RS500 ...

Chewie - does your new class remind you of anything? I14 went through many changes of rule before we got to where we are now - that's the problem with out-and-out development classes. In order to remain at the cutting edge - as if that matters - you have to develop the rule as well as the boat within the rule.

The FD class has, in some ways, the best of both. You can build in any material, with any cockpit layout subject to min deck area, with any weight distribution you want. The hull shape is almost one-design, the measurement tolerances were only originally put in place to help builders. The foils are closely controlled, but controls and fittings, standing and running rigging are free. The rule has been robust enough, with only 2 significant changes since it was written, to cope with the pressures of Olympic competition, and the boat itself was the fastest 2-man dinghy in the world until the mid 90's. Not so familiar with the 5oh, but their rules work in a very similar way. A modern 5oh or FD is a very serious piece of kit indeed and in no way dated.

Lots of people on here extolling the virtues of the V3000, which is a 30-odd year old hull with an asymmetric which completely ruins the balance of the boat downwind! A trendy-looking kite does not make a boat 'modern' or good to sail, necessarily, any more than a symmetric kite, overlapping jib and only one wire makes it 'dated' or boring

Manufacturers have to recoup the cost of development, tooling, bolstering second-hand values etc quickly, so they have to sell a lot of boats fast. Classes like the 50h, FD, Fireball etc built up over years, with lots of different boatbuilders and sailors having input into build techniques, fittings, rig development etc. Why is it that an FD can be raced competitively with a crew weight of anything between 145 and 200+ kg ( a range of 50+kg), yet RS can't design a multi-purpose boat to cope with a range of more than 30kg? Because we can go and buy a mast and sails that suit us, and then use the systems the Gods of sailing have developed to tune the thing while we race, that's why! If you don't fit the physical profile for the average SMOD, there's not much point in even turning up.

I firmly believe that dinghy sailing would be much healthier, and might even have progressed faster, without the influence of Topper, Laser, RS.

Neil

You've lost me there. In what way do manufacturers spend money on bolstering 2nd-hand values? 

The club might say: fine then, your boat isn't taking up valuable space in the boat park that we could give to someone who does want to support our classes.

And people handicap racing in other clubs might say, I'm fed up with this, I'll join that a club with strong class racing. Especially if they already had a boat in one of those classes.

So it cuts both ways, unless the club is just desperate for any members it can get. Some are, some aren't.

Each to his own! I loved the Laser 2, but I think the amount of lee helm the 3000 carries is ridiculous. Before anyone starts, yes I know there are ways round it, but to me it's a sign that the boat is a rush job, and an unsatisfactory hybrid.

Stefan - what do you think all the desparate tarde-in deals were all about???

Neil