Instantly recognisable with its eye-catching blue sails, the Enterprise was designed by Jack Holt as an affordable, performance dinghy for suitable for both racing and family sailing. To aid this versitility two sizes of sail are available, full size racing sails or smaller cruising sails, both using the same mast. Over 23,000 Enterprises have been built, so there is always a good choice of secondhand boats for sale. Prices start at under £500 and a good condition boat, set up for racing, can be found for under £1,000. A new boat built from wood, FRP or composite FRP hull and wooden deck will cost between £4,000 and £6,500. Older 'plastic' boats were built from GRP rather than FRP and are often less competitive for racing than a wooden boat of the same age.

The Enterprise is an easy boat to sail, but to extract its potential when racing requires skill and the class racing attracts many of the country's top sailors. It has a relatively tall mast (good for catching those light summer winds), light but strong construction and excellent manouevrability, ideal for close quarters competition. At Broadwater it sits in the middle of the racing fleet, faster than the Solos and Graduates, and slower than the Lasers, Merlin Rockets and other higher performance boats. So you will always find good boat to boat racing in our mixed fleet Sunday and Wednesday evening series. In addition to the club racing series and regattas, Broadwater hosts an annual 'Open meeting' for visiting Enterprise sailors in the Thames Valley and Eastern areas.

So why not come along and join us. Whether you already have an Enterprise or are thinking of acquiring one, we have a keen fleet of sailors here to welcome you, and if required, give tips on how to get the best from your boat.

Come and sail a Merlin.

The Merlin Rocket sits at the centre of the dinghy-racing scene. It combines the boat handling and tactical racing of the traditional designs with the thrills and excitement of the modern "fast in a straight line" designs.

Upwind, the high aspect rig means that in light and medium wind conditions, the Merlin Rocket is one of the highest pointing dinghies around. It is the bane of the trapeze boat sailor. The power to weight ratio and the controllability of the rig means that planing to windward is common in strong winds, without much loss of pointing ability.

On the reaches, the long spinnaker pole and new 10m2 spinnaker are a powerful combination. The long pole keeps the spinnaker away from the mainsail, so close reaching under spinnaker remains one of the strengths and thrills of Merlin Rocket sailing.

The conventional symmetrical spinnaker remains effective at all sailing angles and so the downwind strategy has to be carefully considered. Do you plug straight downwind or gybe from broad reach to broad reach? It depends! It's your call on the day.

There are more Merlin Rocket photos in the Gallery.

Probably more Solos are sailed at the club than any other class. The photo shows several Solos on the plane, led by our class captain (David Walford), at the Solo Open meeting held at the club this year.

There are more photos of the Solo Open meeting in the Gallery.

The Graduate is a one design, double handed sailing dinghy, designed by Dick Wyche in Nottingham in 1952.
The boat has been developed to be a well balanced, fine tuned sailing dinghy whose refinement simply can’t be matched by any of the ‘multi purpose’, ‘multi rigged’, ‘mass produced’ boats of today. Its simple, uncluttered design offers an untroubled sailing experience, making it both a good family boat and excellent racer.
It is easily handled, on and off the water and while a good sea boat it is at its best on inland waters. Unlike many of the offerings from the big manufacturers, the Graduate is not a fashion statement – here today and gone tomorrow, nor does it have an endless list of options. The Graduate is a boat free of complication that has the controls that really matter.
The design is tough and provides low maintenance sailing whether constructed from GRP, Composite, Wood and more recently, Epoxy Foam Sandwich.
The boat embraces modern materials and construction techniques, keeping abreast with developments in the industry. The mainsail has recently been re-designed, increasing the sail area slightly to give the sail a more modern cut. This has led to improved downwind performance and a better gust response.
Other developments include; carbon fiber fly away jib pole - you will never loose a jib pole over the side again! And inboard sheeting, allowing the sheeting position to be adjusted to the cut of your jib, improving upwind sailing and allowing you to point higher.
In race trim, the Graduate is sailed with two people from husband and wife, parent and child, juniors, in fact anyone. The dinghy is also relatively light for a double handed boat. This makes it easy to move around off the water by a single person; important when sailing with youngsters.

The RS Feva fleet at Broadwater now has 9 boats and is set to grow further during 2010.

The Feva is the world’s best selling two-person dinghy in recent years and it’s easy to see why. With mainsail, jib and asymmetric spinnaker, it’s fast and exciting and the ideal next step for kids looking to progress from Oppies and Toppers. And with its high boom and large cockpit, youngsters and adults can have the fun of sailing the Feva together.

One of the Fevas is a Club Boat, available to sail (under supervision) for members enrolled in the Junior sailing programme. So at Broadwater there are opportunities for training, racing or just enjoying being afloat!

For those with competitive ambitions, there is an active UK and International racing circuit. This year’s RS Feva National Championships are being held at Hayling Island at the end of May, and the Inland Championships in Northampton in June.

For more information, please contact Rodney Steel (Feva Fleet Captain) here.