Dinghy Show - New Solution single hander

by Sail-World/Gerald New on 9 Mar 2006 .




























Among all the established classes and celebrations of their years of production and sailing, tucked away in odd corners at Alexandra Palace were the possible dinghies of the future!

Well, that is the hope of one such new design - a new single hander, the Red Eye Solution. As with most new dinghy designs it started with dissatisfaction with the existing designs that just did not satisfy the required sailing profile.

Now, this is a crowded area and in the single hander some big names have tried and failed to hit the spot, while the old timers - Solo, OK, Contender, Phantom etc., not to mention the biggies, the Laser and Topper, keep turning out the product.

So with the 2006 Dinghy Show full of single handers, well known and not so well known, what can another new design bring to the party?

The Red Eye Sails dinghy the Solution, from Kevin Clark and Andrew Elliott, is born out of the Phantom - which has the reputation of the bigger person’s choice - a sort of Finn without the Olympic ballyhoo.

And the Phantom class has done very well in their particular niche. So while loving the concept, Kevin decided that what he wanted was something similar but more manageable by sailors in a lower weight range - 65 to 85 Kilos say.

Together with Andrew Elliot, who through Red Eye Sails builds a lot of winning Phantom sails, he came up with the Solution.

The aim was to provide a light and easy to sail, fully self draining hull, that would perform well in light inland conditions and still be manageable for the lighter helm when the wind picked up.

The hull is a stable hard chine design, epoxy vacuum bagged construction, with a hull weight of 56 kilos. Foils are epoxy moulded with a pivoting centreboard.

Rig all alloy with a sealed mast with external halyard to reduce the risk of inversion on capsize. The mast is unsupported at deck level and has single spreaders and lower shrouds.

A traditional cascade type kicker is standard. Sail area is 8.5 square meters with two full length top battens and leech battens in the lower part of the sail.

Although the hull and deck are one design the placement of fittings and the sourcing of sails, fittings and foils is free within the design limits. Launch price is £4,195 with sail, including vat.







Solution Details:
Length 3.9 Metres
Beam 1.75 Metres
Hull Weight Expected 56kg with centreboard
Sail Area 8.5 Square Metres
PY 1066

Redeye Solution PY 1066 – 3.9m x 1.75m – sail 8.5sqm

Comparison boat info:
Blaze PY 1047 – 4.2m x 1.5/2.0m – sail 10sqm
Finn PY 1069 – 4.5m x 1.5m sail 10sqm
Laser PY 1078 – 4.23m x 1.37m sail 7.06sqm
Supernova PY 1063 – 4.3m x 1.5m – sail 8sqm
Solo PY 1155 – 3.79m x 1.55m sail 8.36sqm
Phantom PY 1045 – 4.42m x 1.64m – 9.75sqm

Contact Andrew Elliott at Red Eye Sails for more details or to arrange a demo sail.

Website: http://www.redeyesails.co.uk