Is inflation impacting Nationals Attendance?

A chap I sailed with a tiny bit got to be 3rd in the Open Worlds with a full-on amateur effort (ie a huge amount of sailing after work and then weeks of full-time sailing before major titles) and dropped out straight away when it went Olympic because he knew that he could either go full time or be swamped by the full timers. 

Meanwhile, down here the Finn fleets are bigger than they have been since the class was created, I think, as people move into them now that they no longer have to race full time sailors.

It's a great point about the pros being different when they change outside their pro classes. Some of the classes I sail have been used by pros for a change of scene between Olympics, and they are certainly far more mortal (but still incredibly good) when they don't have the advantage of being in a class they sail 9-5.  It's really interesting to watch them tackle a new class or type of sailing. They still tend to be pretty fun in both situations apart from the fact that they are damn hard to keep up with downwind!

The Nacra is pretty bizarre. The class reports on the WS website show that only 16 were sold in 2020 and 12 were sold in 2021. In 2021 the nation with the biggest representation in the class had an incredibly low 7 boats. No wonder there were press reports that WS was considering dumping it.

Meanwhile the Flying Phantom doesn't seem to have updated its Facebook since March 2020 (much less any other news from The Future Of Sailing) and there seems to be nothing at all happening with them apart from second-hand boats being sold.

Strange indeed, when we have been told so often that foils are the future.

I mean, obvs! Nice rakish comment btw

but the side view line-drawings would not look so cool and rakish (geddit) if the rudder angle was not the same as the daggerboard’s  

And it needs to crazy, crazy windy before my Laser takes preference to the 100 for a hoon. But I did the ILCA Masters Inlands last autumn, first for 12 years. It was light but I did actually enjoy the racing, made more fun by being in the mix with my old knocker.

money? You can buy an ILCA for £8k sail it for a year or 3 then sell it for half that. A Mackay 470 is around 3 times that to buy, it lasts a year at best, after which the hull’s a banana fit only for the bin, in racing terms at least. Stupid construction rules insisting on polyester only “to keep cost down”. At least a 505, for 470 money, uses decent materials and is thereby reasonably competitive for years not months. 

Cats may be even worse, with the lifecycle longevity of a flying ant, it seems to me. There’s always a fundamental revision or new, better cat class along in a minute. In a cat you pay no attention to a 5 degree shift. In an ILCA miss it and lose several places. 

Then you factor in the relative decline of double-handers. 

Be interesting though to see how the Finn does attracting new blood now its no longer olympic, but surely not as well as it used to. 

All in all, the ILCA seems to hit all the sweet spots and it can only be good news that Rastegar is out of the equation too.

wrong, bravo Duncan; I'm glad you enjoyed it

Demelza - it's a chat forum mate, chill your boots; or at least empty the piss out of them before you walk into the wet bar.