Dinghies in 2020

-I direct you to the see through gelcoat options offered on Finn decks, doesn't require any serious modification of build processes.

-Not convinced on the nanotubes front

-Foil coatings sounds like a potential area of development, potentially save lots of sanding. Robustness possibly an issue, if it needed reapplied you might fall foul of the 'ejecting substances' thing

-The dashboard thing definitely a goer, essentially virtually there already with the GPS systems, mostly just the rules getting in the way. Most of the data could come from GPS, some would require sensors. I suppose the main point is the ergonomics with different boats having different mounting opporchancities. Not an issue if you are designing the boat and dashboard together, but for retrofitting more of an issue. Maybe you could even have a HUD projecting onto the sail.

-Power always going to be the issue for remote operation of things, or more to the point, the weight of batteries etc.

Originally posted by Stefan Lloyd Originally posted by Guest#260 The windsurfing "scene" never really created a club infrastructure Not entirely true. I can think of at least two windsurfing clubs that existed and ran club racing in Hampshire in the mid to late 80s. I'm sure there were others.

Are they still going?

How many dinghy clubs can you think of?

Originally posted by Chris 249 The (allegedly) fastest growing class, the Kona One, is in many ways a dinghy sailed standing up.

In what way?

Actually, many of the various one designs in most of the world were at
their peak (for
example, 270 in the Canadian Windsurfer nats) well after shortboards,
slalom racing etc were strong and established. The (allegedly) fastest
growing class, the Kona One, is in many ways a dinghy sailed standing
up.

There can be a huge number of similarities between the most popular
racing boards and the dinghies; for example, there's an enormous
amount of interchange among many of the more influential figures in the
boards and the boat sailors. It would take too long to list here, but for
example the most successful pro windsurfer of all and the most
successful Olympic windsurfer of all both come from boat-sailing
backgrounds, as did (and maybe still do) many of the top figures in the
industry.

But yes, in some ways the parallel falls down - as you said, the dinghies
have a huge and vital influence from clubs and classes that allows them
to largely chart their own course, without domination from the
manufacturers. Maybe the lesson is that we must maintain the strength of
the mainstream clubs and the non-extreme classes that mainly support
them if we are to maintain the strength of dinghy sailing.







Edited by Chris 249

Originally posted by damp_freddie We can disregard most of what happened in windsurfing because that market has nearly always been for matching very individualistic needs and coming out with new, top end gear all the time. No serious one designs outside the Olymics have come to the fore because everyone wants to be individual. Fine for them.

Actually, looking at the enormous breath of dinghy sailing I'd wager that
dinghy sailors, as a whole, are more individualistic.

Certainly the dinghy sailors are much less consumerist. The typical
windsurfer will move from one type of board to another over the years,
and by the most amazing coincidence they'll tend to buy what the big
manufacturers are promoting. The dinghy sailors will, to a large extent,
sail what they want to sail, and if no big company will make it for them,
they'll arrange a small company to do it or build it themselves.

Maybe dinghy sailors, with their do-it-yourself ethos (even if it's a SMOD
class being run by SMOD owners rather than the builder) seem to be
more in tune with today's world of Web 2.0 etc, in some ways. Look at the
development of the Moth. Over the past 20 years, those backyard boffins
have increased their speed around a course at least as much as the "pros"
of the big-money windsurfer scene have in the same period.

BTW, there used to be massive fleets of OD boards. The original
Windsurfer worlds were restricted to members of national teams only, and
they still got fleets of 400+. They were extremely serious, too. Then
some ODs didn't change fast enough and others maybe changed too
often, and the sport declined with the ODs.