One-design Daysailers

Sail training is more complicated than it used to be. Thirty-five years ago you would put your kid into a Penguin or an El Toro and rest assured they were learning the rudiments of sailing. Today, however, there are a host of powerful planing boats like the Laser and the 29er, which are also vying for kids' attention. It's evident, especially to the Melges crew in Zenda, Wisconsin, that an interim trainer is needed, a boat to introduce the intermediate sailor to the joys of planing performance that isn't too much for intermediate-level sailors under 125 pounds.

Melges Performance Sailboats' solution is the Splash, a shorter and smaller boat than the Laser, and ideally suited as a "foundation" boat to introduce young sailors to the world of high-performance sailing. The brochure says the ideal crew weight for the Splash is between 110 and 155 pounds. This would also make the Splash a better boat for women.

It's a snappy looking little dinghy, with an ergonomically improved cockpit and a splash guard to help keep water out of the well. Draft with the board down is 2 feet, 3 inches. The one aspect of this design that bothers me is the hull weight of 121 pounds, which is only 19 pounds less than a Laser. That makes it a two-person job to carry the Splash and a real handful for two 100-pound youngsters.

I also object to the overly generous radius on the stem. This is not apparent in the drawing, but is very noticeable in photographs. Maybe this is a buoyancy feature. But the photos clearly show it mushing through the water.

The rig features a long top batten to extend the roach and give the Splash a modern look. The mast is tapered aluminum, with a slot for the luff rope and an external halyard. The brochure says that this boat would make an ideal Christmas present for your youngster. It might turn out to be one of those presents that Dad wants to play with too.

And then there's the Sunglider, a hybrid craft combining dinghy and windsurfer features with a unique steering mechanism. Produced by Vanguard of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the Sunglider appears to be aimed at the sailor who feels the need to stand up while sailing.

Obviously you need to stand on a windsurfer since you are all there is holding the mast up. The Sunglider, however, has a mast that is stepped in the hull, which relieves the sailor of the job of supporting the rig. With this done it would be easy to finish off this design with a rudder and tiller and a place to sit down comfortably and go sailing. But no. The Sunglider sailor will stand, hanging onto an 11-inch-diameter wheel on the end of a long, hinged tube.

Maybe this boat is for sailors who don't like to get their fannies wet. I don't know what the mechanics are for steering this boat, but you do steer it with the wheel and this gives you something to hang onto. I watched a demo sailor sail one of these boats around the Annapolis Boat Show. The boom is high enough so you can duck under it jibing and tacking, but not high enough for a taller person like me to do this with any grace or panache. Standing does give you a good mechanical advantage for hiking. I'm groping here.

I love to see diversity in sailing craft. When I first saw the early photos of this boat I thought, "Now there's a boat I want to try." But now I'm not so sure. Maybe it's a boat for people who want to feel like they are "surfing" and not just "sailing." Maybe it's a boat for people with hemorrhoids.

Clearly the Sunglider is so different that it is one of those boats you will have to actually try to appreciate. I'd like to give it a go, preferably with no one watching.