll go stlighty faster but if you're just out to have a fun sail it adds a lot to the experience. The science is the daggerboard isn't sharp enough out the factory to cut through the water at high speeds so it oscillates and makes a noise which as it oscillates more moves through the harmonic series and resonates through the boat. This is wasted energy and you could go faster if it was wedgier and just parted the water better. The class association has acknowledged that and allows trimming of the foil by a set amount. Personally I'd miss the howl of the daggerboard as we accelerate the boat. It adds a ton of drama to an already crazy three sail reach. Luv and Peace.

Some of the RS designs are very flared and tippy, and in my short experience a divil to right. Foiling needs more support!

Someone lent me their Contender for an afternoon years ago, I absolutely loved it. If I ever get another boat it will be a Contender or an RS600.

@@lukedaniel7669 Lucky you.

@Serene Scenes In the mid to late 1980s there was a race on Sydney Harbour between one of the top 18 footers and a C-Class catamaran. The C-Class was hardly a modern catamaran, apart from the wing rig. The hull design was very close to the original Quest C-Class designed by Charlie Cunningham around 1960. The C-Class finished in 60% of the time the 18 took.

@Serene Scenes My version of "it's all relative" is "it all depends" 😄 I seem to remember that the 18 vs C-Class race was sailed in a light to moderate breeze, which suited the C-Class. There was no chance for the 18 to display its blistering downwind planing speed. In general, cats don't plane. It's only when foils came on the scene that cats could get up and fly similar to planing. When I saw 18s sailing on TV, my reaction was "That looks like fun. I wonder if I can rig one so that I can sail it single handed on the trapeze from the outrigger". I took my A-Class for a sail on Sydney Harbour, just to see what it's like and to sail under the Harbour Bridge, in 1982 or 1983. On the way back to Clontarf, where I launched, I encountered a couple of 60 ft or so ocean racers out of the Cruising Yacht Club. It was a few days before Christmas, so I assumed that they were Sydney to Hobart boats doing a bit of tuning. They were working quite hard with crew members on the windward rail. Probably 10 to 12 kts of wind. I was able to point higher and overtake them, even coming from their wind shadow. However, outside the heads? No way 😀 The nacra was, I think, the best of the factory built, fibreglass boats of he time. Some of them were absolute shockers. I'm thinking of the Sol Cat. It looked OK, but it weighed heaps and the bow liked to dive down and cartwheel. The Hobie 18 was so heavy that it needed six guys to lift it onto a trailer. The same size A-Class could be lifted by a husband in wife couple. The nacra of the day had very nice bows - vertical stem and lots of waterline buoyancy. I'm rambling.

@@roadie3124 I've sailed single man cats and a Dart 18 a few times. My experience with them has always been that they are fast right up until the point that they're upside down. There is a maximum speed they can go because eventually the bow digs in and they pitchpole no matter how far back you trapeze of hike. They don't plane so eventually the drag of the one displacement hull catches up with them. Skiffs on the other hand just seem to keep going faster. They also feel faster in my opinion. Cats are great fun but Skiffs are crazy good fun.

My dad had GP14 #25, “Kestrel” which he paid £25 for, second hand, in 1951. I was seven and used to crew for him in light conditions. A couple of years later, my brother and I became proud owners of Cadet #806, “Tilikum” which cost £5 but needed quite a bit of fixing up after going on some rocks. Later spent a number of years racing Merlin Rockets.

Hi Jay, the GP14 might not be the fastest dinghy, but it is a very affordable way to get into Dinghy Racing and they have a very competitive racing fleet. So it's a good way to go quite fast for not a lot of money! Thanks for watching 😊

Haha they got to GP14 and I was like what is going on here 😂

My 1965 GP14 with wooden spars and cotton sails is still the fastest dinghy in the world. I know this to be true because I think it is.

@@ushoys Oooh.. Are you one of the PM's Advisors? Sounds like you're qualified...

Great job!! I was sailing an RS feva and got to 14 knots of speed. We should race

does the Skeeta take a lot of physical strength to sail? Like can a 70 year old handle one very easily or does it pretty much take a power body to handle?

Great idea - we will see what we can do!

I gave up dinghy racing about 4 years ago. Bored witless of being beaten by the same old faces. For the £25K (who has that to lash out....) more fun can be had with a 6.5m RIB and a 200hp. I can cruise to the pub at the max speed of these dinghies.... and if you look closely all the dinghy sailors have fallen out of the same mould - it’s very very noticeable.

Harbor 20, it’s what old people, like me, sail, and race.

Think we need a part 2!!

Cherubs are amazing, I sailed one in the mid to late 90’s and we were clocked at 25knts!

@@DinghyRacingChannel nah, I just think one of those boats needs to be swapped out 😂

No way same

Club sailors

it adjusts the trim of the (rear?) foil, keeping the boat pitch level.

@@a8a999 Did you really ask a question and then contradict the given answer? The "hanging piece" is called the "Ride Height Adjustor" (or 'wand') and it's connected via linkage to adjust the angle of the trailing edge of the front foil (on the WASZP). But... if you want to continue to believe its just "a reference for the sailor", then be my guest. It's not, though.

Wondering the same thing

Lol. Top speed 3.7?

40 knots no problem

@@chadmansit8530 what

Foiling Opti that's the ticket

@@dinzeinxsuateach9880 a moth can’t go 40 knots