Express Dinghy

davidh · Post by **davidh** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 2:24 am

Another lost class for Sale on Ebay.

has anyone got any detail/background to the Express?
I know that the boat was sponsored by the paper of that name (cor, how times have changed...... a dinghy sponsored by an empire built nowadays on smut!) but does anyone have more in the way of information on the boat...designer, builder and, sadly, it's fate.

Thanks
D

Post by **Rupert** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:06 am

There were a who series of letters in Y&Y a while back about the boat, and one of the dinghy websites had a whole load of detail, so it may well be worth trawling through stuff. I can remember that she was designed to get round the 25% VAT on boats which came in in the early 70's, as you could rent the moulds and build her yourself, a slightly smellier process than building the Mirror!

Post by **stu** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 1:03 pm

I think it was designed by the father of a mate at my sailing club. Harris is his surname. It was sponsered by the express, there is some details around, have a look with google, this has come up with stuff on this before for me.

Post by **stu** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 1:07 pm

http://forums.preloved.co.uk/fuseaction ... c5ad8.html

davidh · Post by **davidh** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 5:48 am

Thanks for the info so far, I've been tracking down the forum strings elsewhere. Sadly, Ian Harris, the son of the designer, has changed his email address so it's proving difficult to get any more detailed info.

An interesting concept though - to get around the VAT one hired the moulds and built the hull on a DIY basis..... could account though for the variations in build quality (like...transoms falling off) that may be an issue with the boat.

Was the boat sponsored by the Daily Express in the 1st place?

Has anyone raced one within the association?

D

Mary · Post by **Mary** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:03 am

There is one sitting in the compound at Chippenham, not had its cover off for years though.

Post by **stu** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 1:56 pm

I'm not sure they would qualify, unless they were considered as an unusual / lost class.

davidh · Post by **davidh** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 1:32 am

another good point BUT......here's a class that is lost by any normal definition. There's no Class Association, they've dropped of the active classes 'radar' and those boats that still exist tend to be those left, sad and forgotten (like the boat in Chippenham) in a dinghy park.

If the Express doesn't qualify then what about the other design of the moment - the Spearhead (see other forum string) - or some of the other otherwise 'lost ' classes. It's back almost to the recent discussion on the Mirror 14/Marauder. From what I know of that class there's probably more Express dinghies still in existence - if being left under a rotting cover can be classed as 'existing'.

IN addition, the boat that was for sale on ebay a fortnight ago - the Silver Streak - again, by the 'letter of the law' that wouldn't qualify yet I'd love to see one of these boats back out on the water (likewise the Clipper).

At the same time, on ebay - there's a Bad Company Merlin Rocket. Okay, it needs a lot of TLC but put a reasonable rig on that, fit it out carefully and you'd have a lake boat that would not be disgraced even amongst many modern Merlins (at least inland).
I guess that's just another of the questions to be considered as the new 'industrial' classes continue to exert a stranglehold on dinghy sailing - leaving more and more traditional classes 'out in the cold'

David

Post by **Rupert** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:40 am

I would certainly welcome any of the boats you have just mentioned to a CVRDA event. If they came to Clywedog, we would be able to run a "lost classes" trophy, if we had some warning, and anywhere else they would just have to "Muck in" using handicaps much as we do for the newer development class boats, to keep the vintage boats competitive.

davidh · Post by **davidh** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:53 pm

Rupert,
thanks.......... as you'll see from the other string (spearhead) I'm still focusing my search on the ghost/typhoon bt, if I can unearth one then it will be out there racing for sure.

That said - as an ex MR sailor - should an outrage or Courageous turn up in ok nick.....or my old Credit Card (3199) then it would be so tempting to get afloat in one of those too.
But in the wider picture..... with boats like the Typhoon, Unit, Spearhead, Express, Marauder, ToY - and then the Gull, Heron, Pacer and so many more - it could get crowded out there!
D

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 11:20 am

Why isn't the Silver Streak elligable? They were around in 1963....