Well, I've had two wonderful weeks of dinghy sailing and windsurfing in
Turkey.

I'm shocked by the quantity of political crap that has been posted here
during my absence. In fact, I'm not going to bother to read most of it.
Joe, felton, Walt and Jon all deserve a good kick up the backside!!

Anyway, I learned a couple of things in the last two weeks. Windsurfing is
great fun, but you really should learn to do it before you reach 40!
Lasers are much easier to sail than Topaz's, - AND they go faster ....
especially downwind!!

Watching the youngsters was very interesting. The kids played a game
called "Pirates" using Topper Taz's. The Taz is a bit like an
Optimist(sp?). It is a beginner's dinghy.
There are two objectives in the game of Pirates.
The main objective is to capture your opponent's boat. You have to board
their boat and eject the occupant into the water. The secondary objective
is to simply capsize your opponent's boat. In other words, Pirates is a
game of total havoc! At any point in time about half of the 16 strong fleet
was capsized!!

At first I was horrified, but I soon realised that the kids were learning
about sailing without realising that they were "learning". They were also
having great fun.
I watched one boy stand on the bow of his dinghy as he approached his
target. He was going downwind, and he seemed to be steering by shifting his
weight from one foot to the other. He had learned to do this without any
lessons!!!

On the other hand, I attended a "Beginner's Clinic" before I took out a
Laser.



Regards


Donal
--

Donal wrote:

Well, I've had two wonderful weeks of dinghy sailing and windsurfing in
Turkey.

Ok. I'm jealous.

I'm shocked by the quantity of political crap that has been posted here
during my absence. In fact, I'm not going to bother to read most of it.

A wise choice. There's much better analysis elsewhere if that's your
cup of tea.

Anyway, I learned a couple of things in the last two weeks. Windsurfing is
great fun, but you really should learn to do it before you reach 40!

Yes, you should. But if you didn't, don't let that be an excuse. 40
isn't too late. I learned after 40.

Lasers are much easier to sail than Topaz's, - AND they go faster ....
especially downwind!!

I'm not familiar with the Topaz. Is it like a Topper? If it is,
there's no comparrison with a Laser.



Watching the youngsters was very interesting. The kids played a game
called "Pirates" using Topper Taz's. The Taz is a bit like an
Optimist(sp?). It is a beginner's dinghy.
There are two objectives in the game of Pirates.
The main objective is to capture your opponent's boat. You have to board
their boat and eject the occupant into the water. The secondary objective
is to simply capsize your opponent's boat. In other words, Pirates is a
game of total havoc! At any point in time about half of the 16 strong fleet
was capsized!!

The way we play Pirates, the objective is to steal the rudder off the
other boat. If you can't steal the rudder, the tiller will do. Yes,
I'm still a kid at heart.

So, where did you stay? More importantly, where can you rent Lasers &
windsurfers in Turkey?


--
// Walt
//
// There is no Volkl Conspiracy

Walt wrote:

I'm not familiar with the Topaz. Is it like a Topper? If it is,
there's no comparrison with a Laser.

The Topaz is beamier - more like an arrowhead shape in plan. It's a sit-on,
wet dinghy with an open transom. I haven't sailed a Laser, but my experience
of the Topaz was that it was okay in a breeze, but frustrating in light
air - too slow and too tippy. I found it rather cramped and uncomfortable
when I couldn't lean out. Review, blurb, photos, at...

http://www.ybw.com/sp/features/topaz/
http://www.splashdance.com/topaz.htm


--
Wally
www.artbywally.com
www.wally.myby.co.uk

Wally wrote:
The Topaz is beamier - more like an arrowhead shape in plan. It's a sit-on,
wet dinghy with an open transom. I haven't sailed a Laser, but my experience
of the Topaz was that it was okay in a breeze, but frustrating in light
air - too slow and too tippy.

What a great combination... it's slow, but at least it's uncomfortable!

I sailed a Topper Buzz a few times and that's a fun boat... bigger,
faster, real fiberglass, I liked it more than a 420... it's not a
Johnson 18 but then so few boats are.

... I found it rather cramped and uncomfortable
when I couldn't lean out. Review, blurb, photos, at...

http://www.ybw.com/sp/features/topaz/
http://www.splashdance.com/topaz.htm


I notice they put a metal structural member to hold the mast. I guess
that's how they get away with putting a jib & "genaker" on a molded
plastic boat. Those rotomolded 'Escape' boats can't get any horsepower,
they deform instead.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

DSK wrote:

The Topaz is beamier - more like an arrowhead shape in plan. It's a
sit-on, wet dinghy with an open transom. I haven't sailed a Laser,
but my experience of the Topaz was that it was okay in a breeze, but
frustrating in light
air - too slow and too tippy.

What a great combination... it's slow, but at least it's
uncomfortable!

It's slow, uncomfortable *and* liable to fall over. :-)

Maybe the Topaz is slow due to wetted area - it's flat-bottomed. Not a heavy
boat, it can be righted easily just by pulling down on the dagger board, but
you have to get the head into the wind first, or it'll just fall over again.


I sailed a Topper Buzz a few times and that's a fun boat... bigger,
faster, real fiberglass, I liked it more than a 420... it's not a
Johnson 18 but then so few boats are.

I might have seen a Buzz - is it similar to the Laser Stratos? Modern
dinghy, openish transom, probably has a spinnaker chute, maybe roller
furling jib. About 14', I think.


