I would assume both these dinghies are more than a handful, my guess would be the contender.?

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MAGNESIUM said..
I would assume both these dinghies are more than a handful, my guess would be the contender.?

That depends on how old you are and how strong a swimmer you are. I have never sailed a Contender but have raced against them in a Finn on a few occasions. I'm on my third Finn dinghy now. This one was built as a training boat for the 1956 Olympic games for Carl Ryves. Interestingly it was also sailed by Ben Lexcen who lived with the Ryves family for many years. Ben did not like the Finn dinghy and went out and designed the Contender as a replacement for the Finn in the Olympics. In the 1950's the Finn would have been seriously hard to sail with no camcleats or boomvangs and cotton sails! The modern Finn is an absolute delight to sail.
I sailed against Contenders in the Australian Masters and found that in light weather the Contender was very slow, they have a lot of wetted area. Once the breeze was up and the wire could be used they were certainly fast enough and as long as the skipper did not capsize too often they could beat the Lasers and the Finn. In heavy seas though the Finn will always dominate.

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MAGNESIUM said..
I would assume both these dinghies are more than a handful, my guess would be the contender.?

Just different!

Agility/buoyancy essential on a Contender . Never felt in control,especially downwind,if came back over on top of you as you pivoted around the bow,on the wire - Helmet

Finn would be pure joy,but hard work,and need core strength to hike properly .

But as Lydia implies - totally different concepts .

Mason

The round carbon masts that used to have similar bend characteristics to the Needle spar masts used in the 1970's were hard work. With the advent of the carbon wing masts that all changed overnight. Now you can have 80 kilo 16 years olds sailing with 80 year old 80 kilo sailors! The old hook style hiking has given away to blokes just leaning out.
That's a round carbon mast pictured above and while I will be sailing against several wing masts in the club I will be sailing only on nice days!
Check out Youtube for the latest Gold Cup videos.

Not sure what you are after but if you don't like the Laser an OK Dinghy would be "1/2 way" between a Finn and Contender? Still need good gut muscles. Or a smaller version of the Laser is a Spiral?

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r13 said..
Not sure what you are after but if you don't like the Laser an OK Dinghy would be "1/2 way" between a Finn and Contender? Still need good gut muscles. Or a smaller version of the Laser is a Spiral?

I have owned several OK dinghies and they are a great boat to sail but the Finn is actually easier to sail. In the local club we have had an influx of Finns as Laser and Spiral sailers, including my grandson switch to Finns!
The OK dinghy is limited to the round carbon fibre mast still. The only downside to the Finn is when it comes to moving them about on trolleys, They are heavy.
The really big advantage of the Contender is they are ridiculously cheap! They are often in the $400 mark on Gumtree and it's not expensive to buy one just to give them ago. I built and sailed a Farr 3.7 many years ago because I wanted to try solo sailing on the wire. Contenders were big money then, I did half a season before going back to my OK.

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Ramona said..

r13 said..
Not sure what you are after but if you don't like the Laser an OK Dinghy would be "1/2 way" between a Finn and Contender? Still need good gut muscles. Or a smaller version of the Laser is a Spiral?

I have owned several OK dinghies and they are a great boat to sail but the Finn is actually easier to sail. In the local club we have had an influx of Finns as Laser and Spiral sailers, including my grandson switch to Finns!
The OK dinghy is limited to the round carbon fibre mast still. The only downside to the Finn is when it comes to moving them about on trolleys, They are heavy.
The really big advantage of the Contender is they are ridiculously cheap! They are often in the $400 mark on Gumtree and it's not expensive to buy one just to give them ago. I built and sailed a Farr 3.7 many years ago because I wanted to try solo sailing on the wire. Contenders were big money then, I did half a season before going back to my OK.

Thanks Ramona for very interesting information, my interest on the contender was going past a ad everyday on a really nice contender that just didn't sell so started looking into them , I will put a link below for you to have a look at , there is also a 505 which looks gorgeous.
if you had to pick an ex racing design dinghy to turn into a cruising dinghy what would you pick?

www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/781669850309330/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3Ad1ede8d5-e925-49fd-89b9-76439ab3bc45

www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/746098247254744?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A4a4e43f9-6cc2-4a36-9b7d-5e2bc978acdd

A Corsair.

+ 1 for Corsair ,but ? a cat a better proposition,but with better buoyancy than a Hobie ?

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lydia said..
A Corsair.

Lydia I agree , what would you think a fair price on a Corsair in good condition ? And do they have any build problems?

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MAGNESIUM said..

Ramona said..

r13 said..
Not sure what you are after but if you don't like the Laser an OK Dinghy would be "1/2 way" between a Finn and Contender? Still need good gut muscles. Or a smaller version of the Laser is a Spiral?

I have owned several OK dinghies and they are a great boat to sail but the Finn is actually easier to sail. In the local club we have had an influx of Finns as Laser and Spiral sailers, including my grandson switch to Finns!
The OK dinghy is limited to the round carbon fibre mast still. The only downside to the Finn is when it comes to moving them about on trolleys, They are heavy.
The really big advantage of the Contender is they are ridiculously cheap! They are often in the $400 mark on Gumtree and it's not expensive to buy one just to give them ago. I built and sailed a Farr 3.7 many years ago because I wanted to try solo sailing on the wire. Contenders were big money then, I did half a season before going back to my OK.

Thanks Ramona for very interesting information, my interest on the contender was going past a ad everyday on a really nice contender that just didn't sell so started looking into them , I will put a link below for you to have a look at , there is also a 505 which looks gorgeous.
if you had to pick an ex racing design dinghy to turn into a cruising dinghy what would you pick?

www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/781669850309330/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3Ad1ede8d5-e925-49fd-89b9-76439ab3bc45

www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/746098247254744?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A4a4e43f9-6cc2-4a36-9b7d-5e2bc978acdd

That's a nice looking Contender. The 505 is a gift and I can not get over how long it's been for sale!! We have discussed buying it in our family and it's just lucky it's a long way away!
The best cruising dinghy is obviously a Corsair. I just happen to own one and it's for sale for $1000. It's on an excellent trailer. Needs a wash down with Metal Gleam. My son and grandson are sailing their Finns.

Sailed a contender for a few years ( 20 years ago), great boat, lots of fun but not suitable to turn into a cruiser. very shallow cockpit and low boom. You need to be pretty athletic to sail it, no fun in low wind but a great laugh when you tea bag. Natural instinct is to pull on the sheet and tiller but that turns the boat away from you and accelerates the disaster, however pushing the tiller away from you steers the boat back under you.

the 5oh is also a terrific boat to race in a fleet, otherwise its heavy and has a really narrow groove that makes it difficult to sail if you are not constantly paying attention. Same with 470 and 420. Inattentive skippers oversteer in a tack and being oversheeted end up windmilling.
I currently sail Corsairs and Quests for youth training and I think you will find the Corsair suitable for a cruising dinghy. good space, able to sail in strong winds with reefiing and they reach exceptionally well. It's a lot bigger and heavier than the contender for the same length. Watch out for loosing the centerboard in a capsize, they do have a habit of dropping out when inverted making recovery difficult. They also come up with a lot of water in them.
Enjoy!