ISO Buzz Sucessor

Technology has moved on so if you could have near RS800 perfomance in a single wire boat that was light with well sorted ergonomics would it sell? B14's are wonderful, but demand fitness, and are easy to sail slowly if you do the wrong thing Having started sailing late in life and doing the circuits in the mid-late nineties, the sailing harcore seem to be 30-45, and these are probably the ones with the spending power perhaps this accounts for the growth in family barges. If you're struggling to pay off a student loan, you're probably not going to spend 7-9k on a dinghy, and hence go in to an older established class.

Originally posted by Iain C Originally posted by NickA  If only the 505 or fireball had gone asymetric. The Fireball did! It was loads quicker downwind apparently, but obviously could not run or tight reach like a conventional boat, and it was just too big a jump to completely change the way the boats raced.  I dare say if it had gone assymm the class would be dead now, as let's face it a Fireball is always going to be a bit rubbish as an assym compared to an 800 or similar.

I sailed that prototype Asymmetric Fireball. It was anything but rubbish - the boat was well balanced and fast (in enough wind). IMHO the only problem with it was that it wasn't radical enough!

 The class wanted to know if a conversion could be done with minimum changes to the boat and at minimum cost. So for instance the kite was hoisted from the same mast sheave,the pole was kept quite short etc.

 The result was that in light winds, the standard FB kit was quicker - especially on a run. In a F3 it was significantlyquicker, but still L4000s etc were going deeper and faster. Obviously a Mast head (or 3/4 height) kite with a long pole would have been much faster than the version I trialled.

Put simply, more sail was needed and to acheive that major modifications would have been needed. The class thought that a step too far and whilst I think that was a mistake, what do I know? They have after all just had 176 boats at a UK based Worlds so they're doing something right.

Chris, the Boss and L 5000.  These were not good boats, even in their time.  On the list of other new "Not Good Boats" would also be the ISO. 

Originally posted by turnturtle Originally posted by boatshed Chris, the Boss and L 5000.  These were not good boats, even in their time.  On the list of other new "Not Good Boats" would also be the ISO.  Totally agree about the Boss and L5000 comment- 5 minutes sailing for 5 hours maintainence! But the ISO was good for it's time- there were no other production assyms at the time, and it was 4.5k for a boat almost as quick as a new 10k 505... can't complain at that.

Have to disagree with you on the point about the 5000 being high maintainence, we had ours for about 3-4 years and nothing really major went wrong with the boat. The only problem was she was too heavy and I reckon the rig could have been designed better. We've had to do more maintainence with the 49er over a shorter time but the sailing makes up for it! 5000s still are really good to sail and from our experience, pretty much bomb-proof. Can't comment on the Boss though

Originally posted by Shingle Margins must have been good for Topper in those days as you got excellent ISO deals by trading in for a newer one, and so stayed with the class. Even back then it was heavy, so when it did get trucking you knew it was extremely windy.

was the same with the 5.9 i have heard back then it was cheaper to trade in and get a new boat than buy a new main sail wish times were like that now!