My new toy.. (not me.. but i just bought the boat with the blue flames).
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Am living in Dubai and mountain biking out here is not great.. finally found a hobby to rival my love of mtb-ing in the UK.
Anyone sail beach cats? What's the scene like in the UK?
Sailed spitfires - short but quick and ace in a big swell.
More of a mono man myself though - melges 24, b14, musto skiff etc.
Oh man, you've opened a big old can o'worms now!
Fast cats rock. FACT.
I tend to sail 'em in warmer climes, and especially where there's clear blue water below my hull (Flying the other, natch) and a nice warm wind chucking it about!
Prefer a monohull in the UK, though. Lasers, Merlins or Salcombe Yawls by preference!
Oh man, you've opened a big old can o'worms now!
I'm 2 weeks in and i already know this is going to get very, very expensive!
Doing my first race this weekend.. have never had the spinnaker up.. i'm a bit nervous.. it flies with only the Main and the jib!
Yep its gona cost you shit loads. Ive just sold my Melges 24 to Sweden which we competed all around the UK with. Everything costs 4 times what you would expect.
Rope, blocks, sails, race fees, club fees and storage not to mention the bar bills at regattas.
Just googled the Melges 24 you mentioned.. they look awesome!
yeah it was ace - we still have 4 in the North East so still getting to race them regularly but without the bills.
Ahhh, yes. I used to sail on a mates F18.... truly mad boats but great fun. We had a fair number of wipeouts (usually pitchpoles) and a number of breakages. He sold it a couple of years ago as it was just starting to get too expensive, depreciation is healthy too!
Sometimes wish I hadn't sold the Musto Skiff as it's a great boat but certainly involves a fair amount of swimming. But I couldn't put enough time into it and at least I can take the kids out on the Laser without worrying about drowning them 😯
used to live in Dubai had a hobi and a tri fly, great fun, dad still has the tri fly after 20 years, still rips along, he only uses it in france now, he's 70 so uk sailing is a tad cold for him 🙂
Wildwind in Vass is the place to go for good fast cat sailing. Cartwheel a Tiger, yeah baby!
I went the week of the Sivota (sp) rally. 18 nMiles in 45 minutes in open water. Fantastic!
good luck for your race. remember, when the kite is up, SPEED IS YOUR FRIEND!!
Whats Dubai like for wind? I had the feeling it's pretty light most of the time? (I ask because we considered going out there for a while - watersports manager job came up, but the thought of listless windless days put me off a bit)
Whats Dubai like for wind? I had the feeling it's pretty light most of the time?
[url= http://www.windfinder.com/windstats/windstatistic_dubai.htm# ]windfinder dubai[/url]
You are right.. wind is often pretty light.. Overall it averages 9 to 10 knots throughout the year. I was out on friday and we had 20+knots.. i think nearly everyone capsized their f18s that afternoon.. it was pretty scary.. mostly because we were constantly dodging huge gin palaces coming in and out of the lagoon and straying onto the race course!
Had to sell my Hurricane 5.9 last year due to under use 🙁 Started on a Hobie 14 (scariest boat ever made) and wen't through Hobie 16's 18F's Dart 15's and 18's beofre the Hurricane.