International 210?

[therhino]

I'm new to the sailing universe, and wondered what the prevailing thoughts are about the International 210. I've only seen photos, and the lines are very nice, I think. The propaganda about it claims that it is just as great of a comfortable, safe, day-sailer as it is fast. True? Also, what is the construction like on the older models? Is it a boat that can be restored without rebuilding?

[rbgarr]

The 210 is a fine boat, but for daysailing it would be easier to sail with a blade jib in place of the standard genoa. A consideration is that the boom is very low, so the crew really does have to be seated most of the time and has to beware of getting hit on the head when tacking and jibing. As with any wood boat, the need for repair depends on the extent of trouble. Because the wood 210 is made of plywood panels it may be more difficult to replace a part of a panel and get the hull to be fair and smooth

With blade jib


With genoa jib:

[johnw]

certainly one of my favorites. Should be as easy to restore as any plywood boat. Evercoat and lots of sanding can make most anything smooth.

[bamamick]

I think that they're awesome. The guys at Gibson's Island, Maryland race with nothing but jibs and they like it. There is a group within the class who is thinking that a bigger roach in the main and a shift to jibs would give them a shot in the arm and are considering the switch, it sounds like.

If you've got access to one and are only worried about the sailing characteristics, don't. From everything I have ever heard or read the design is a winner.

Mickey Lake

[johnw]

Under Portsmouth Yardstick, the 210 rates 87.3. That's faster than a Dragon, and a whole lot cheaper to build or restore.

[rbgarr]

I'm suspicious of Portsmouth yardstick. My Shields rates 84+ and it beats a local 210 and Etchells regularly (rated faster!) by a good deal more than 3 seconds per mile. Yet the IOD rates five to six seconds per mile faster and it's much harder to close that gap for the Shields.

I'm pretty confident the skippering and sailing abilities of the crews aren't the difference.

[Hwyl]

210 has a very active class assoc, contact them.

[therhino]

I've decided to pass on the boat - I don't have enough shop space to work on it. However, if anyone in Texas is interested, there's one for $400 with a trailer on sanantonio.craigslist.org right now. Just talked to the guy on the phone.

Edit: dangit - can't find the ad now - he must have deleted it

[Quatro444]

Great old photo of 444! Its not wood though... I should know I own it! I do care for #35 and shes a woodie...

[tprice]

We have a fleet of 210s at Gibson Island - mixed wood and glass and we find that the boats seem fairly even. I spoke with the Chesapeake Light Craft about building them in wood with fillet glassed chines and simplified structure (Stitch and glue or tabbed). Feasible but CAD work would be significant. A wood 210 could certainly be a winner I think but Class rules currently dictate construction. Plenty of older wood boats available to restore and they are relatively simple and long lasting boats, easily restored. The long flange at the top of the keel is a great structural element, keeping the rest of the boat light. Great boats, way ahead of their time, very nice looking and fast. Light weight, shallow draft (3'10"), easily trailerable and good in both heavy and light air. We have several glass and wood 210s for sale (< $2,000.) as we modernize our fleet if anyone is interested.

[tprice]

In our fleet we raised the boom 4". It makes no difference to the way the boat sails and there's little loss in sail area because of the way the roach is measured. We only use blades and for our own use we bumped out our roach a bit more at the top batten about 6" to make up for the lack of area because on no genoa. Works for us and easily converted to Class specs (sliding gooseneck).

The 210 is a fine boat, but for daysailing it would be easier to sail with a blade jib in place of the standard genoa. A consideration is that the boom is very low, so the crew really does have to be seated most of the time and has to beware of getting hit on the head when tacking and jibing. As with any wood boat, the need for repair depends on the extent of trouble. Because the wood 210 is made of plywood panels it may be more difficult to replace a part of a panel and get the hull to be fair and smooth

With blade jib


With genoa jib:

[bamamick]

As the owner of a 210 AND a Dragon I can say that the 210 is a lot easier to do the stuff that a daysailor would like to do with a boat. The way I think of my boats is that the 210 is a racing daysailor, and the Dragon is a racing boat. As far as maintenance goes, there's not a contest, the 210 is easier to maintain and take care of.

So if I were to make a recommendation to someone looking at the two, it would be fairly easy. If you have to ask I am going to recommend the 210, because if you don't look at a Dragon and immediately fall in love with it you would probably prefer the 210. In my case, it'd be the Dragon every time.

Mickey Lake

[Ben Fuller]

Rebuilt a 210 in Hawaii many many years ago. Actually we salvaged a keel and hardware from one that was sunk to put on the boat we were rebuilding as ours had been dropped on its keel and the keel had broken. The chief structural issue was that some of the bent frames had broken in the area of the mast step and cockpit. These were easily replaced with sawn frames. The Hawaian boats were all glassed over the plywood because of the prevelence of teredo navalis. Loved it as a daysailor, surfing off of diamond head. The blade job is a good idea as the boats simple winches were somewhat under powered for racing. And lifting the boom would be good: we broke ours at the gooseneck surfing off diamond head.... Boom was hitting the wave in front of us. Up our way not long ago someone single handed cruised their 210 down most of the coast.

[Jay Greer]

I had a 110 many years ago and liked it very much. When I visited Marble Head I noted that a large amount of 210s were in the harbor. Obviously it is more popular on the East coast than the West. I like that 100% Blade rather than the genoa. Pretty boats! My 110 did slap a bit going to weather.
Jay