RS 500

Originally posted by G.R.F. Why perpetuate growth failure? I think it's a terrible mistake to attempt to force the old onto newcomers. Sure Fireballs were great in their day, but that's been and gone. Same as any conventional symmettric boat, I can't believe anyone coming fresh into the sport would want to go down that path. Its why classes inevitably stagnate and die. Moving from a laser 3000 to a Fireball just because others are misguided enough to hang on to the past must be a mistake imvho. But what do I know? Only the modern stuff clearly.

GRF I have in the past offered to give you a ride in a sysmetric boat and I am sure that you would understand the advantages of a sysmetric boat.
There are disadvantages but I feel that its a bit off to knock something that you have admitted in the past you don 't fully understand.

To the OP if there are other Fireballs at your club get a go in one, they are great boats and you should be able to pick one up for very little and be able to sell it again easily if you dont like it, not sure you could say the same about an ALTO.

Its funny, I get really polarized feedback about the black spinnaker thing. Just as many people shout that we should keep it as change it.

There is a more thoughtful decision than just what Hydes give us of course. From a production perspective it saves expensive stocking. For instance we stock around 5 spinnakers for a weeks RS500 production, but for the RS400 which has a 5 colour spinnaker choice, we stock 20+ sails to cover every choice. Its not quite as bad as that but you get the gist. Secondly, its important to drive the identity of a class from the outset - a yellow flash on the mainsail is a feva, a 500 is very identifyable as a 500, partly due to its spinnaker. VW SB3 spins, red Mirror sails, Blue Ent sails, Big hearts on Cherubs - you can spot them a mile away. Seeing a big fleet of RS500s all with identical matching spinnakers is a pretty impressive sight, and is certainly not boreing. I'll keep an eye on this and we can adjust the colours if we think the balance moves. tmoore I promise it won't be pink!

I like the black kites........in fact I purchased a black one for my Vareo just before I sold it, however, it seems that they are a bit like Marmite - you love 'em or hate 'em, there's no middle ground.
Interesting that whilst we were at 'Minorca Sailing' last year, they used red/white Musto Skiff kites on their RS500's for their brochure photo-shoot - they thought that they looked more photogenic !

Nigel

riki, that post was rather tongue in cheek. the black kite does go well. its a good colour to choose in that its easy to see and so better for trimming than say white which can be harsh. its understandable that you only want to stock the one colour especially until the class become of a large enough size to warrant the extra cost of different coloured kites.

im sure it does look impressive to see a whole fleet blasting downwind with black kites. i just like something which sets my boat apart

and feva sailor, there is no way a 500 would eat a 29er unless it was stupidly windy or stupidly rough sea conditions. the 29er is lighter, narrower in the water, has a better sail plan and is a thoroughbred racing boat. the 500 is a more forgiving boat offering relatively close performance. if both boats were sailed by the national champs im sure the 29er would draw away fairly convincingly.

Originally posted by tmoore   and feva sailor, there is no way a 500 would eat a 29er unless it was stupidly windy or stupidly rough sea conditions. the 29er is lighter, narrower in the water, has a better sail plan and is a thoroughbred racing boat. the 500 is a more forgiving boat offering relatively close performance. if both boats were sailed by the national champs im sure the 29er would draw away fairly convincingly.

 

good coz theres like only one other 29er that never sailes here so id be on PY VS 1 RS 500 and like 1million toppers and oppies