Controversial Topic of the Week

Oh no it isn't!

Yes, MR is facing the same issue. There are newer boats sailing with a huge mass of lead. Personally I feel the class is being over-cautious in the rate at which the minimum hull weight is being reduced, but when you have 90-odd boats turning up to Salcombe Week over a very wide age range, you do need to be careful.

While I don't think development classes are ever going to be mainstream again in the way they were in the post-war era, I'm pretty confident the I14, MR and N12 are going to be around and active when the current crop of RSs are a fading memory. That is not an anti-SMOD statement; there will be a new generation of SMODs by then.

Off topic again, but I agree. The concern for the merlin goes further with extremely old boats still being very very competitive, concerns over the strength of a lighter version of what has already developed a reputation as a very strong boat and broader issues to do with the mechanics of building a boat that wide. While conservative weight reductions are being phased-in I think the main focus of any rule changes should be to reduce the cost of building...... it has never been a cheap boat. But, 90 odd boats for Salcombe and others, looking very good!!!

I agree and joking aside I do think dev classes add a lot ot the mix, without them the technology wouldn't be developed for more mainstream restricted development boats and SMOD classes to adopt.

Nationals attendance, because that's a stable indicator of the number of people sailing. Boats sold annually will always make the latest popular SMOD look like a roaring success for the first year or two.