CVRDA

Hello!...regret to say that Wizz is an infamous lump of plastic that dealt a deadly blow to dinghy sailing in France... I Know because i tried one of th first boats bcause my sailing school was a potential buyer in the early eighties and we (a team of instructors with a laser por 470 racing backgrou...

Hello! I didn't say i preferred the boat to invert...hell no ! specially the first OK i had as it was an early sixties vintage (later sold to the bordeaux yachting museum ,albeit mast less and in poor condition, the third to be made in France) that one had crude inspection hatches on the deck instea...

I sailed OK's and they did take some water (specially if you weren't quick enough to right up before water found it's ways in the front and rear tanks) ...back in the 70's Cockpit hatches often were plastic tubs held by a bungee passing in font of the centreboard case. some had the control lines und...

Wel well , Laser has to be taken for what it is : a very intelligent compomise trying to satisfy the needs of every sailor (from recreational guest at ClubMed or Mark Warner resort to olympic gold medallist and potential America Cup helmsman) ... you can't put the same amount of maniac quality contr...

In my Humble Opinion, The greek olympics were not as pure as we lure ourselves in thinking they were... Classic greek and latin authors have written bitter satires about false amateurism, (or disguised professionallism ), chauvinistic manifestations , childlikebehaviour of some champions , not to me...

Well , i attended the '95 Laser Words (Radial) in Tenerife and the boats were not only builder supplied, but shared between Radial and Standard Laser sailors, with a somewhat complicated scheme meaning that you shared "your boat" with two different standard sailors each day. Some lasers (t...

It depends wether you consider the sport as being a confrontation of just helmsmen (and then the boat is just an (almost) neutral element , just like a bal , a pair of shoes or a tennis racket) or if you consider it is sonme sort of engineers contest (like in formula one or motorcycle) with the helm...

Well , Not everybody is lucky enogh to live permanently in, say, Tarifa in Spain or Essaouira in Moroccco, our version of Hawaî , or even on the british or french seashore ... lake windsurfing requires different boards, and when windsurfing joined IYRU, well racing format first duplicated dinhy rac...

As for Air Rowing ( a rather insulting term certainly born in some toffe nosed - white capped traditionalist yachtsman's den...the correct one is Windsurfing) Well i was in division 2 sailboarding at the hey day of lechners, in parallel with laser racing ...well, in France pumping was allowed (and b...

Trouble is Tornado (a competitive one) is immensely expensive specially when you think about "small" sailing nations , with competitive top sailors in Laser or 470 like , for instance croatia or slovenia (ever been to Hvar for the Laser Europa cup and confronted top croatians? ...they are ...

The 470 isnt such a bad boat...recently in France a group of youngsters usually racing 29'ers bought two 20 years + 470's (one Morin , one Parker) and went for a successful round britanny summer dinghy cruise, sometimes in 25 Knots + with no breakdowns (they had asked me plenty of advice from an old...

Well, IMHO, the success of the Coronet/505 and the FD, is not only related to la Baule Trials and IYRU choice for the olympics but also in some other factors such as international diffusion at the start ( FD was anglo germano dutch and 505 anglo french) and the ability to adapt tothe (still to come)...

Well, St Florent is not the windiest of places in september if the conditions are anticyclonic, as is typical , you get a gentle seabreeze waking up at 10 PM , Max force 3 at 14.00 and becalmed at 19.OO..BUT if there is as not infrequently a pass of Mistral (with cold air on N Frace and a low on Gen...

I'd really love to , but my Club in Corsica hosts the "masters" (over age 35) European Laser Championships in september 2008 so i'll have my hands quite full. If somebody wants to join and sail on a "vintage Laser " (my old TOREA, built 1974 N° 17802 ) that is overthere in half ...

As for the underlying thelme of dinghy development, i think a fast and beautiful hull shape and a carefully built and tuned boat with top notch sails is not always a successful dinghy on the market. The other all important item is the building cost and purchase price. Jean Jacques Herbulot was an ol...