Blaze Dinghy Review
Marion Georgi
Below, you can see the white part of the sidewall change width along the length of the ski. The tails of the ski are on the left side of the picture, and the sidewall starts about halfway along the tail. Under the heel piece, you can see that the white sidewall section is much thicker,
Outside of the Backlands, my personal quiver includes 4 skis ranging from 108 to 114 underfoot. I love powder. I spend hours each week tracking temps and sun exposure all across the Washington Cascades in search of powder. I was very apprehensive to trust a moderately rockered, 98-wide, shorter sized ski to be serviceable in powder, much less fun. But the HRZN Tech delivers on its promises.
This design adds surface area to the tips of the ski, which helps with float. But it also reminds me a lot of the bottom of a dinghy. Stick with me while we go on a slight tangent talking about boats.
The tails on the Backlands are also fascinating to me. In firm conditions, they feel like a flatter, stiffer, supportive tail that provides stability. But in soft snow, it feels surfy and progressive, not locked into turns. I think Atomic went full Goldilocks with the tip taper, rocker, and flex in the back half of the ski to deliver the best of both worlds.
The Backland 98 W is much better on hardpack with a slight trade-off in powder. The effective edge is also longer on the Backland 98, so I was able to get away with a shorter size (which cut even more weight) without feeling wildly shorter. I went with a 164 on the Backland 98 W and a 171 on the Pagoda Tour 100 RP. For the full review of the Pagoda Tour, click here.
I regularly sail a Laser (1) with full rig and find this fun and still a
challenge in a bit of a blow. I have come to the opinion it is a fairly a
difficult boat to sail well and couldn't claim to have mastered the boat
yet, in a perverse way, that is its attraction. I like my sailing as fast
and physically demanding as i can manage.But wanting everything i as wondering if there was a boat that was as
challenging as a Laser or slightly more so, that i could race single handed
but still take a body or perhaps two for a pootle in my role as father
figure.I came across the Topaz Sailing system i.e. it can come with six different
rigs one of which is the UNO Race. Sounds ideal. BUT i noticed the PN number
for the boat in this RIG is 1240 as opposed to a 1970's design Laser which
is 1078. (Even the "Tres "with a full battened Main and spinnaker it is only
1175) ?? Why So.I was surprised at this as the UNO Race has very nearly the same size sail
as a Laser.??.Question
Does this mean the Topaz is likely to be a bit dull compared to a Laser. Or
am i reading to much into these performance handicap ratings.I am intrigued as possibly my theoretical favourite option this far is the
RS vareo, PN 1060 with 8.8m main or 1030 with additional spin. (Big grin)
trouble is they need to sell a couple thousand more so i can find people to
play with at weekends. A problem i wouldnt have with the laser and
presumably the Topaz.Also does the PN number reflect the crew number, in other words if it was
physically possible to race a given boat single or two man, would the
handicap have to be different.?JohnWSpeed Junky
I get the impression the Topaz was Topper's response to the Laser Pico, and
both seem to me to be an improved Topper for training young people.I suggest you look elsewhere - indeed, I'd not suggest a Topper boat, other
than the Topper itself and perhaps the Buzz, to anyone. My impression is
that Laser and RS are way ahead of Topper these days.Mark
You can have serious fun singlehanding a "two-man" boat, especially if
it's fairly windy. You fight your way to windward, spilling wind
everywhere, but when you turn downwind, to a nice very broad reach,
(steering to keep the hull under the rig) the boat planes
significantly faster than if it had two people in it. Warning: You
may swim occasionally.In lighter winds try setting spinnaker/gennaker singlehanded - again
on a reach you'll go faster without the crew weight. Warning: You may
swim more frequently, and have to do a bit of sorting out of strings
on righting.
