1975 Graham Tapper wins the World and National title at Hayling Island in a Stone built Solo 2096 ‘Lucy’. The early 70’s has seen a huge surge in GRP construction, Wyche Marine, Industrial Fibreglass, Slaters Marine, Centre Marine and Don Marine joining Holt and Stone. The Laser dinghy, designed in 1970 is taking a grip on the market and this would slow down World-wide interest in the Solo.
The Wyche Marine GRP Solo featured smooth beige gelcoat decks as standard though I have seen examples in yellow and blue. The hiking area was textured for grip. Failures would include the bond at the gunwale, the floor to side deck joint and spider cracking along the deck where the helm hiked. The timber thwart would come away from the deck and the transom would rot but apart from that it encouraged hundreds of sailors to sample the good nature of the Solo.
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator