FOX Dinghy

an area to discuss dinghy developments
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davidh
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FOX Dinghy

Post by davidh »

Probably one for Laser Tourist....

any takers with details?

D
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David H
Rupert
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Re: FOX Dinghy

Post by Rupert »

Looks like a Fennec - I sailed one of these in Aberystwyth years ago, and it suffered from all the usual problems associated with old GRP dinghies (especially ones with no mast support at deck level) - everything wobbled all over the place, from mast to hull. Stiffer than a 420, mind, but not a patch on a Lark (even an old one). I'm sure we have had details of the Fennec on here before - weren't there 2 sizes or something?
Rupert
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Brookesy
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Re: FOX Dinghy

Post by Brookesy »

Definitely not a Fennec as the side deck arrangement is different but it looks like it comes from the same family as the Fennec/Duo.
If I remember correctly the uk importer for them was a company based in Hemel Hempstead who made crash helmets and military pilot helmets.
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Garry R

Re: FOX Dinghy

Post by Garry R »

Definitely an early set of B&Q garden furniture with all the attendant problems of being left out in the sun!! At a wine tasting at an Italian vineyard I had one of these gradually collapse on me when sitting in it enjoying the sun and warmth. As Trish is not a drinker I was sampling her wine too and as the chair slowly sank to the ground with failure in one of the legs all I could think was how potent the mix of wine and sun must be. It was an embarrassing moment in front of about 30 strangers. A new chair was found and the sampling continued.
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Ancient Geek
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Re: FOX Dinghy

Post by Ancient Geek »

They (the B&Q. Dyas, or Ikea.) also make a very good accelerant for bonfires when burning those old boats that did not make the Darwinian selection!
Simples.
Rupert
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Re: FOX Dinghy

Post by Rupert »

Brookesy wrote:Definitely not a Fennec as the side deck arrangement is different but it looks like it comes from the same family as the Fennec/Duo.
If I remember correctly the uk importer for them was a company based in Hemel Hempstead who made crash helmets and military pilot helmets.
True - I was forgetting the Fennec had rolled decks. Age creeping up on me...
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LASERTOURIST
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Re: FOX Dinghy

Post by LASERTOURIST »

The Fox dinghy was the tame brother of the fennec, almost the same hull (same mold with minimal changes) and somewhat shorter mast and les canvassed , with a smaller sail and different sail logo a very stylized fox head with smaller ears (sails ) than the desert fox called fennec.

The Dupuy Chautard advertisment blurb in the late 60's ran like this: Le fennec..sportif / le fox tranquille.... make your choice

It is a bit like the Laser Radial compared to the standard one or the regatta Lasezr 2 opposed to the "fun" version

The interesting thing is that Dupuy chautard tried to market a super fox (first called grand duc..after the night prey bird, not the nobleman) .
Grand duc /superfox was more in league with Lanaverre's Jet /490 , Morion's 470 and La Prairie's Caneton Strale of italian design but it had so many contebnders that even if it was a fast boat , it sold poorly
LASERTOURIST
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Re: FOX Dinghy

Post by LASERTOURIST »

In fact the fennec was extensively modified along it's career , going from a single bottom hull with partial side tanks and a daggerboard to a double bottom boat self bailing boat with pivoting centreboard , full side tanks and improved fittings ..there were no identified and defined "marks" like british boats or ww2 aircraft but roughly there were 3 or 4 major revamps of the fennec ad the fox more or less followed suit...
Today there are some lefty in frencxh clubs and they make easy allround tourers , rather trouble free ; contrary to the double bottom 445 with their rotting stringers issues...

It must be remembered that Dupuy Chautard and La Prairie made cheap boats that allowed not sowell off people to have a go at sailing for little money...specially the Fox / fennec that had split masts and were fully car toppable
davidh
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Re: FOX Dinghy

Post by davidh »

Laser Tourist,

Phew.... I am so glad to read your answer. I had already 'taken a flyer' and said that this was part of the Fennec family.

I am sure that you have answered this before BUT - in my schoolboy french, fox is rennard. Fennec is another beast altogether.

But is the Fox a Fennec simple or a Rennard?

D
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Ianphot
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Re: FOX Dinghy

Post by Ianphot »

Fox in French is Renard - which is why we have Reynard the fox in children's books. The tongue in cheek? Fennec may have come from the large ears (sails) of the desert fox as described above - or has it another more colloquial meaning in French?

Ian
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Re: FOX Dinghy

Post by LASERTOURIST »

Fennec is the ordinary name for the small but eared desert fox..., like certainly there is some scientific name in latin , but fennec is just common use name....

Supposedly it smells bad as in coolloquial french sentir le fennec means a pungent smell like say a bag full of wet and sweaty sail gear forgottenn for some days in the car trunk....but the animal itself is supposed to be cute and sympathetic , like the one portrayed in Saint Exupery's le petit prince...
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Ancient Geek
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Re: FOX Dinghy

Post by Ancient Geek »

Re the boat one is tempted to ask what the fox's that?
Simples.
LASERTOURIST
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Re: FOX Dinghy

Post by LASERTOURIST »

The children boooks are often heavily bowdlerized (the intercourse /rape between Renart and Hersent , the she wolf is definitely politically incorrect...and certainly spared us an adaptation by Walt Disney which is quite lucky ) version of the old medieval cycle of fabliaux le roman de Renart .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynard

The french name for the animal was goupil (a derivative of the latin root vulpes) up until the XIII century , but then the book's succes made the germanic reynard, or renart became more employed...just as Victor Hugo's romantic and metaphoric "Toilers of the sea" helped coining the word Pieuvre (from jesey patois) as a perfect substitute for poulpe (the mediterranean term for the octopus...

Fennec on the other hand is an arab wod , originated from then french algeria (fenek)
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