Skip to main content

Boat Review: RS Zest

20170810_266

When it comes to sailing, the first boat a newbie sets foot on can make all the difference in the world; which is why our editors were especially impressed with the new Zest training dinghy from RS Sailing when they selected it as one of their winners in SAIL’s 2018 Best Boat contest. Its sprightly yet predictable performance, ergonomic design and easily handled rig all combine to make the boat user-friendly, safe and fun to sail.

A bright yellow sculpted thwart seat provides inboard seating for small crew not yet comfortable with hiking and doubles as a rowing seat when the optional oarlocks and oars are in use. Intermediate side-seats and comfortable side-decks in the main cockpit also allow less experienced sailors to stay comfortable while driving the boat. The boom is nice and high to help prevent head-on-alloy encounters, and the boat can be sloop-rigged with a jib to keep a crew of two (or even three) entertained, or una-rigged with just a mainsail for solo sailing.

Construction, as with so many other RS boats, is in rugged roto-molded polyethylene, with carefully engineered hardware attachment points ensuring low maintenance and a long life as successive waves of students are initiated into the sport. Other smart details include a centerboard rather than a daggerboard, making shoal-water groundings less fraught, and a well-designed kick-up rudder with a simple lift-and-lock system that makes it easy to get the rudder both up and down. Likewise, a new proprietary mast step and gate design makes it easy for novices to raise and lower the mast without accidentally dropping it. In the event the boat turns turtle, an integral aluminum handrail on the bottom of the boat (it doubles as a skid rail when the boat is dragged up a beach) allows a soggy crew to quickly re-right their craft.

Best of all, the boat is an absolute blast to sail, even for a 6ft-tall middle-aged old fart like yours truly. Preparing to set out from the Severn Sailing Association, directly across from the U.S. Naval Academy, I confess the blustery conditions out on Chesapeake Bay had me a bit worried. It’s not keeping a little boat like the Zest on its feet underway that had me concerned. It was the prospect of tacking and gybing out in all that chop. My knees just ain’t what they used to be (never were, truth be told).

One of the great things about RS, though, is not just the company’s experience, but the way it puts its new designs through their paces out on the water, carefully debugging them before releasing them to the public. This was apparent pretty much from the moment I pushed off the dock, as the boat’s powerful foils offered the perfect combination of control and forgiveness so that gybing and tacking couldn’t be easier: same thing with driving the boat either on or off the wind.

Better still, all that space between the boom and cockpit sole meant there was plenty of room to get from side to side when maneuvering. Similarly, the hiking straps are nicely positioned, so you can slip your feet in while getting your weight outboard without having to think about it, and the sidedecks are nicely contoured so that life is still good once you get out there. The overall dimensions of the cockpit were also such that you never found yourself groping for a place to gain some purchase while moving about—something I can assure you is most definitely not the case with all the dinghies out there.

Ultimately, despite my trepidation, I was soon having so much fun I totally forgot I was sailing a trainer and found myself thinking, what a great boat, period. It’s enough to almost make this old fart want to take up dinghy sailing again. 

branded

Specifications

LOA 11ft 9in

BEAM 4ft 10in

HULL WEIGHT 150lb

SAIL AREA 71ft (main and jib); 59ft(main alone)

SA/D RATIO 25 (jib and main, plus 150lb of crew)

D/L RATIO 79 (jib and main, plus 150lb of crew)

What do these ratios mean? Visit sailmagazine.com/ratios

DESIGNER Jo Richards/RS Sailing

BUILDER RS Sailing, Hampshire, UK, rssailing.com

U.S. DISTRIBUTORS Sailing North America,

todd@rssailing.com

PRICE $4,274 (sailaway) at time of publication

October 2018

Related

Anything you can do to reduce windage pays off.

Cruising Tips: Reducing Windage and Crowd Sourcing

No Dragging in the Gale When the weatherman says it’s going to blow old boots, most of us tend to look for a marina berth. Sometimes this isn’t possible; in any case we may be anchored, perhaps hundreds of miles from alongside shelter. Much has been written by me and others about ...read more

A person in an orange lifejacket holding up a signaler obscuring their face.

Gear: Ocean Signal rescueME EDF2 Distress Light

We all know that we need to carry flares for potential emergencies onboard, but traditional flares are a sticky wicket when it comes to safe, environmentally responsible disposal after they’ve expired. Made of a combination of chemicals—which can include strontium nitrate, ...read more

A red sailboat docked and shown with an anchor.

When a Routine Maneuver Goes Sideways

The Cruising Club of America (CCA) is a collection of 1,400 ocean sailors with extensive offshore seamanship, command experience, and a shared passion for making adventurous use of the seas. Their experiences and expertise make them, collectively, one of the most reliable sources ...read more

IMG_0097

Gear: RecPak and Luxefly Basecamp Meals

It’s been blowing 30 knots for the last four hours, and I’m glued to the helm. I have a touch too much canvas up, it’s dark, but I’m ripping down waves and closing in on the finish line. Alaska is about 100 nautical miles away, and I’ve put about 650 miles behind me since I left ...read more

R2AK-1.00_00_32_00.Still008

Revisiting Alaska and the R2AK

This summer, SAIL's Technical Editor Adam Cove took on the Race to Alaska—a 750-mile slog from Port Townsend, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska—alone in an 18-foot catboat. He documented the trip, from refitting the boat, adding oars, provisioning, and towing it across the ...read more

STS10_SailProof_Touchscreen_06

Gear: SailProof STS10

Dissatisfied with the results in their own sailing experience of trying to find an easy, more affordable way to route plan and navigate, the founders of SailProof in 2020 introduced the rugged, waterproof SP08 tablet. Their goal was to provide sailors who use a PC for route ...read more

2024-Book-Collection

The SAIL Holiday Gift-Giving Book List

Bosun’s Bag: A Treasury of Practical Wisdom for the Traditional Boater By Tom Cunliffe Artwork by Martyn MackrillAdlard Coles, $35 Wit, wisdom, history, seamanship, hands-on skills, and the evocative artwork of Martyn Mackrill—all are contained within this eminently readable new ...read more

4.1

NANNI Partners with SV Delos to Power Their New Build

A new adventure begins for Nanni thanks to a partnership with the famous SV Delos, whose YouTube channel is followed by thousands of sailing enthusiasts around the world. The family of sailors, known for sharing their maritime adventures, cultural discoveries and moments of life ...read more