wayfarer dinghy's, educate me please !

have been told they are good for relative beginners, and are robust yet cheapish to get 2nd hand, must be some on here who have knowledge/experience…

Yes nice and stable to sail. Lots of room too, I learnt in one,

lots around second hand for small money too

Look at enterprises too

Yes they are good for beginners and experts alike.

Thisnk of them as a cruising dinghy and you will not be too far off. Excellent for family days out and two up racing, some are still available clinker built but most are grp and thats what I suggest you go for.
Look out around the mast step and rudder stock and centerboard casing for cracks and leaks, don’t worry too much if there is one or two, but make sure it’s fixable as most of these boats will have been sailed up into creaks and onto beaches when the owners forgotten to lift either board of rudder.
Sails are a bit saggy, dacron sags over time and they begome baggy, new sets aren’t that expensive and only really required for racing, cruising you just use what you can. Check the bolt rope at the head and foot of the sail and check the clew for damage. Easy repairs at good sailmakers are available and cheap.

Good solid boat in general, most at the Club (76 of them( are used for family cruising/messing about in and often carry BBQ’s and kids toys and are big enough to store inside the cockpit too. You can fit a 2hp outboard onto them on the transom which extends the use.

Buy if reasonable I say.

I learnt in a wayfarer too, must be standard fare!
I’ve just bought, on a whim I may add, a Heron, flimsy plywood thing from the 70’s I believe, it has does have a leak on the centreboard casing so I was informed but yet to check if its the only one! :?!!
But having only paid £150 including road/launch trailer I thought it worth a punt I should be able to recoup most of it if not more on the trailer alone if all goes slight arwy!!

Bikebuoy has it.

Great for day sails and longer, I sailed one round the Isle of Wight many many years ago, overnighting at Newtown Creek, Bembridge and Itchenor before returning to Calshot. Great trip! Great boats.

All the above is true.

Possibly my best day ever in a boat was at 16. I was on a course at the national sailing centre. We went for a cruise from Cowes on the isle of White to Beaulie hard on the main land. It was hugely windy and we surfed the whole way on a screaming plane. I recon it was 3 waves max

Things to be aware of

They are very heavy on land. It depends on your strength but they can be hard to recover even with 2 adults

If they do capsize they will probably come up pretty swamped compared to more modern designs

Very robust Google frank dye.

OK, since you asked for some education.

Firstly, you should always use a capital to denote a proper name, such as Wayfarer. Secondly, the plural of dinghy is dinghies.

No need to thank me. 😉

That aside, Wayfarers are lovely little day boats. Very much in the Swallows and Amazons mould of simply messing about in boats, and I am another who found a Wayfarer as the first boat I ever sailed in. I soon moved on to a Topper on my own, though. Far more fun!

Also learned in a Wayfarer a great stable platform. My first dinghy was a Fireball, wooden, cheap and fast. I got a bit wet with that one.

Fireball ftw.
Also OK, Solo, British Moth and 505. I had a ll of them and a Toy and then a 10sqM sailing canoe.
And then I grew up, discovered windsurfing and kite surfing and had a far better quarter century.

All of the above – and another one here who learned, raced, day sailed, camped, cruised in them. Vivid memories of the occasional capsize coming up very low in the water – we always had a bucket with us for such times. Pretty comfy with three adults, little kids can sit low in them and they’re remarkably good fun in a good sea. Mighty hefty on land though as ampthill says.

505’s always seemed to be sailed by the more (ahem) mature gentleman at Grafham. Had a bit of a blast in 420’s too.

They’ll also take a 2hp outboard. And oars….

Pffft, you want a proper dayboat. 😉
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Drascombe Gig[/url] by matt_outandabout[/url], on Flickr
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Drascombe Gig[/url] by matt_outandabout[/url], on Flickr

To answer OP – you won’t go far wrong with Wayfarer. Does everything you ask of it, just a bit slower than most other things…
If however you are from the school of fast is better / wet is part of the fun / whoosh then you may wish for something faster. BUT, the initial learning curve is steeper, and less family friendly.