I notice they put a metal structural member to hold the mast. I guess
that's how they get away with putting a jib & "genaker" on a molded
plastic boat. Those rotomolded 'Escape' boats can't get any
horsepower, they deform instead.

I didn't feel that the Topaz was anything less than very sturdy. It's
moulded, but flex or deformation never entered my head when I sailed one -
more like tough as old boots.


--
Wally
www.artbywally.com
www.wally.myby.co.uk

"Walt" wrote in message
...
Donal wrote:

Lasers are much easier to sail than Topaz's, - AND they go faster ....
especially downwind!!

I'm not familiar with the Topaz. Is it like a Topper? If it is,
there's no comparrison with a Laser.

The Topaz is made by Topper. It is supposed to be easier to sail than a
Laser. However, I found the Topaz to be extremely uncomfortable. You
spend most of your time on your knees, which gets very painful after a
short time. On the Laser you can sit on the side. The Laser also goes much
faster!!!!!





So, where did you stay? More importantly, where can you rent Lasers &
windsurfers in Turkey?

The boats were included in the price of the holiday. There were no queues
for Taz's, Topaz's, Lasers, or RS800's. There were (short) queues for Hobie
15's and Sport 16's.

The holiday was provided by Sunsail. There are two other companies doing
similiar holidays in Europe - Mark Warner and Neilson.


Regards


Donal
--

Donal wrote:

However, I found the Topaz to be extremely
uncomfortable. You spend most of your time on your knees, which gets
very painful after a short time.

That's exactly the experience I had. Hunched up, cursing it for having all
the get-up and go of a tree trunk.


--
Wally
www.artbywally.com
www.wally.myby.co.uk

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 01:32:31 +0100, "Donal"
wrote:

Well, I've had two wonderful weeks of dinghy sailing and windsurfing in
Turkey.

I'm shocked by the quantity of political crap that has been posted here
during my absence. In fact, I'm not going to bother to read most of it.
Joe, felton, Walt and Jon all deserve a good kick up the backside!!

Sinc when did this become a sailing newsgroup? I must have missed
that memo Otherwise, congrats. I'm jealous Kick away...I have
been numb back there for quite some time....


Anyway, I learned a couple of things in the last two weeks. Windsurfing is
great fun, but you really should learn to do it before you reach 40!
Lasers are much easier to sail than Topaz's, - AND they go faster ....
especially downwind!!

Watching the youngsters was very interesting. The kids played a game
called "Pirates" using Topper Taz's. The Taz is a bit like an
Optimist(sp?). It is a beginne r'sdinghy.
There are two objectives in the game of Pirates.
The main objective is to capture your opponent's boat. You have to board
their boat and eject the occupant into the water. The secondary objective
is to simply capsize your opponent's boat. In other words, Pirates is a
game of total havoc! At any point in time about half of the 16 strong fleet
was capsized!!

At first I was horrified, but I soon realised that the kids were learning
about sailing without realising that they were "learning". They were also
having great fun.
I watched one boy stand on the bow of his dinghy as he approached his
target. He was going downwind, and he seemed to be steering by shifting his
weight from one foot to the other. He had learned to do this without any
lessons!!!

On the other hand, I attended a "Beginner's Clinic" before I took out a
Laser.



Regards


Donal

Kids at our yacht club do that with the Melges 24's...they straddle the boat
and rock it back and forth while using the tiller for direction so they can
make the tight turn into the crane well....
"Donal" wrote in message
...
Well, I've had two wonderful weeks of dinghy sailing and windsurfing in
Turkey.

I'm shocked by the quantity of political crap that has been posted here
during my absence. In fact, I'm not going to bother to read most of it.
Joe, felton, Walt and Jon all deserve a good kick up the backside!!

Anyway, I learned a couple of things in the last two weeks. Windsurfing
is
great fun, but you really should learn to do it before you reach 40!
Lasers are much easier to sail than Topaz's, - AND they go faster ....
especially downwind!!

Watching the youngsters was very interesting. The kids played a game
called "Pirates" using Topper Taz's. The Taz is a bit like an
Optimist(sp?). It is a beginner's dinghy.
There are two objectives in the game of Pirates.
The main objective is to capture your opponent's boat. You have to board
their boat and eject the occupant into the water. The secondary objective
is to simply capsize your opponent's boat. In other words, Pirates is a
game of total havoc! At any point in time about half of the 16 strong
fleet
was capsized!!

At first I was horrified, but I soon realised that the kids were learning
about sailing without realising that they were "learning". They were also
having great fun.
I watched one boy stand on the bow of his dinghy as he approached his
target. He was going downwind, and he seemed to be steering by shifting
his
weight from one foot to the other. He had learned to do this without any
lessons!!!

On the other hand, I attended a "Beginner's Clinic" before I took out a
Laser.



Regards


Donal
--

Katy,

I can make headway with my 29 Ft Pilothouse. I taught my crew on my
other boat, which was outboard powered to stand in the pulpit and rock
it the last couple of feet into the slip. I lot easier than cranking the
metal monster to life.

When I got the pilothouse, with the inboard, and a better sailer, we
developed a different docking technique.

When racing one time, the wind quit on me as we were turning the weather
mark. The tide was carrying me broad side right into the mark. I was
busting my gut trying to scull with the rudder but with a wheel helm, I
wasn't do to well. I figure we were going to be DSQ when suddenly the
boat started rocking. My Bowman was in the pulpit taking us around the
mark an into the edge of a cloud generated whisper of a breeze. I was
really fighting with myself about declaring the action as we were
nearing the committee boat when they blew the cancellation signal

Ole Thom