Fat Boy 12

[Munkey]

I am looking to buy a 12, but at 90kgs am wasting my time. Mostly i sail with my brother-in-law who is 80ish kgs. Is their a design that would tollerate that weight but also allow me to sail with my teenage foster child.
Any help would be greatly recieved.
Mark

[edwillett]

Mark I rarely manage to weigh in below 90kgs! I have sailed 12's all my life despite this handicap! I've given up worrying about it...I have a passion for the Class and am not interested in sailing anything else. At routine Club races I will take anyone willing to crew no matter what the weight...I'm happy just to be sailing. If I travel then I will try and find the smallest/lightest crew available. I dont know how well the latest designs carry weight or indeed how much foiling rudders help....although am intrigued to finsd out. I currently sail older boats...a Crusader 88 and a Proctor Mk9.

[monkeynuts]

I would have to agree I am 98+ on a good day but so taken by the class that I now own two crusader 88's! The beauty of the boat and fun factor win for me. After being in 8 different classes of dinghy I know where I am staying.

[Chadders]

Agree with the above being 82/85kg Final Chapter is a design reputed to take more whieght but for puddle sailing Design 8 or Crusader may be better and the vintage boats tend to be fairly tolerant too.

[sollenelle]

I agree with the other guys. I have raced various 12 over the last few years on the river at Nottingham. I hover between 85 and 90 Kg and have had various crews mostly between 60 and 70Kg. I was most successful in Design 8 and Feeling Foolish. Less successful, as it happens, in the Final Chapter I had. I now have Bicycle Clips (3162) but have only raced once, that was with a crew as heavy as me in a fairly light wind. We led off the start line but were very quickly going backwards relative to everyone else.... not surprising really

[smilie]

Hello Mark, I  agree with all of the above if you aren’t sailing on river or a puddle then a Final Chapter is your best bet and Crusaders and Design 8’s (effectively a plastic Crusader) aren’t bad either. There are also plenty of them on the market and Chapter’s and Crusaders are pretty good value because you can pick a decent one ready to go sailing for around a grand.

If you have a bit more money and want to keep your feet dry (self draining) you can pick a decent Feeling Foolish up for about £2000.
As for foiling boats the rudder does support some of the total sailing weight of the boat so they carry weight better than none foiling boats. And I guess (I have only just got back into 12’s after a bit of break) a Paradigm 2 might be the one to go for. There looks to be one on the Market for a pretty decent price at the mo.

A good option to think about would be to get a Foolish as they are all modern, well sorted, pretty much all of them are made of carbon and good introduction into 12 sailing.

What do sail at the moment?
 
Also don’t forget to pop along at the Dinghy Show and say hello.

[Munkey]

Thank you all for your help.
I have the opportunity to buy a baggy with a carbon mast and boom which hasn't been used in 18 months and is on my doorstep for less than £1000.
I sail in open sea mainly for fun but our club also race on an small river so a mixture of both for where I'll use it.
Do you think I should avoid the baggy as it will be no good for me and wait  until I can afford something better.
Thanks again for the help.

[Chadders]

Baggy is great fun and suits lighter crew weights so may not be a good decision tempting as it may be.  As per comments above.  Good hunting.

[smilie]

As Chadders said Baggy’s aren’t the best at carrying weight mostly because they tipped towards planning performance. In saying that I would be very tempted by the boat you been offered considering it’s got a full carbon spar set up for under a grand you are going to struggle to find a simpler Chapter or Crusader for the price with a carbon rig. Which when compared to alloy rig a carbon rig is going to be lighter and if you already on the heavy side any weight saving is going to better than any differences in hull shape.
 
Also if this is your first foray into sailing short boats (anything 12 long) then you will have to use to the fine art of bearing away and jibing when it’s windy and wavey. So a cheap local boat with decent rig could be a good intro into the class without spending loads if want a more moden you can always upgrade. While on the subject of upgrading there is a selfdraining Chapter hull looking for a home near Birmingham which you could buy the Baggy and swamp the rig over if don’t mind a bit of boat bimbling.
 
Which Baggy is it?