Characteristic for Minisail Sprites is that they are wooden boats, have a flat bottommed hull and a handle in the bow.
In the Minisail timeline they were launched and commercialised in the middle to late sixties.
There were two versions: Sprite mark I and mark II. The difference between them is the deck layout. Mark I is flushed decked, probably inspired on the very first Monaco's, Mark II has a cockpit (that's the recessed well where your feet go).
The one and only Rupert W. does very well with this boat, more so with his Sprite II (3446, named Minim) he won all Minisail Nationals since 2012 and many CVRDA ralleys.
Main advantages of the cockpit version are
- Room to leave your legs somewhere, saving your back and knees.
- The presence of structural elements to brace against or to, leaving the option of a sliding seat less necessary
Some disadvantages:
- The cockpit may fill with water going upwind, making an upcoping tack even harder.
- Hull construction (if anyone would attempt) is a bit more challenging; To make a plywood cockpit with the inside corners watertight is challenging.
As mensioned above the Sprite series have the hard chined flat bottomed hull. Sailing the boat slightly heeled makes the chine dig in the water resulting in a boat that tracks more straight and manouvers remarkably more precise and predictable.
Availability: Not a lot of Sprites surface these days but occasionally some do. If you want and find one it's worth to check her or go and have a look. Most survivers are likely to have been stored well over the years. The flimsy wooden hulls don't last long exposed to the elements.