Returning to Sailing

Burga Galti

Hey,

I did a bit of sailing with a local club in Scotland when I was younger. Now I'm in Dublin and looking to pick up the pastime again. Does anyone know of a good club where I can hire a small dinghy to brush up on my technique?

Burga

JamesM

Burga Galti wrote:

Hey,

I did a bit of sailing with a local club in Scotland when I was younger. Now I'm in Dublin and looking to pick up the pastime again. Does anyone know of a good club where I can hire a small dinghy to brush up on my technique?

Burga

Most Clubs won't have boats for hire. Try the irish Sailing Assoc. www.sailing.ie and do a weekend course with a school in the Dublin area.
Jim.

Pigeon Reaper

http://www.sailingindublin.ie/

Try giving this club a shout.

SectionF

Irish National Sailing School, though not as big as it sounds, might suit.
Seem to remember they had a brochure that mentioned boat hire.

Ahoy

You could try Swords Sailing and Boating club:

www.swordssailing.com

They run a sailing course in April - May for about 200 euro. But included in this price is your club membership for the year.
They do have a club boat, a 420 I think.
But you could also crew on a 2 man for someone who already has a boat.

The dinghys sailed there lasers, GP14, Rs400.
They also have the largest fleet of Hurricane 5.9s in Europe.
The Hurricane 5.9 is a very fast catamaran. It is a twin trapeze boat, many of which are being upgraded to the Hurricane SX - which adds a 21 square metre asymetric spinnaker! for extra excitement.

JamesM

Ahoy wrote:

You could try Swords Sailing and Boating club:

www.swordssailing.com

They run a sailing course in April - May for about 200 euro. But included in this price is your club membership for the year.
They do have a club boat, a 420 I think.
But you could also crew on a 2 man for someone who already has a boat.

The dinghys sailed there lasers, GP14, Rs400.
They also have the largest fleet of Hurricane 5.9s in Europe.
The Hurricane 5.9 is a very fast catamaran. It is a twin trapeze boat, many of which are being upgraded to the Hurricane SX - which adds a 21 square metre asymetric spinnaker! for extra excitement.

Is this Hurricane a good catamaran to start on ?

Ahoy

Hi James,

It depends.
The boat has a similar racing handicap to a formula 18 catamaran

Starting as a crew:
Even in two sail mode, there is still quiet a bit to learn. However as a crew with an experienced helm you should catch on.
The boat is fast, so if you are a nervous type and cannot over come it, then maybe not a good choice. However if you crew first, you will find this out fairy quickly before much money has been spent.
If the SX kit - spinnaker - is added, then the boat is very fast downwind. But again if you have an experienced helm, you should be fine.

Starting as a helm:
Definitely start with 2 sails not 3 (spinnaker). Although the boat is powerful, if you pick the conditions you go out in, you should be fine. In this mode you have much to learn. Tacking and gibing is different from a mono hull. Trapezing while helming is another skill to develop.
But you can build up your experience of different conditions.
A big plus with this boat is that it has much buoyancy up front so it has a tendency not to pitch pole as much as other cats. So called starter boats like the Dart 18 are far less forgiving and give far less feedback about what is going on.

JamesM

Ahoy, Thanks for your reply. I was asking because I visited Swords SC and Malahide YC with a friend recently. People in Swords were talking about some guy who could barely handle the Dart 18 he owned and now he was going to sail a Hurricane SX. They were worried ! In Malahide they said that a Dart 16 was a good cat to start on. I have seen your post about Blessington. I will try that.
Jim.

Ahoy

Hi James,
I think people starting sailing should really learn in a mono hull dinghy.
Any cat is dangerous when helmed by a total beginner
You should only helm a cat if you can handle a dinghy.

The course run at Sword sailing club is mostly in dinghies but people can also get a taste of the cats.

The dart 16 you mentioned - they are great for kids. And I think some of holiday companies also use them - because they are made of plastic and can take a real bashing.

I think far better to learn in a dinghy and then, if moving to cats - get a proper boat, but pick the conditions you go out in until you get experience.
But it's only my opinion

JamesM

Thanks Ahoy,

They look fast :eek:
Jim

kmick

You could come up to Sutton Dinghy Club www.sdc.ie and try out a laser pico. They will rent one out to you alright. PM me if you are interested. We usually sail on Sunday.