I want one.

I have fond memories of sailing a Wayfarer too. Getting one to plane was fun although that did normally involve quite a bit of wind.

Oh and Toppers are badly designed, hateful “boats”. Lasers were much more fun.

Got one in September past, looking forward to next summer sailing with the family. I have crewed in 505s and Fireballs – great fun but not toddler friendly 😉

Many thanks for the replies . I have a lifeboat ticket from my seafaring days, so its time to put it to use. Not going to go racing so for muckin about rounds ace.. My missus hates cycling and sailing, win win;-)

@rudeboy – bikebouy’s post I agree with. I spent a lot of time on a Wayfarer (have some photos of us out in 1979), the originals have a large locker in the stern meant for camping gear, they where made for exploring. As mentioned they can take a small outboard easily. They are easy to sail and so good for beginners. You’ll probably find some boats setup more for racing and some for cruising. Depending on what you want to do and where you may want to get a road trailer. Be warned it’s not the purchase price that will get you with sailing, it can be cheap or expensive depending on the maintenance and what toys/upgrades you want – much like mountain biking really.

Imo they’re very easy to sail but that makes them incredibly boring. Great if you want to pootle about on large open water though as you can fit plenty of people/stuff in. Toppers are cheap and fun if you’re sailing on inland waters, but lasers are much better.

@gribs – toppers and lasers are one person boats and are very wet. You can sit in a Wayfarer, stay dry, take your family, a tent and bbq. Totally different boat.

You won’t go wrong with a Wayfarer, I used to teach in them. Great family boat and a good laugh.

have a look at a mirror or miracle if you want something a bit more manageable on land…

Wayf’s webpage thingumybob[/url]

Heres the Wayf’s website to help you along.. Check the headers, you’ll find Racing & Cruising sections..

I think Proctor still make new ones, one of the Club Members had a new one built about 4 years ago, cost him £10k IIRC..

If you are ever down Hayling way, pop into the Club, HISC and take a peek at all the unused Wayf’s in the dinghy park.. 😆

i had a wayfarer back in the day. great boats, but there is much much better around now.

the game has moved on quite dramatically.

if you do decide to go down the wayfarer route, be wary of the mkII SD variant. this was introduced as a ‘cruising wayfarer’ with the benefit of integral ballast tanks beneath the sole. the reality is that when capsized, the position of the ballast tanks forced the boat into a full capsize more quickly. not ideal if you are nervous beginner. by coincidence, the integral ballast tanks also create a very stiff hull, the mkII SD (at the time) was the only GRP variant that could hold a candle to the wooden versions which were favoured for top-level racing.

i had the old london boatshow mkII SD which i sold to a mate who then raced it at the worlds.

having owned and sailed everything from toppers, through to wayfarers, 505’s, fireballs, norfolk punts (truly mental), javelins, RS’s, phantoms, solos, 470’s etc etc, i would suggest looking towards some of the older cheaper topper or laser-built skiff boats. they are as stable as the wayfarer, but more entertaining as and when your confidence builds up.

having said all of that… not much compares with a wayfarer getting up on the plane… think parting of the dead sea!

(i hung up my dinghy boots some time ago in favour of yachting, but still keep my hand in with neilson holidays)

Oh and Toppers Lasers are badly designed, hateful “boats”. Lasers Toppers were much more fun.

FTFY

Lasers f*** with your knees, the mainsheet catches the extension when you tack, and they still have all the SMOD problems. Only good thing about Lasers are the 204,999 others to race against!

IMO, unless you have 2+ kids and the missus that want to come out as well, then a GP14 or Enterprise would be better. Not much less stable, and still enough room, but you can dray it up the slipway singlehanded rather than needing the car.

Back when I was a sea scout we learned in toppers wayfarers and mirror, when you got good enought you got to take out the GP

having said all of that… not much compares with a wayfarer getting up on the plane… think parting of the dead sea!

Amen.
*goes off to scan some old pictures*