Hi Everyone,
I'm hoping to get some advice please. I have just completed the basic 7 week sailing program and have thoroughly enjoyed it & am now planning to purchase a basic dinghy that I can sail solo. However at 6 foot 5 (& 100 kg's), I found myself very cramped in the Sabre that I used on the course.
Can anyone else out there suggest any other alternatives?
Thanks in advance.
6'5 and 100 kg's, sounds like a Finn to me. Maybe an OK dinghy next but they like a bit lighter helm than a Finn.
Hey J
More info required,
Where are you ?
Are you interested in joining a club, racing eventually ?
Budget ?
Pretty big for a lot of OTB classes, Laser maybe, maybe a beach cat ?
Finns and OK's pretty much geared at performance for starters
Hi, additional info below as required;
Residing in South East Suburbs of Melbourne.
Plan on joining local club & most probably racing (although not seriously).
Budget less than $5k, but would rather get the right boat & be comfortable/suitable from the get go.
Appreciate your advice....thanks.
Hi Jmak
I have noted the suggestions for a laser and as a tall and hefty 110 kgs i would recommend one to you
I have had mine around 20 years and although when we had water in lake colac i raced it i now only cruise between st leonards and portarlington on PPB
The good points are low maintenance , excellent racing , quick to rig , easy to launch , great performance , very buoyant if capsized and probably hold their value as well as any.
They will teach you a lot about sailing as they are very slippery on the water , i often suggest sailors of less responsive yachts , Trailer sailers and keelboats would learn a lot on a laser or other off the beach dinghy's
You may be best to take one out to see if it suits you but dont be put off if you find it too challenging first up , you would get use to it fairly quickly 
I'm not a fan of the Laser, never have been for many many reasons!! Was a Laser dealer in WA for a few years and they are possibly the worst built dinghy on the market with the worst quality gear!!
I think you'll find the Laser more cramped than Sabre, I think the Sabre is about as spacious as a solo dinghy gets!!
Could you look at a larger 2 person dinghy that you sail only with the main to start? A Corsair springs to mind.
Used to race one a bit single handed with just a main in anything up to 10 knots and I was only 65kg dripping wet back then!!!
The beauty of doing that is you can take more people as you progress, family, friends etc. and if you find someone to crew you can use the jib.
Quite a few Tasar yachts for sale within your budget. They are a performance dinghy with a strong class association.
www.tasar.org/boats-for-sale/
While I've never had a problem with the Laser's construction and the fittings seem to suit its purpose very well IMHO, as RF says it's got less room than the Sabre in some ways - for example it's hard to fit under the boom when the vang is right on at times. They do have the advantage that they are very easy to buy and sell, and $5k will get you one that is very good for club use; in fact a $5k Laser would actually take you to the top 10 at the Masters nationals. At 100kg you're very big but then again a lot of the Masters are also pretty big, and you can win state titles overall at up to 88kg in light winds.
The Sabre is slower but more forgiving to sail, especially downwind in chop. There are a couple sailing at Cleveland SC in Brissie and apparently maybe some at RQ. One thing is that the top Sabre sailors seem to be fairly light (in the 70-75kg range from what I can recall) although the class association website would have more info.
The Impulse class has a fairly good fleet (10 boats or so) at Oxley Sailing Club on the Brissie river and there are other boats around SEQ/NNSW. The Impulse is a sweet boat, like a Sabre but more oriented towards speed, and it has a bigger rig. Judging from the rig and the fact that Brownie is winning lots of nationals, it would seem to handle weight better than the Sabre (sorry Brownie!). If you went down that route you'd have plenty of people to sail with, as you would with the Laser.
OKs and Finns are of course other possibilities (they are in some ways better for your size) but the booms are very low and I don't think there are any others around SEQ for you to sail with and learn from.
Tasars are lovely but struggle mightily with 100kg in the back end and don't work well singlehanded.
