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RS500 ... |
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Bumble 
Far too distracted from work 
Joined: 12 Nov 05 Location: Taiwan Online Status: Offline Posts: 302 |
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 Topic: RS500 ...Posted: 03 Dec 05 at 5:03pm |
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Or Magnatartonal |
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yellowhammer
Far too distracted from work
Joined: 08 May 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 270 |
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Posted: 03 Dec 05 at 5:04pm |
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True ... Tony beats the same boats on the water in his L3000.
That's the point ... why do the SMOD builders make their mass market boats so overweight? These boats can only ever give mediocre performance, which will fail to enthuse buyers after the novelty wears off and they realise the boat lacks 'get up and go'. And the RS500 is targetted at youth crews, who need the adreniline rush to stay interested, and where ratio of boat weight to righting moment will be even worse. I know there are limited construction options for mass production, but I'd have loved to see more of the thoroughbred and less of the carthorse in the RS600! Wouldn't this be better for the sport? |
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Laser 3000 @ Leigh & Lowton SC
www.3000class.org.uk |
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Stefan Lloyd
Really should get out more 
Joined: 03 Aug 04 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1599 |
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Posted: 03 Dec 05 at 5:23pm |
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I think he meant what he said. Mogadon is a sedative drug.
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JimC
Really should get out more
Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6662 |
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Posted: 03 Dec 05 at 5:55pm |
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Well in a market where the top selling boats are things like the Laser Topper and 420 its not immediately obvious that more performance = more sales... Edited by JimC |
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49erGBR735HSC
Really should get out more
Joined: 30 Mar 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1991 |
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Posted: 03 Dec 05 at 6:43pm |
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Have to agree completely with Jim there, if you look at the boats which are being launched recently by Topper, Laser, RS etc, they all seem to be falling into the family/sailing school/non-high performance category. Maybe the High Performance category has been filled in their eyes and its easier to focus on other markets, it would take a lot to develope a class which is aimed at sailors currently sailing Cherubs, 29ers, I-14s, 49ers, MPSs,RS 700s and 800s, B14s etc.
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CurlyBen
Really should get out more
Joined: 17 Aug 05 Location: Southampton Online Status: Offline Posts: 539 |
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Posted: 03 Dec 05 at 9:06pm |
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You only have to look at Laser's current range to see that - the pico,
funboat, 2000 and Dart 16 are all used for beginners and inermediates
where I work as an instructor, the Stratos hardly looks high
performance though as I've never seen they or the SB3 I can't really
comment on them. Apparently no new Laser 2s have been made recently,
which leaves the Laser, 4000 and Dart 18. All good boats but no twin
wired ultra high performance boats and I'm sure they're shifting a lot
more 'training' boats than they are of the higher performance boats
they make. Back to market forces then...
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RS800 GBR848
Weston SC |
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Jack Sparrow
Really should get out more
Joined: 08 Feb 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2965 |
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Posted: 03 Dec 05 at 9:47pm |
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Seems a simple business equation to me. Faster boats = more advanced
building materials = more costs, labour and stock = harder to sail = less people = high price point = less sales = don't make. Mass production needs volume. Currently you can't make high performance boats in a true volume manner. Hence far more Rotomould boats being built as well as spray in chop strand glass boats being kept in the portfolio. Especially as RS have cornered any performance segment at the moment. They arrived if you remember when Topper and Laser were producing quite bad examples of high performance boats which caused them both a lot of difficulties. There just isn't much room left for many more volume performance boats without aggressively targeting an existing SMOD or OD to achieve heavy brand switch. And this is a risky business plan. Far better to expand into lower performance areas and potentially grow the market base and loyalty. And if the base expands and filters upward you have more opportunities in the future for higher performance boats. That's what I think anyway. |
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yellowhammer
Far too distracted from work
Joined: 08 May 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 270 |
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Posted: 03 Dec 05 at 10:40pm |
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Sorry, I didn't mean that RS should have made the 500 a performance boat. What I mean is that the potential performance of a design isn't realised when you pile on weight. I think this leads to an early demise of SMOD classes, which is another good business ploy for the SMOD builders, intentional or not, and one in the eye for buyers. Bethwaite says when he was developing his L2 prototypes they kept pace with the best Tasar sailors, but when production L2s met up with Tasars at a pre-worlds event a few years later, the L2s were a lap down at the finish. It was dumbed down to mediocrity. Imagine the impact the 5-tonner might have had if it had lost some pounds at birth ... years ahead of the 49er! |
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Laser 3000 @ Leigh & Lowton SC
www.3000class.org.uk |
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Jack Sparrow
Really should get out more
Joined: 08 Feb 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2965 |
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Posted: 03 Dec 05 at 11:11pm |
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Precisely the point I was making the post before yours. You have to mass produce for volume with unskilled labour to make any profit. L5000 a good case in point. Make it with the right materials and it would be great boat but it would be dam expensive. And the market isn't there when you figure in the price point it would of been. |
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JimC
Really should get out more
Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6662 |
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Posted: 04 Dec 05 at 1:42am |
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[considerably toned down reply] I think not. Its really a pretty awful boat. |
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