THE PIXEL - LIVELY, STABLE AND OH SO COOL!

There is an enormous advantage to designing a boat for a particular purpose. You are not limited by class rules or inhibiting tradition. You can make it the way it should be - and these days a boat for the kids must take advantage of the very best that modern technology and design have to offer - self bailing cockpit, stable hull form without undue weight or wetted area, epoxy construction for strength and resilience, and carbon fiber rig for low weight, flexibility and durability.

The Pixel is constructed for the use and abuse of the inexperienced sailor, and for the pure delight of the experienced.

A designer frequently is asked what his favorite design is and the answer usually is "the most recent," or "the one I'm working on." So right now the PIXEL is at the top of the list. This new design is aimed at kids graduating from the Optimist or other small one design training boat and not yet ready for a Laser. The PIXEL was also designed to teach youngsters how to sail together, how to work together, and how to interact in making the boat sail at its best. In this way the boat becomes a training system for recreational sailing, sailboat racing, and for personal communication.

Today's young sailors have a word for the type of boat they like. That word is "cool" and we have worked hard for more than two years to give the PIXEL a whole lot of cool.

Sailing the first of four prototypes in the fall of 2004 and early in '05 we were overjoyed to find that adults also wear the boat comfortably and there is a growing move to use the wee yacht for frostbiting and for college and high school sailing.

Frostbiting also gives the boat a double use - junior trainer in the summer and fun for father (and mother?) in the winter. So he who writes the check has a chance to use the product. On a November day in '04 when we were sailing the prototype in Connecticut a 240 pound (his wife whispered that it's more like 255) Sonar sailor decided he wanted to give it a try. He went out as crew with a 100 pound youngster - a total weight of about 360 pounds plus winter clothing - and had a good ride in 10 to 12 knots of wind. The boat did not seem to be overburdened. But perhaps more important than the sailing performance was the fact that while at the dock the big guy managed to step around the mast and crouch up in the bow to rig the jib. We had the cameras on him, but he did not go swimming!

EPOXY, HEAT AND PRESSURE

Performance has been exceeding expectations and the carbon mast is a major contributor to this happy situation. The very light, highly flexible rig has resulted in greater stability, less pitching and faster acceleration. The mast's ability to de-power the mainsail gives the boat a wide range of efficiency up and down the wind scale.

THRILLS AND SPILLS

It is also true that dinghies will "turn turtle" or go upside down under some circumstances. With the PIXEL we have taken measures to reduce the likelihood of turning turtle. There is 8 mm closed cell foam in the top two feet of the mainsail to give it buoyancy, the mast is plugged at each end to make it watertight, and we have built in two flooding tanks in each side of the cockpit so the boat will sink down in the water when on its side to reduce the chances of turning right over.

Any unballasted boat will turn turtle under extreme conditions, such as when a strong wind or rough sea is hitting the bottom of the boat when it's on its side; and there is a school of thought that says that under these conditions having the boat go upside down is not a bad thing as when in that position the boat stays in one place and any crew member who has been separated from it can swim back to it more easily than when it is on its side and blowing downwind.

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