Rutland Civil Service Sailing Club has added to its existing fleet of three national Squibs and has acquired an International Soling. We are immensely proud of our Soling a stunning boat to sail. Solings have a raced bred designed hull, keel and rudder and they slide through the water like a hot knife through butter!
What is a Soling?
The Solingis an International open keelboatclass designed by Norwegian Jan Linge in 1965 for the Olympic Games. In 1968, against completion from the existing Olympic 12 metre class and after a number of sea trials in heavy weather conditions it outperformed the 12 metre class and was selected by the Olympic Sailing Committee as the official Olympic class three man keel boat. It first appeared at the XX Olympiad in Kiel 1972 (GER). The Soling maintained this status until her final appearance at the 2000 Olympics.
The Soling is a strong boat designed for any wind and sea condition and is – above all – fun to sail. Fitness and good sailing skills are basic requirements for successful Soling sailing and racing. The boats are a unique one-design originating from an authorized single plug and mould and made of GRP making competition as equal as possible. The lifetime of a Soling is long. Those produced in the early days still sail beautifully and some are still in competition today.
Present Day Soling
Today the Soling is still a fast, exciting, non sinkable, 8.15 metre, one ton International One Design racing keel-boat, that is sailed by a crew of three (with no weight limit). Class rules allow droop hiking. The Soling is about the same length as a J80 but only 75% of its weight. The Soling is fast and rides the sea very well because it was designed for Olympic offshore racing. It has a fractional rig with a thirty one foot mast, and uses a symmetrical spinnaker. Everything is adjustable while on the go on the water. This includes the forestay, the backstay and the inner and outer shrouds. This means that in heavier weather you can flatten the main by putting bend in the mast and you can balance the helm by increasing or decreasing the mast rake as you sail. There is no mainsail reefing.
The great thing about the Soling is that it sails so well. Weighing one ton (1035 kgs) including the rigging and endowed with a “V” shaped racing hull with a very slim racing keel it is very stable and cuts through the sea with ease rather than just bashing on each wave. It is in a pedigree of its own, a great pleasure to sail and admired by all who understand a pedigree racing boat when they see one. However having said that we would only recommend the Soling to experienced sailors. We would not recommend it to novices as it is a powerful boat to handle and becomes a bit of a beast once the wind gets up.
This slogan was adopted by the International Soling Association in its early days and still applies today. There is nothing quite like the Soling Experience. Sail a Soling regularly and you will become a better sailor, race one regularly and you will become an expert sailor.