"DSK" wrote in message

Well, that's a Snipe. I can assure you that there are plenty of
one-designs that the water drains out of completely and quickly.

Absolutely. A 505, for example, dumps its load right now after righting.
In fact it rides so high on its side that it takes almost no water aboard
when righted. A Snipe has too much rocker (sorry, canoe term) in its keel,
making for a low spot at the daggerboard trunk.

In 1968 my father saw the light and bought our first fiberglass boat...
had only raced wooden boats up until then. The crew was the bailer. We
test sailed and rejected a number of boats and bought an almost-new
Flying Junior which was completely self-bailing. No Elvstrom bailers,
any water that got in ran right back out through the transom flaps.

What a revelation! Since then I have never had much desire to sail boats
that lugged a ton a water around in the bilge,

The last dinghy I raced seriously was a Thistle. No deck, deep bilge
relative to the transom, and it didn't take much of a rail in the water to
ship about 100 gallons in a flash. Bailers are a must on Thistles. I
learned to hate that boat.

and have limited patience
with poor in-betweeners like the Laser (or for that matter, the
Lightning). The Johnson 18 is fully self-bailing, and it's a good thing
too. As my wife says, "It's like jumping on a trampoline while four or
five people spray you with fire hoses. The water gushes in but
fortunately gushes back out again."

The last 470 that I raced seriously was a mid-1970s Cima (Spanish built)
that had a full double floor, and was totally self bailing. Not only did
it not ever have any water in it, the raised cockpit floor made it
faster to tack & easier for the crew to hook on. It was also built with
a grid that made the hull very stiff even after some years of hard
sailing... that boat, wherever it is, is probably still competitive.

The Snipe is a nice boat though, I can see racing in a class that isn't
such a great boat if you have an emotional attachment to it, such as I
have with Lightnings. But then I've been spoiled by sailing some really
nice boats

We raced Snipes in the late 60s and early 70s in Michigan and later in
Denver. It was the second largest one-design class at the time (following
the Sunfish), so it was easy to find a fleet and/or competition. Our local
fleet at Diamond Lake, MI, had 35 active boats, and our invitational regatta
typically drew nearly 100 boats annually. But the Snipe's time is past.
There are many classes now with more interesting hulls and rigs, and today's
young sailors are driving those classes. Not much interest in Snipes any
longer. In Michigan the Scows seem to be dominant, especially the MC. Lots
of C and E fleets, too.

Max