SMODwatch from Racing Classes Review

The Iso, to be fair, has been without anyone that's actually wanted to build them for a fair few years- when was the last time Topper put an ad in any mag for them? Promotion is now much more down to the volunteer class association. There's also an issue that the top guys in the class are convinced that the older ones are fastest (for the first race of the day at least)- one member of the technical committee sails a boat that has the rudder post lashed to the gunwhale, and if he won't buy a new one, who will? As far as "latest sail number" goes, I'd picked up (whilst sailing one) that the last known built White Formula built one was 1207, though 1206 has never been seen. The official sail number of the new one (which hasn't actually been bought by anyone) hadn't been decided lasy I hear; think they were going to plump for 1300. Remember, the first one was numbered 500 or 501.

The Boss and Spice have no builder, and no real class to speak of. But then, the Spice barely existed- as far as the Iso guys know, Topper sold approximately sixty of them.

The 5000 is no longer listed as part of Laser's range.

Tasar and B14 are different to the rest, as they aren't UK centric and never have been.

I think Laser were trying to get rid of the 5000 moulds a while ago, they may not even exist anymore. As for bits, I heard a couple of weeks ago they're down to the last 5 spinnakers...

Perhaps some boats never wear out. They may get a bit shabby and need a bit of a tidy but still stay stiff and fast. We are of course talking Tasar here, stick a new mylar rig on and a bit of Dulux and save yourself the cost of a new boat. A better judge of Tasar numbers would be to count the new rigs.

Y&Y missed me (NS14) out!

One sold last year and hopefully one, possibly two, more on the water for the sart of next season.

If you compare this to most industries, 50% of products still around after 15 years is a remarkably high figure. And yes, it's an "industry". Caveat emptor.