Love my Precision but still like to sail other boats.

[tjspiel]

Thursday night is "Youth Sailing Resources" (YSR) night at the lake. YSR is a non-profit that promotes sailing among kids and it has a rag-tag fleet of boats on the lake, - many of them donated.

Last year I started helping out with boat set up and then skippering. They have two Hobie 16s, a few Flying Scotts, a Day Sailer II, a Boston Whaler, some small boats like Butterflies and a new addition last week, - a Force 5.

This year I've sailed almost exclusively on the Hobies because not that many adults in the program like to sail them, yet they are super popular with the kids. So you end up with 4 kids and an adult on a boat that's really meant for two people. They are tough to turn with their hulls half sunk.

This past week a miracle happened. While I was helping get the new Force Five set up, all the other boats went out and they didn't need any more skippers. So I got to sail my friend's Rhodes 22 which I've sat on before at the dock, but never had any tiller time with.

I've talked about this boat before on the forum and I make no secret about coveting it. It's a beautiful deep blue. Rhodes completely upgraded it in 2013 and it's got all the stuff. In-mast furling, a full head, ice box, captains chairs, and a really slick motor mount that slides up and down on tracks. Everything is well thought out on those boats.

If I had the money and Dave were selling, I'd buy it in a heartbeat, - even though I've got nothing to tow it with.

But as much as I like it, it's not a high performance boat. You pay a price for the in-mast furling in poor sail shape, - no battens.

And I was surprised how tender it was. He does have this massive genoa but there was almost no wind the other night and we were still healing quite a bit whenever there was a puff. I'm sure it's no worse than my Precision. It just came as surprise on a boat that seems pretty massive (relatively speaking) and has hard chines like that.

Like our boats it has a stubby keel and I'm sure that's part of the reason. Everything is a compromise.

Still like the boat a lot, but maybe I covet it a bit less.