John Wilson
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I don't suppose you would have first hand experience of the relative
difficulty of an RS300 compared to the Laser.I had a brief chat with RS and the sales guy got a bit carried away
extolling the high performance nature of their boats and practically said
that a Laser sailor couldn't possibly jump in and sail an RS, lacking the
God like abilities presumably. A strange way to sell boats but if its true
then fair enough, except some of us like it hard and don't mind three months
of looking silly falling out. Actually it may be advanced sales technique
because he has definitely piqued my interest.JohnW
I think that others have hit the nail on the head - a fast challenging
singlehander and a family boat are IMO almost mutually exclusive. I think
you can forget the Topaz, though.I've just bought a Blaze and can testify that it's challenging to master,
but it's a barrel of laughs and it goes like stink in a blow. It's also a
little less extreme than the RS range of singlehanders, Vortex etc. One of
the attractions for me was the size of the boat and the amount of room under
the boom. (I'm 6ft 5, weight about 18 stone). I'm not going to be
mega-competitive in the boat, but one of the attractions was the size of the
Blaze cockpit and the room under the boom. Other choice, depending on your
size, is a Phantom.My advice, buy a Phantom or a Blaze for you, and pick up a cheap GP14 and
sail that with the family. You can get GPs for next to nothing, old mid 70s
plastic boats. You'd never race an old one, but they're bloody fantastic,
well mannered, stable pottering about boatsIain
For a newbie's perspective, you could have a look at the Topaz threads I
recently initiated. In summary, I found it rather cramped and uncomfortable
(5'10", 11st, not a teenage rock star), kinda slow in light winds, and ready
to tip over if I wasn't paying attention. I had lots of dips, probably due
to a combination of my poor technique and inexperience in spotting a need to
balance quickly enough. I ended up frustrated because it was going over so
quickly, it was hard to work out what went wrong. It's a sit-on, rather than
a sit-in boat and looks very much a one-person jobbie. In light winds, I was
hunched up in the middle and didn't like it. In a F5, I could get up on the
side and lean out a bit.I was out in a Wanderer last night, with one crew, which I enjoyed far
more - it's probably more suited to my level of (in)experience and maybe the
kind of sailing I'm attracted to at the moment. Even if I found the Topaz
easier to sail, I think I'd still find it cramped and uncomfortable.
You can sail some fast challenging single handers with a kid up front
enjoying the ride. This would apply to a phantom or a vortex (I don't
know the blaze). On a vortex you could probably get them on the wire
although I haven't tried to see if you would get in each others way
when tacking. Clearly you would need to consider the conditions and
the child's water confidence before going out.I would agree however that a second boat is a better solution unless
you need to take both boats with you. (Although you can get trailers
that can take two boats).
Yep The Topaz is fading from my stary gaze, need more punch.As for Single handed sport boat that could pootle well you are right but see
. If the description is to
be believed it is fastish but stable enough for a casual crew member
occasionally, allegedly.Also having been frustrated by the difficulty of finding downwind speed in a
Laser the Spinnaker fitted to the RS Vareo competition rig intrigues me, i
dont see why two man boats should have all the fun downwind.
>
> I've just bought a Blaze and can testify that it's challenging to master,
> but it's a barrel of laughs and it goes like stink in a blow. It's also a
> little less extreme than the RS range of singlehanders, Vortex etc. One
of
> the attractions for me was the size of the boat and the amount of room
under
> the boom. (I'm 6ft 5, weight about 18 stone). I'm not going to be
> mega-competitive in the boat, but one of the attractions was the size of
the
> Blaze cockpit and the room under the boom. Other choice, depending on
your
> size, is a Phantom.
Yep Blaze does look fun and is reasonably priced and is now on my shortlist,
will take your tip on the Phantom. There is one at a local Lake and i may be
ale to beg a Try Out. I haven't raced against it but it looks quick,
Yep i think my point of view missed the mark as it now seems obvious my
assumption that you had more power and less stability than you could handle
"just now", was incorrect. Needing F5 just to sit properly means you were
underpowered surely?
Did you have the training 5.64mtr Topaz sail (the stripped one) which would
be hard work in waves for most men . I wouldn't beat up the staff though, if
you look 11st that is quite light and they would have thought you would be
fine. If they have the bigger sail give that a go, it could transform the
experience, or you could fall in more :-). .
(Name and address withheld :-) )
My advice about flat water holds true though
> Yep i think my point of view missed the mark as it now seems obvious my
> assumption that you had more power and less stability than you could
handle
> "just now", was incorrect. Needing F5 just to sit properly means you were
> underpowered surely?