A very special visitor on the Cadet stand at the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show
by Ian Harris 8 Mar 2016 13:49 GMT
5-6 March 2016
The Cadet class, about to celebrate its 50th World Championships in Argentina at the end of the year, had a fantastic RYA Suzuki Dinghy show this weekend. With the prospect of 6 new club fleets on the horizon, the class is calling for any spare boats to be made available to the 2nd hand market as a recent surge in numbers has seen most of the boats for sale snapped up. With the Cadets passing the 10000 number this year, the new Synergy Marine Cadet was on display at the show demonstrating what modern thoughtful design and technological advances can do for an established classic. The Cadet at the show was the National and Junior World Champions "Twocan", which won 3 races at last year's World Championships in Garda. The resin infused foam construction provides a seriously stiff and potentially long lasting boat that offers a very fast and low maintenance alternative to the traditional wooden boat.
The class catchphrase "You never forget your first Cadet" is usually accompanied by some numbers being quoted to the Class representatives on the stand during the show. We thought that number 2500 would be about the lowest boat number we would hear. That is until we met Roy Jarred.
Roy built his very own Cadet aged 15 some 69 years ago. He sailed her on the Blackwater as a young boy. The boat was number 35! This wasn't Roy's 1st home-build boat, his previous attempt led to an adventure in a canal, the winter before, however that's another tale. Roy said, whilst studying the build quality and technology of the Synergy boat, that they "look a little bit different" from the boat he built all those years ago! A testament to the original Jack Holt Cadet design, that the concept is still as relevant and right today as it was on the drawing board. With the advent of new materials and developments of the interior layout, the boat continues to provide a unique safe start as a junior training boat yet also offers true global world class competitive sailing, as many an Olympic medal winner will testify.
Thank you to everyone, especially Roy, for visiting the Cadet stand this year and for making it a very positive place to be.
My apologies if I have Roy's name wrong it was a very loud show! If it is would you please contact us to let us know?