Family appropriate dinghies/day sailers?
 

Hey all,

My wife and I learned to sail on small boats in our youth ( 420s, butterflies, lasers, etc) and want to be able to acclimate our young ones ( 3.5 years old and a 9 month old). We expect to start off sailing by ourselves and then add the older one to the mix, but I have some questions about a good boat to do this on. It seems that alot of the small boats are really "wet" dinghies suited mostly for racing. My googling for a good family dinghy(?) in the 14-16' range are mostly British ones or old, out of production models ( e.g. Pintail 14'). Our longer term goal is to move up to something like a Catalina 25 for cruising around the Puget Sound and beyond, but for now we want to work on our sailing skils...

So here are some parameters:
Can be hand launched from a yard with ramp or off the dock
Under 18'
Rig can be Cat, gaffe, sloop
Suited to the light summer winds of the Seattle area

I came across a Pintail 14' , but without a trailer and being 40 miles away, I passed, but it seemed to be the right type of boat.

Any other ideas?

Thx

I did a Hobie Holder 14' with the wife and two children for a few years solid boat easy to setup and tale down the mast SOLO

I had a 14' Designers Choice made by Howmar. A fantastic sailing dinghy that's very forgiving. I truly regret selling it a few years ago.

See if you can find a Lido 14. Great boats, easy to sail and a lot of fun. For example see Red Lido 14 With Trailer Ready to Sail

FWIW...

I loved the holder 12 I had as a kid: easy to handle and set-up, very wide beam, huge cockpit, easy to right when flipped, and (relatively) lightweight in that we were able to put it on the roof of an Isuzu trooper.

Look at the dinghy fleets by you. See what they have. Maybe the kids will want to race one day.

IMHO the Boston Whaler Harpoon is a uniquely good solution to what you are asking for.

See
Boston Whaler Harpoon Sailboats

Cool, I have got a list so far:

Lido 14
Vagabond/Holder 14
Harpoon
Designer's Choice 14

What about Thistles? I noticed a fair number of those around here in Seattle

Thistle
 

Thistles are wonderful racing boats, but I wouldn't consider them very family or kid-friendly. The other choices you've been offered fit your parameters better, in my opinion.

Kurt

I haven't seen any around the area, but a Rhodes 19 is a nice day sailor that's very family friendly. You might also run up to Sand Point on Lake Washington and see what's in the yard for some ideas.