Hollowell Sailing Club

Our Fleet Captains are always willing to talk about their boats so if you are interested in a particular class or want advice on boat purchase, then these are the people to speak to.

We run free training courses for our boat classes throughout the year and would encourage sailors of all abilities to attend as they are very informal and are based around the requirements of the sailors that attend. If you are thinking of getting into racing then they are an ideal way of meeting the rest of your class and getting plenty of advice.

As of 2023 we will be trialling the following as 'fleets'

Asymmetric and Symmetric Double handed to be combine into one Double Handed fleet.
Single-handed fleet
Laser Fleet

PERMITTED DINGHY CLASSES

* The Sprint 15 (formerly known as Dart 15) is the one class of catamaran of which a limit of five in total are permitted to be on the register at any time.
* Permitted craft will not exceed 17 feet in length.

Solo

A single-handed boat with technical appeal, a very popular boat at Hollowell.

The Solo is a classic amongst one design single-handers. It was designed in 1955 by Jack Holt who also designed the Enterprise and Mirror dinghies.

The hull is 3.78 metres long and is hard chine (flat sections with pointy corners) originally designed for home building in marine ply. Nowadays they are usually built from an epoxy foam sandwich which is light, rugged and long lasting. Some 10 year old boats are still at the top of the results tables. You will see from the pictures that there is one fully battened sail so there is a minimum of ropes to pull. The rig is however fully adjustable for wind strength and weight of the helm and responds to tuning. It is a rewarding racing boat.
There is a strong class association (the NSCA) who organise national and international events plus travellers series around the country. They also provide useful forums, advertising, training etc. The NSCA have been successful in keeping the class up to date with new technology without becoming prohibitively expensive. Over 90 new boats were registered last year which is an indication of just how thriving the class is. The second hand market is equally strong.

Laser

Our largest fleet at Hollowell. Lasers are fast and exhilarating and offer close competitive racing.

Your Fleet Captain is Mary Mallard

Asymmetric

The Asymmetric class is one of the most recent to be introduced at Hollowell and has quickly expanded in numbers.

Asymmetric sailing is fun and exciting in a moderate breeze, perhaps not ideal for the faint-hearted, but for those looking for an adrenaline rush the gennaker provides that aplenty in a breeze.
Asymmetric spinnakers, cruising chutes and gennekers are basically one and the same. They are similar to symmetrical spinnakers in that they are light, colourful sails generally flown when the wind is on or aft of the beam, but that is where the similarity ends. The sail shape resembles a baggy loose luffed genoa and has a permanent luff, tack and clew. If a pole is required it is usually a small one in the form of a bowsprit.
The boats currently sailing in the asymmetric fleet on Sundays:

Laser 2000,
Laser Vago,
RS200,
RS400,
RS Feva,
Topaz Uno,
Laser Bahia.

Symmetric

So what boats are included in the Symmetric Double Handers Fleet?

Well first of all there are all the double handed boats that are designed for or can fly a symmetrical spinnaker. A symmetrical spinnaker is one of those pretty sails that looks a bit like a balloon and if folded down the middle will make two matching mirror image halves – hence symmetrical. Clear? Thought not. Well this might help; also included in the Symmetrical Fleet are all the double handed boats which have never been designed to fly a spinnaker. So you can be in the Symmetrical Fleet because your boat has a spinnaker of the complicated kind, or because it never had one at all. We’re really getting somewhere now, I can tell.
So the spinnaker boats in the fleet which you are most likely to see at Hollowell are:

420
Wayfarer
GP14
Kestrel
Mirror

Single-handed Fleet

So what do we have currently the single-hander fleet is now made up of : 1 Streaker, 2 Blaze, 2 Phantoms, 2 Supernovas, and 3 Splashes, 2 RS Areros, 2 Dart15s, 1 Sprint15 and 2 Optimists, quite an interesting bunch of dinghies.

Are you part of the single-handed fleet? Until now the RS Vareo and the RS100 have been in the single-hander fleet, but it has been noted that as they have one of those big baggy sails that is hung out the front IF the wind is in the perfect direction and the ideal strength, this makes them asymmetric.
As the single-hander fleet is a bit of a mixed bag hence our 'Ice Tankard' Open meeting in October - open to all classes.

Fleet Captain Peter GS Jackson

Topper

A recurring favourite at the club with juniors of all abilities enjoying sailing this more powerful boat.

Its indestructibility and durability makes it ideal for fun sailing but the class also offers highly competitive racing for more experienced sailors. The current suggested weight guideline for Toppers with the larger 5.3m sail, is between 47 and 63kg, but again there are many sailors either side of this guideline enjoying sailing their Topper and competing at a high standard.

The introduction of the smaller 4.2m sail has brought younger and lighter sailors into the Topper. There is now have a dedicated National Championship for Topper 4.2 sailors, a World Championship, and a Summer Championship which runs at the same time as the 5.3 Nationals. The Hollowell Team have always been well represented at these events.