The Soling 50 Class was taking a lunch break from their National Regatta and lo and behold what do I see bobbing about the pond?
Here’s it is again on a high speed fly-by
Not one, not two, but…
Note the CF rudder on the far left one.
San Diego’s emerging Footy Fleet??
Actually all three boats were made by Dennis Desprois. He has named his design “American Footy”. Don’t really know the specifics, but they were made of fiberglass. Two of the them were for sale and the last one (has envelope taped to mast) will be raffled off sometime this week during one of the Regattas.
Great pics, Bruce…thanks.
I’m really pleased that Dennis got his boats done for Race Week. Getting Footys in front of that group of serious racers is perfect timing to promote our new class. It will be fun to see if Bob DeBow follows up on his comment that he could make it faster.
Wish I could have been there.
Dennis sent me a prototype of American Footy a month ago. The overall quality is very impressive. Unfortunately, the combination of work and my own sailing has kept me from being able to build it. Once I do, I’ll share my impressions with the group.
Footys are such happy boats, you just gotta love 'em.
Bill H
Bill,
Dennis has made a high quality boat here. In the kit he sent you, is the mast CF? I did get to sail the yellow boat for about 15 minutes in really overpowering conditions for the footy, so I can’t really give any thoughts on it’s performance, but for sheer fun factor, it’s a 10 out of 10. It was a good plug for his boats and the class as it became the center of attention. There was even a lady asking about quantities available at Christmas. The guy/gal who wins the Footy raffle will be going home really happy.
Unfortunately Dennis sent me a “short kit.” It includes the hull, foils, and servo/fin internal supports…no bulb or rig.
I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth here…I was really pleased that Dennis sent me the kit! His glass work is beautiful. The only reason I say “unfortunately” is that his rigs look really nice too, and I need a few good rigs for all the hull experiments I have laying around. I seem to be better at making hulls than making sails.
IMHO, carbon masts make good sense…especially if (unlike Dennis) you don’t want to run a backstay. The carbon provides the stiffness needed for an unstayed rig without large diameter or weight.
I use arrow shafts…the ones that came to a rather abrupt end by hitting a very hard surface. Even champion archers miss the target now and then! By reusing them as spars, I don’t feel as bad about the lost expense of a damaged arrow.
If you aren’t an archer, you might still find an archery range in your area where people could give or sell you old shafts. Oops, did I just say we archers like to give people the shaft? 
Bill H
Bill,
I did not trust MY luck to the raffle and bought one of the RTR footies. If you like I could take pictures of how Dennis setup the rig and anything else you might want to see. I had brought my daughters to the pond today and they were all excited over the footies. (Now what can the wife say when I tell them it’s for the kids?!)
PM you email and I will get those pictures to you this week.
I sail a Santa Barbara but am strangly interested in a footy. Are they fun to sail or are they more of a toy?
I don’t enjoy building do you know if there are any more RTFs available?
Funny you should say that becuase the S/B guys were thinking about gettng Footies to tow around like a dinghy!
Anyways, Dennis had one RTR footy left for sale at pondside. I don’t know if he has any at home in his shop ready to go. I think he is going back home today, but if you look up on the AMYA site, there is a link where you can contact him if you are interested. And yes, it was really fun to sail although when I did sail it it was way overpowered by by the conditions. In a small pond or pool the fun would be endless. All of our boats are toys…