Fleet Captain: Richard Pryke

The Enterprise is a 4 metre sailing dinghy with distinctive blue sails. It serves as a two-person racing boat (with a Portsmouth yardstick of 1116) or as a family cruiser cum fun-boat. The first Enterprises were built in 1955 – since when well over 23,000 have been built. Its enduring popularity is perhaps due to the simplicity of its design and the fact that it offers something to everyone – be they world-class competitors looking for an exciting boat for use on the open sea, couples looking for a popular boat for friendly club racing, or families looking for a stable and roomy boat for cruising.
A new Enterprise would set you back about £7,000 (including sails). A good second hand Enterprise might cost between £1500 and £4500 but it is quite possible to pick up a watertight fun boat for less than £100. Most of the Enterprises at Ripon are at least ten years old. Most of the regular Enterprise racers at Ripon have “old” boats with new(ish) sails - I bought my boat second hand fifteen years ago and have since bought two new sets of sails. A newer boat with new sails certainly gives you a competitive edge but it is certainly not necessary to spend a lot of money to put yourself in contention for a trophy or two.
Enterprises have featured at Ripon Sailing Club since the beginning and, at last count, there were 35 enterprise owners in the club – making it one of the biggest fleet in the club. However, many of these owners do not regularly sail in the club races and it was only after increased participation in 2002 and 2003 that we were able to regain racing fleet status in 2004.
2004 was a good season for the Enterprise sailors at Ripon with good turn-outs for the Sunday racing – particularly during the Summer, Holiday and Autumn series. The competition was close and most of our regular sailors managed to win a prize or two during the season – many of them in open competition with other classes of boat and one or two of our members did very well in competition with Enterprise sailors from other clubs.
Even though the regular racers enjoy the weekly competition on the water, and although we do want to encourage more Enterprise sailors to join us on Sundays or Wednesday evenings, there is much else for Ripon Enterprise sailors to enjoy: the Saturday novice racing is a very good introduction to racing and the opportunity simply to mess about in the boat with friends or family has obvious attractions.
The Enterprise Fleet is a friendly fleet. It holds an annual “family day” on a Saturday in July which offers an opportunity to get to know other Enterprise sailors, share tips on sailing and racing technique, get feedback from the experts and take part in some informal races. The event is followed by a barbeque and many people take the opportunity to camp overnight and so be ready for sailing the next day. We also hold a “winter social” in January or February when we meet up for a meal and exchange of news and gossip.
If you are new to Ripon, or are considering changing boats, we recommend that you join the Enterprise fleet! please feel free to contact me or any of the other blue-sail sailors.
If you intend to race, you should join the Enterprise Association and obtain a valid Measurement Certificate for your boat.

2008 News