Andy Bullock writes: 'Sailing dinghy designs developed for cruising rather than racing are a relatively new part of the sailing scene, partly fostered by the advent of ‘Raids’ using centreboard boats (although the competitive aspect of some Raids has seen the emergence of specialist performance-oriented designs). In the UK there is an active Cruising Dinghy Association. Martin’s and Deb’s ‘Hop the Wag’ is an example of a fine purpose-designed cruising dinghy. The designs of Australian expatriate Iain Outhred and New Zealander John Welsford are influenced by traditional dinghy and fishing boat designs but use modern ply/epoxy construction methods. However just as in the past, racing yachts that were past their competitive glory days were sometimes converted into cruising craft, racing dinghies past their racing use-by-date can also be converted into satisfactory cruising dinghies, possibly at a fraction of the cost of a purpose designed cruising dinghy. A Tasmanian example is the converted Sharpie of Mick Hubbard that participated in the mini-raid held in February this year. In NSW, I have undertaken three dinghy conversion projects, whose outcome was interesting boats, even if they were/are hybrid craft.' Read about Andy's conversions in the attached document: https://tinyurl.com/y33nxadk And see the pictures below. Pippi    Beach Cruising Catamaran    Huckleberry     |
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