by M-Yachts      Fun Factor   YouTube Video   Update   Other Skiffs

The is the most exciting racing dinghy you could imagine. It planes in 6 knots of wind and you go flying. You might think of this boat as a PS, i.e. Personal SKIFF. When I first saw advertisements for this boat, I was convinced that it would take an olympian to manage that much sail on such a tiny boat. I was surprised that while the boat is quite tippy when you first get on it, the speed makes for amazing stability.

This stability is due to the unique construction of the hull. The shape of the "wings" is such that the leeward wing generates a lift as soon as the boats heels enough for the wing to make contact with water. The other stabilizing component is the asymetrical chute because it creates a pulling forward rather than a pushing over action.

As a result, a puff that will cause most other boats to heel excessively will cause this boat to translate the extra energy into super quick accelleration. In fact, you must hang on so that the boat does not slip away right from underneath you. I know that this sounds a bit hard to believe but that can actually happen.

With the first time I saw my speeding off into the sunset whilst thrashing about in the waves, I quickly learned to anticipate the surge of energy with any approaching puff.

The asymetrical chute is totally unique for single-handed boats. The launching halyard is attached to a reverse purchase system that permits lauching of the chute to be done with a single 4-foot pull. When dousing the chute, you pull the continuous halyard the tail end of which feeds through the spinnaker sock up into two points of the spinnaker. Thus the chute can be taken down with the pull of a single line within two seconds.

Sorry, but these pictures are not of me. I'll have yet to get someone else to take a few pics next season. Then, I will post pics of my own skiff.

Click HERE for a demo video of M-Yachts' if you want to get the full scoop on this incredible boat. The hull weighs no more than 115 pounds yet carries a total of 162 sqft of sail.

That is what I call the FUN FACTOR!


Here are the specs:



LOA:	12'11"
Beam Max:	5'
Draft:	2'8"
Hull Wt:	115 lbs.
Main:	84 sq.ft.
Spinnaker:	78 sq.ft.




Designer: Vlad Murnikov
M-Yachts webpage: No longer active


One small word of caution! In order to enjoy handling the , you should be in good physical shape - especially your back and knees have to "work properly". Other than that, you do not have to be a super expert before you can give the a try.






UPDATE - November 1999 Having now sailed the MX-Ray for one entire season, an update seems appropriate. Around these parts, docks have been taken out for the winter and most Western PA sailors have long since packed up their boats. While they dream of next spring I am still having my Ray out by the Lake ready to fly. And so it was yesterday afternoon, Nov. 9th, 1999. It was an incredible 74 degrees. As a cold front approached from the north west, a southerly breeze of 15 - 25 knots created an almost eerie atmosphere at Lake Arthur. There was no holding me back. As it turned out, winds were actually puffing AT LEAST 25 with many higher gusts. I had developed quite a bit of experience and become very comfortable sailing the Ray in 15 to 20 knots. 25 knots however was a few notches above what I had managed before. In general I continue to be amazed by the stable design of this tiny craft when winds really kick up more than most weekend dinghy sailors would brave willingly. With adrenaline pumping, I launched and flew on a beam reach faster than I could have imagined. Once I got out of the wind shadow of the launching area, white caps got whipped off horizontally and you really had to ride the waves in order to maintain the balance on the beam. I was reluctant to launch the kite because I wanted to work myself upwind first. At 25 knots, this is no easy task. I also was concerned about the acceleration factor which at this wind speed might have been too much to hang on to. I was not making much upwind headway, all the while enjoying ridiculously fast reaches. But then, winds finally let up a bit and I quickly beat myself upwind. While winds were still 10-15 I hoisted the kite. As I got underway at a swishing clip, winds once again began to swell and build until they unleashed themselves into an unbridled blowout of at least 30 + knots judging by the looks of the waves. I had already experienced some awesome thrills on the MX, but I must admit that I had never reached this sort of peak speed before. The puff virtually lifts you and the boat up as if by invisible hands so that you almost seem to gain "lift off" speed with only the tail and rudder screaming through the waves leaving that famous MX-wake. (a wake you never really see because you are already too far ahead) After hiking out for two and a half hours under envelope pushing conditions, my entire body had that happy aching feeling to tell me that such exhilaration comes at the price of real physical work. Fair winds to all visitors from sunny Western PA in November '99!




Newer Single-Hander Skiffs

Since the introduction of the MX-Ray, new single-handed skiffs with asymetric spinnakers have been introduced. The boats which will surpass the MX-Ray in speed (as well as required skill) are those designs in which the sailor has to manage everything from a trapeze. I have no doubt that this would be a thrill.

Here are two designs which have caught my interest.



Musto Performance Skiff
The slim hull offers rack extensions on either side of the hull to help the trapezed sailor get out the ballast.

International Swift Solo
This amazing design has an ingenious main-jib sheeting system that allows the single-handed sailor to manage three sails at the same time.