Controversial Topic of the Week

Originally posted by Bruce Starbuck Didn't DJ win the Euros and Nationals in a Duvoisin last year? I think in the Fireballs, the Winder hulls have just reached a point of saturation whereby all the top sailors use them and so they win all the main events. Also, a winder hull is likely to be easier to sell second-hand, so you're protecting your money by buying one. I'd bet there's no actual performance difference worth speaking of.

Off the top of my head I am not sure what hull he was in this year but I do know he walked away with the Nats in 2004 and I am pretty sure he was in a Winder then (14830). I could be wrong.

I do know the moulds for the Winder and Duvoisin are identical (I think they were taken from the same Delange hull) so the difference (if any) could be down to materials and placement of stiffners in the hull. I believe Winder go for a very light bow and stern with lots of kevlar to stiffen it up.

I was not at the worlds\euros this year so I didn't get to see his boat (he didn't have as good a week the second week though).

Paul

thats what it prob is as in the laser the AUS hulls are faster as they use a beter fibor glass than we do and the hungerun masts are stiffer than ours so it prob down to the qulaty of the materals

I love the 200 because I know (to a certain degree) that I earned my position in the fleet down to how I sailed that race.

If I've learnt anything about sailors is that (many) love to bimble. They'd bimble for ever if they had the chance. Me, I've bimbled the pants off my 200 (of course within the rules) and as a consequence, there isn't an unspliced end on it.

This is where the development classes come in. A development class throws another aspect into the mix, and that's the design side. A 12 sailor would probably think "I got that result because I sailed that way, in this boat that I designed/set-up/bimbled".

For me, I think that sailing is complicated enough. I like the relative simplicity of going for a sail, and seeing who sailed better on the day.

Perhaps in future, when I want to investigate the design side, I'd go for a 12/MR or whatever, but there will always be development classes. I think that keen sailors are natural enthusiasts, and will always want to "push the envelope"...

Originally posted by JimC Difficult to say what health is, but new boat sales is a guide, so is second hand prices (= demand for second hand boats), so is Champ attendance. However perhaps the very best figure is one that isn't publicly available, and that's the "total number of races entered" figure in the RYA Portsmouth yardstick database.

That would show the number of boats racing in handicap classes. While it would be interesting to know, there is a significant bias there, since the most popular classes have club class racing, at least at some clubs.

 

Originally posted by Stefan Lloyd Originally posted by JimC For 2% I was more thinking the half/half boats, but (for instance) I bet the majority of Lasers never go to the Nationals. Its only a small minority of the Laser Sailors at my club who do. You've lost me. What's a half/half boat? I don't dispute only a minority of sailors go to Nationals. If you add all the Nationals attendances you get to something very roughly around 10,000 and there are a lot more dinghy sailors than that. Where I disagree is that, at least in all the classes I have sailed in, the people buying new boats take them to the Nationals. That's why they buy them.

Completely depends on the boat. All new Pico owners rocking up to Nationals? Don't think so...

Different boats, different reasons for sailing, different interpretation of a "healthy class"...