OzOne wrote:
BTW, I think you're wrong re steering the Etchells, they track
beautifully, are extremely responsive and not as fidgetty as the
Soling.

I've never skippered an Etchells and wouldn't consider a Soling
"fidgetty" although it is not as consistant on the helm as some other
boats. I wonder if the angle of the rudder post has something to do with
it... IIRC the Soling is vertical and the Etchells is raked forward
slightly?

Bart Senior wrote:
I used to own a 5o5 named "Over Easy".

Good name.

... I've read the 505 was
never submitted for consideration for fear it would ruin the class.

I think that's the official party line nowadays, but back in the 1960s
and '70s they were itching for it. Full of talk about how much better it
was than the 470 (come to think of it, they still are). The Olympic
committee wanted to have a rotating roster of classes in the Olympics so
as not to overly affect the few Olympic classes... spread the wealth,
so to speak. That's why they put in the Tempest and then took it out
again. This policy never caught on.


As you can see the Etchells class has thrived while the Soling class
has died because the rock stars with big budgets drove out the
regulars.

I'm not sure it's all a budget issue, the Etchells is not a cheap boat
to campaign. But the Olympic classes are an arms race, and the attitude
is much more cut-throat than the same guys sailing in non-Olympic classes.

One of the things that used to make me laugh back when I was campaigning
a 470... the clubs that hosted Olympic class regattas were usually very
friendly and hospitable, but the local sailors in the classes were
convinced that they could teach us travelling big heads a thing or
two... in all but very few cases, they got waxed and hated us. The
regattas that were big enough for the Europeans to come were the worst.
I think this hurt the Olympic club classes as much as anything.



....I don't think there is good dinghy for a man
my size with a crew.

What about a Star or a Finn? They are boats that need a lot of beef.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King