Devotti Single Hander

"Ageist Nonsense"??? Well, "winging it", if you think hard enough even you might realize that if you pick 20 Master sailors from a top notch Contender regatta it will be a small wonder that most of them will be able to helm from the trapeze...

Just for your records: I personally prefer helming while trapezing from racks.

If, however, you pick the "Masters" of an average local Finn regatta at some gravel pit in the middle of Germany, you might find that only few or even none of them will be able to sail a Contender.

But those are where the money is.

If you look at the D1 from that angle some of the design features make a lot more sense:

The benches: Yes, racks would be easy to engineer such that they are longer, look better and do not take up all the space in your trunk when cartopping the D1, but you couldn't put the cushions on it.

Traveller: Most of the recent designs do not need it and most people would worry about the extra weight, cost, and being limited in their movements fore and aft, but it gives you something to play when locating yourself on the cushion.

If you show a RS performance boat to an average German Finn sailor he will call it "Joghurtbecher" ("yoghurt cup"??) and turn back to his beloved Finn.

So making the D1 look like a Finn as much as possible is crucial for its success.

To back it up I will try to translate a paragraph from the German Finn homepage (http://www.finnwelle.de/index.php?id=ueberuns)

"Today people like to compare the Finn with the car legend Porsche 911: Old-fashioned but perfect design matched with most refined fit-outs. It still is the fastest singlehander without trapeze in the world, the ultimate racing machine."

Well, maybe they do not need Devoti to "put the fun back into sailing" with the D1?

Anyway, I do happily believe it is sailing well and I do wish it becomes a commercial success after putting all the money and effort in it.