Hard to have more than one person on board unless you like getting wet
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
The Topper is an excellent youth boat. It is the perfect progression towards sailing larger single handed dingys when you get older. It is now even better than when I sailed it. You can now modify it to have a centre main sheet which again aids the transfer to more powerful boats in the future.
It is great for people new to the sport and can take the battering of children or the not so in control sailors. I for one have had 12 people on it at once and have ramed it into a few jetties without any damage. It is great for practicing capsize skills as it is fairly light to bring up and as I have said it can take the strains. It is both a performance boat for racing and also a brillient boat for fun. They are also readily avaliable second hand and new and there is no worry of not being able to get any replacement parts.
There are a number of other boats on the market which are also very good for those new to sailing and youth sailors as they progress. The Laser Pico is one of these. This is much more a boat for learning to sail and having fun on. It is much quicker and easier to set up and can be sailed as a single hander or a double hander which can be good for those learning as the person teaching has space to sit and help. Unlike on the Topper where my Dad has spent many days cramed under the kicker. Children can also go out together which can boost in some cases confidence. On the Topper you usually end up with one person on the nose of the boat, which can have some comical consequences of the boat nose diving as we call it, where it gets pushed under water. This in itself became a reason to want to go out on the Topper. My brother and I have managed to make the Topper pull many tricks over the years. Including doing a wheelie. The Pico has been on the market a much shorter time than the topper and it does not have the same presence in racing. The topper is a much safer bet if single handed race sailing is the purpose of the boat. But if it is more a boat for fun and progression then other boats should be considered. Although, as i have said the Topper surves both purposes, so if you're just starting and are not sure whether you would be interested in racing, the Topper is probably the safer option.
The Topper has long been the boat recomended for single handed youth sailing. I think this will be so for years to come as well. It is also a good investment as Toppers are always in demand and don't tend to lose too much value over the years. Its a Top(per) boat.
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