Controversial Topic of the Week

http://www.sailing.org/regulations/2006_partIV.pdf rule 18 and also http://www.sailing.org/regulations/2006_partV.PDF 

Yes there are "national" classes but no, that is not what it means. AFAIK there hasn't been a new "national" class in decades. "National" means UK-wide, as opposed to one of what used to be a large number of local classes.

You don't have to be an International class to have a Worlds either. An ISAF-recognised class can do so and the criteria are significantly lower.

But the implication is that more boats have been sold than is actually the case.  I agree with Rick, most people do believe that sail numbers indicate numers sold (even if not accurately).  As most people like to buy boats that have achieved some kind of critical mass (to ensure a bit of competition, re-sale potential and the comfort of a warantee from a secure anbuilder) this misleading information will affect their sales.  Granted it may not be the builders that perpetuate the myth that sail numbers equals boats sold, but the system is open to abuse, isn't it?

As for that 29er thing, that's just bizarre.

Do we still have 'national' classes in the same way there are 'international' ones.  If a class can only hold a 'world championship' if it is 'international', can only 'national' classes hold 'national' championships.  This might give the RYA some clout over classes.

We are currently having this discussion on the Contender email forum.

Currently our sail number is different from the plaque number with the numbered plaque bought by the builder from the RYA before the boat is built (and sometimes even planned) but the sail number issued upon successful measurment.

We also have a (IMHO) stupid system where each county has it's own numbers which means that some of you no doubt think that only 700 Contenders have been built in the last 30 years whereas it's actually closer to 2500 worldwide. Also at the last UK worlds I had to argue against penalisation because GER506 had been caught pumping but they thought they'd penalise GBR506 (my number then)! One of the umpires was German and the other French but I'm sure that has no relevance.

One thing has been shown though - the Plaque numbers do not give a good indication of age unless you list when each numbered boat was measured as people like Rondar used to buy a quantity of plaques and have them 'in stock' (sometimes for years) or sell them to other builders, or never use them. So the age of a boat cannot be worked out from number alone.