Catching the Feva

[khiemtran]

Sunday afternoon at the Georges River, and I'm in for a real treat... I'm going to try an RS Feva for the first time.



The Feva is a sure-footed, sporty little dinghy, ideally sized for two kids or two small adults. Compared to the Mirror, everything is simple and convenient.



With a brisk southerly blowing, the Feva really moves.



Lots of others are out enjoying the good weather. There are uni students learning to sail...



And Moth sailors tuning up for the start of their season. Those things really move when they get up on their foils.



While they're impressive from a distance, they're something else when they've just flashed by a few metres away. This one was easily doing twice our speed when it crossed in front of us.

Comments

[soon_lee]

The Feva looks elegant. Lovely photos.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The photos came out better than I expected because most of them were with me holding the camera with one hand while holding on to the jib sheet with the other.

[carl-allery.livejournal.com]

Wow, the moth is unbelievable. Stunning photos.

The Feva looks like a very nice little dinghy. It's not hard for a pure sailing dinghy to beat the Mirror in performance or simplicity since it's designed as an all-rounder and a Jack-of-all-trades will never measure up to a specialist.

... but you can get 4 adults in a Mirror ... ;)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

The real beauty of the Feva is that it needs next to no maintenance and you get rig it in a few minutes, so it's a great boat if you just want to get out and have a blast across the bay. That said, I'm really looking forward to taking Shearwater out for a few family expeditions.

[carl-allery.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Mirror will always lose out over GRP boats on maintenance. I was very lax with my own boat and she ended up with some unnecessary rot. I have a habit of letting wood go for too long without attention, a habit I need to curb now that both my cars have wooden trim!

I can definitely see the benefits of being able to rig-and-go and then put away until the next time.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Wow, the closeup on the Moth is really cool! And indeed, from all the spray you're kicking up sailing, you must have been going at a good speed, yourself. (And you must have a pretty fast camera--It's practically strobe-like, that spray!)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, we thought we were going quite fast compared with the Pacers - until the Moths showed up... One of the fun parts when you get enough wind is that you can really lean out a long way over the water (known as "hiking"). With a bit more wind, you end up almost horizontal, and it feels like you're flying over the water alongside the boat (plus getting soaked in spray every time you hit a wave).

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know that Moths existed. Cool concept. :P

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Moths as a development class have been around for decades, but it's really only in the last ten years that foiling Moths have taken off (if you'll pardon the pun). Along with the foiling A-class catamarans, they've really changed the game, and sailors are still learning what they can and can't do with them..