Buying a Barker, Parker, Rondar, Ovington

Over the 40 years Larks have been in production over 2500 hulls have been made. Some of which are owned and raced regularly, however many are sitting in dinghy parks or garages providing a safe habitat for an abun- dance of wildlife. The materials used and build quality of the Lark means that virtually all of these hulls could be restored with minimum expense and therefore offer an excellent opportunity for sailors on a budget. This means you can buy a Lark second hand from as little as £50, they regularly come up on sites like E-bay, Apollo Duck and in Yachts and and Dinghy Magazine as well as on the lark web-site www.larkclass.org . So when shopping for a Lark what should you expect to get for your money: Booking Form Boat Numbers 1-1838 – Baker Lark Boat Numbers 1839-2454 Parker Lark

Baker was the original Lark builder from 1967 right Parker took over building the Lark and built a huge num- up until the late 1970’s and built the vast majority of ber of Larks throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, including Larks in terms of numbers. The boats are still fan- a huge number for Universities and Colleges who often tastic sailing and racing boats, but have suffered replaced theirP fleetsa six boats at a time. Parker Larks from issues with hull andk centreboarder case stiffness are still extremely competitiverke if they have been well as the have agedB (thea oldest are now over 40 years maintained and looked after, andr offer a cheap and old). The best way to identify a Baker Lark other easy entry level into Lark sailing. The best way to iden- than by its number is that they are all open at the tify a Parker Lark is by the rolled side decks. Expect to back of the mast gate at deck level. Expect to pay pay £200-£2000 £0-500

Boat Numbers 2455-2518 Rondar Lark Boat Number 2519 onwards

Rondar took over the building of the Lark in 2000 Ovington only took over the building of the Lark in 2009 and changed the deck design of the Lark again, and interest has been extremely high amongst existing making it slightly stiffer and dispensing with the in- and prospective Lark owners, as Ovington’s reputation ternal ‘seat’ that had been in existence since Lark for producing absoluteO top quality and consistent racing No.1. These boats have proven extremelyr popular boats like the ,vi n29er and and to and are almost all being activelyda raced in sailing name a few. They are currentlygt ino production of their clubs and regatta aroundon the UK. Again the condi- first batch of Larks that will hit the racingn scene for the tion and kit the Rboat comes with will determine the 2010 season, but as with all Larks their speed will be a price but expect to pay £2500-£4500 level playing field with those already produced by the other builders. Prices start from £7500 on the water.

Warning : Never use a number from a boats sail to determine its hull number since a large number of sails are sold second hand and the numbers are not changed from boat to boat, also University Larks often had sail numbers 1-6 rather than the boat number, but clearly the boats were not Lark 1, 2, 3 etc.

Equipment

Second hand Larks come with a variety of equipment, and many are missing some vital fitting, decent racing sails and covers etc. The Lark web-site is by far the best place to get advice on fitting out your Lark with docu- ments and photos to download http://www.larkclass.org/page/page.php?editorial_id=18 as well as tuning advice and more advice on what to look out for when buying a second hand Lark.

If you still have a question why ask a question on the forum http://www.larkclass.org/forum/forum.php or contact the Lark committee http://www.larkclass.org/contact/contact.php and well will promise to answer your question. Whatever your standard of sailing the versatility and durability of a Lark combined with the exhilarating sailing and close competition won’t disappoint. Happy shopping!

Check the Class website www.larkclass.org for further details