Dinghy Show News

Ally Pally 2009

For those that didn't make the dinghy show here are the edited highlights....

On "our stand" was a new Ovi Phantom for Chris Turner fitted out in what is now looking like their standard fit out with adjustable lowers, raking rig and side cleats (clamcleats) mounted on a grp moulding. Nothing much new there really but I did notice the elastic tidy away system that looked quite effective. The foredeck moulded carbon tac tic braket took all the lines and provided the turning point out to the side decks.

The sail was a Speed sail set upon the most interesting item which was a new CST mast. These are Aussie masts that several other UK classes have been using for some time. I thought there were a couple of interesting features to it. Firstly the carbon spreaders are fixed angle, therefore one less thing to play with and get wrong! The mast section is very (very) narrow and the windage must therefore be significantly reduced. If you think this means it must bend like a Mr Whippy mast you would be very surprised how stiff it was.

When banging on the kicker the movement was mainly in the tip section (well, above the hounds anyway) which makes me think this would be a good mast for those of us using the flatter Evolution type sail. Other interesting features were the use of a hook rack for the main halyard and the collar support for the gooseneck.

I took a peek at the wall thickness and it did seem thicker than say the 60mm Superspar so I assume that this is generally the case all the way up the mast.

The mast was matched to a very sexy section boom. This was also fairly minimalist in set up and was notable for its Oval (or stretched "O" shape. I bet it weighed very little but unfortunately I wasn't able to de-rig the lot and have a play....

The photos below give you an idea of what it all looked like.

I know you all love "string photos" so I took a couple of shots of the best bits....

I did of course take a look at the other classes on show. James Jarvey (JJ boats) had two beautiful boats on display with Paintcraft - a really well sorted Solo that he had just (Friday) finished for himself. This was an epoxy hull with fantastic wooden decks. Just take a look at the photo below...

The Eastern Circuit was well promoted with some good action shots and a poster designed by Windy. I've scanned this in and will post it on this site in my next post..