This weekend I was doing my bit for the Sailing Club and was helping out with the safety boat and the Club’s cadets.
We had 2 of the safety boats out, a Rib with a 50hp motor on and something called a Viking which looks to me like it was once a fishing boat or a very large tender; it gives us that stable base and a platform we can anchor on the river (Colne).
I probably found the cadets more amusing than any sailing I did on the day. There is a real mix of girls, boys, those that can, can’t sail, will continue to progress and will become, given the chance, very good sailors. Half way through the afternoon, I transferred from the safety boat to sailing one of the cadets on a Topper Topaz ; an 11 year old who informed me about his previous 6 girlfriends, his current 2 year old relationship and how he is one of the strongest in his class – all completely and very innocent!
Topper Topazs are great fun to sail and incredibly easy compared to the Xenon. It is light and goes into irons very quickly when pointing into the wind. They are extremely manoeuvrable and great fun when learning to sail.
The Wayfarer was looking like a good option - it was very stable, reliable, kept its value and could fit at least 4 people in. I knew how it worked and everyone said what a good boat it was. There were a few niggles though. All the boats I saw 2nd hand had kept their value just a bit too much and for a boat 10+ years old prices were £1500++. I thought this was too much given the maintainence that I would potentially need to do. Also the matter of style started to come into it - the older Wayfarers, within the range of the boat-fund looked horrible. There were too many home made paint jobs. 
