RS300 Sailing Dinghy

RS300 sailing dinghy

Designed by the former Europe turned International Moth racer Clive Everest, the RS300 dinghy is responsive, challenging, and above all, very fast. It has masses of innovative design features to improve handling and performance and has won accolades ever since the day it was launched.

The RS300 is a boat for those who want a fast yet tactical boat or want to sail on restricted water where a trapeze boat has drawbacks. Clive Everest worked with the same advanced computer design process as used on the RS 600 to produce a stunning, mathematically fair hull form for the RS 300 dinghy. Narrow waterline and fine entry provide easily driven acceleration and speed, yet the flared topsides give leverage and reserve stability. The RS development team put hours into creating an ergonomic deck and cockpit design, which results in a comfortable bent leg hiking position.

Staggeringly light, the RS 300 uses epoxy foam sandwich construction system so it will also be fast for years. The daggerboard offers low drag efficiency with the bonus of a rake-back system to prevent damage if the RS 300 is run aground. A long sail luff length is crucial to power and speed. On the RS 300 this is maximised using a low tack position with a steeply raked boom to provide clearance for the sailor further aft. The soft sail and carbon composite unstayed rig work together to give exceptional automatic gust response from the rig. The lack of shrouds means the boom can be fully squared on a run for maximum power and VMG.

The RS 300 uses a specially developed performance equalisation system to provide a broad competitive weight range. The problem faced when equalising a dinghy of this type is that much of the time downwind is spent sitting “in” the boat, so leverage equalisation does not have any effect. The RS 300 uses two sail sizes to ensure that the power to weight ratio and handling characteristics are similar for both large and small sailors.

All this sound technical ? It is ! The RS300 is not a beginners boat and can be a handful to sail even with the smallest rig. But well sailed, the RS 300 is a great boat which is demonstrated by winning the British Sailboat of the Year in 1998.