Minisail Register

Seen on old advertising poster; "They laughed when I took my Minisail down to the water... but when she started to plane". 

Appeared to have a sliding seat

Turquoise

Cartagena

Spain

28/06/2020;

Bought in Alicante (Spain) in summer 2019 and restored. Previous owner had bought her on the second hand market. Hull and sail number were unknown, Number 2106 was chosen after asking MS Assoc. She is currently sailed in Mar Menor, a coastal lagoon located in south-east of Spain.

I bought the boat from Poppleton near York during 1974 when I was living in Runcorn. I occasionally sailed it on Sunday morning from the public jetty at Winsford Flash, and also with the Scouts at Tatton Park.  In a fit of enthusiasm I entered the 1975 National Championship at Gurnard Sailing Club, just to the west of Cowes. The competition was held in conjunction with Cowes dinghy week and Minisails were only one class of many in the overall regatta. 

The Nationals were the first time I had sailed MinSpy on the sea and was astonished when East Lepe buoy, looking like the standard upturned dustbin I was familiar with on inland waters, turned out to be around 20 feet high with a strong tide running past it. Winds were light each morning and Minisail races were postponed to the afternoon with the rest of the fleets. On one occasion almost every boat was rafted up at the downwind mark. I hit the buoy and reasoned that it was a more serious offence than hitting many other boats in the circumstances, and managed to extract myself and sail away. I carried out a penalty turn and think I came something like 10^th in that race out of around 30 boats in the Minisail fleet. On one other occasion, lagging behind almost everyone a large cruiser motored across my bow and stopped. I was not best pleased and cursed and swore at him. The skipper took out a camera and photographed me before motoring away to leave me to my lonely course back home. The name on the back of the cruiser was Beken! I had been photographed by perhaps the best sailing photographer in the UK and probably wasn’t smiling! I obtained a proof copy of the photo but couldn’t afford the final copies at that time.  I came an overall 21^st in those championships which I felt was creditable as I didn’t normal race my boat.

I was involved in Scouting and set up Sea Scouts in my local village. The Minisail was a valued member of the fleet and was sailed regularly at Budworth Sailing Club in Cheshire, and on Coniston and  Windermere during camps. The boat was left with the Scout Group when I gave up in 1992 due to a different job which required more travelling, and may still be in use. I’ll try to establish whether the Scouts still have the boat and let you know.I had a great deal of fun with MinSpy and thoroughly enjoyed owning her.

1969. It was at that year's Boat Show model costing £95 at the time. 

Having owned a Minisprint in my youth, & a GRP Minisail around the turn of the century (the recent one), in 2010 (I think) I saw an ad on Boats & Outboards for a wooden one at a bargain price*. So off to Maidenhead I went, & there she was, a work of art, stored in a garage roof for 20 years. Once home, I gave her a quick sand back and a coat of paint and a lick of varnish and bunged her on the water. Then took her off again and put duct tape over the bailer...Sometime around then I held a naming contest, the winning name being Minim. Perfect.

A quick sail showed that the original Richmond Marine sail was useless, and the bendy boom, well, bendy. A call to R&J saw a nice red stripy sail ordered. Luckily, also in the garage roof had been an old Solo mast, which I had offered to take away. A plastic rowlock and a hacksaw soon turned it into a Minisail boom instead. The boom, ugly as sin, is still going today.

Next up, the cvrda event at my home club Whitefriars. Thanks to the internet age and David Argle's excellent Minisail page - a lone voice in the Minisail wilderness, 6 boats took to the water that weekend, and the class was reborn. 

Over the next few yrs, Minim turned red, more sails were bought, forging a class relationship with Morgan Sails, more events were sailed & a good time had.

However, with more and more time being spent at weekends instructing and coaching, I found myself sailing the boat less and less, so when an interested buyer came along, I sold her.

But 18 months later, chatting to the new owner, he mentioned he was going to sell, so I bought her back. I still don't have much time to sail her, but she has made it out for the odd Minisail/CVRDA event, and even won the coveted Whitefriars Boxing Day bottle!

Currently she has come full circle and is tucked into the roof of my garage. I'm hoping 2020 will bring more sailing.

*The £100 I paid for her has now turned into 3 new sails, a poly cotton cover (from Sail Register - good value) tons of paint and varnish, a complete new fit out and years of boat park fees. Ah, well, such is classic boat sailing.

10/07/2020;

Bought from new in 1971/2 from Richmond Marine.

Competed in the National Championships in Louth in 197? but and came 2nd in the junior championships in 1972.

Spent holidays sailing Minisails with his neighbour (on 4147) on Lake Annecy in France, Loch Goil in Scotland and Titisee in Germany.

Currently doing some restorations during lockdown hoping to sail for the first time in 20 years

Technically he has only got the sails, spar and foils and he had to cut up the hull a few years ago; the mast had ground through the base of the well - he may pick up another hull at some point

For sale in Dublin 2015 for £175

For sale in Dublin 2016 for £349