Active Classes

Originally posted by Guest#260 I think that is one of the reasons the "traditional" classes seem to do well is because they have a long history of voluntary labour to drive and administer the class. When a new SMOD arrives they face the challenge of building a comittee of volunteers from scratch; this is not easy to do ... Is we use the RS300 as an example; it's resurgence is not driven by LDC but by the guys that are sailing it. Rick

You need manufacturer committment  in todays market.

Eating pies is optional.

Originally posted by damp_freddie Originally posted by Shingle Back to boats, look at the 59er, poorly marketed, with no owners association. This superb performing boat looks destined to fail, unless it too can find a dedicated minority to promote it strengths. Where it differs is not having a fair amount of cheap entry boats, like the nineties renaissance classes. Do you sail a 59er? looks like one on the avatar. Are you heavy like me- see my request in the 'buying a boat'The 59er lacks even a mention on Ovi's banner add above the forum and seems pricey so maybe the marketing is all wrong. One problem with many of the new classes and existing boats is for those of us with more weight- you are left with the finn, phantom and megabyte which are mostly limited by numbers or geography. For two up you have the same problem with the lightening and the 505 is pretty pricey for a new kitted out boat to say the least. There are too many classes fighting in the 'average' sailor belt. One design racing is the true test.

Damp Freddie ... so I guess you will have to eat less pies and stick to the tonic water ...

What about getting an FD ... they look pretty good and it seems most people in the UK sail older boats so should be cheap ... plus they are pretty good overseas so you get lots of nice holidays ...

Rick

The choice of a class is a very personal matter. It all depends on what you want to do, and who you want to do it with. Let me give an example - imagine you want to sail a hiking, no-spinnaker dinghy (aka known as the thinking man's tactical racing option - especially down wind).

The person who wants truly international racing with a circuit of races throughout the world (Febuary in Nassau, Easter in San Remo, summer in Scandinavia... plus the occasional trip to Japan or to Rio), a class in which you can borrow boats abroad and still do well... will naturally gravitate towards the Snipe, despite the relatively low level of activity in Britain (although there are fleets from Broadstairs to the Orkneys).

The person who wants lots of open mettings but can't be bothered to have to much contact with Johnny Foreigner and their funny lingo will go for the English speaking option - the Enterprise. Huge activity here (including Ireland)plus the odd Worlds in India...

For the less travelled, who wants a friendly, family-friendly circuit there is the Graduate...

None of these remarks implies any criticism of the boats (indeed I suspect that the intrinsic charecteristics of the boat are laregly irrelevant), or the people who sail them. I just want to point out that the personality of the fleet, and the type of activity, is a significant factor in choosing a boat.

Now try the same excercise with other categories of boats...

 

Your normal club sailor who does a few open meetings often picks up a new crew on the offchance, very difficult to do this with an Int14, you need to be committed (in both senses probably).  You can't overestimate the influence of the class association, particularly where it works hard to encourage club sailors.  Everyone talks about the class they sail because it's the one they know, but the success of the Merlin is not just because of the better availability of competitive boats.  Even that was from an initiative led by the class association and required some rule changes.  There is an excellent, affordable training programme and regional as well as the national circuits of open meetings.  However good the boat is you won't get the competitive racing we all enjoy without this (voluntary!) infrastructure

N12 numbers are not that small,

while the champs entry was down for this year (Abersoch is a long way from any 12 sailing clubs) and opens were a bit quieter than usual (lots of new additions to various 12 sailing families meant not hitting the road so much) the champs average is still 55 boats over the past 5 years.  Thats pretty much in the same ball park as many of the other hiking two handers:
Larks 48
Fireflies 53
Scorpions 63
Merlin 64
Albacore 43

As has been said above, these things go in cycles and with more and more modern 12s starting to turn up on the 2nd hand list at attractive prices I think things will begin to pick up again soon.  With the 70th anniversary next year the champs entry should be one of the best for years.
 

Edited by DiscoBall