Solo changes survey

Originally posted by stonefish These proposed changes are going to be very bad for the class, hardly anyone is going to win with this. You will piss off the builders because no one is going to buy a new solo anytime soon knowing a new version is coming in a year or so and then more potential changes after that.  You will piss off the owners that have just purchased new boats because all of a sudden their resale value has dramatically dropped because it's not a new design boat. You will piss off the owners of perfectly competitive older boats that have no correctors or have removed some to keep it on weight because new boats will come in at 3kg less. You will piss off any solo owner that isn't planning on shelling out 10k out for a new design boat anytime soon because all of a sudden new boats will appear that are lighter, easier to recover from a capsize, more comfortable to sail etc. because when they purchased their boat they thought they were getting a one design boat. All for what making the boat slightly better. There is a reason the solo is the second most popular class in the country, it's design is a winning formula and people that own them accept it has its flaws in the knowledge they are all in the same boat.

I wonder how much this change has actually come from ( some of) the builders.

The current Solo is very well built and lasts forever ( nearly)

Is a change of design the only way to increase the sale of new boats?

Actually its all a plot of the lizard people...

The transom change would make the rudder/tiller easier to fit when rigging... At present, I have to feed the extension through the transom, then the tiller, followed by fitting the stock onto the pintle/gudgeon, then the retaining clip.
Dropping the rudder stock onto the pintle/gudgeon is much simpler, but this is not a reason to buy from one builder compared to another.

Similarly, the capping strip change would save a few shin bruises, but isn't sufficient to prefer one builder over another.

Some of the proposals are basically performance neutral, but others would affect the boat speed. Whether that's acceptable to the class membership - as opposed to the members at the AGM is a good question.

Colin

Originally posted by ian.r.mcdonald If a competent experienced sailor was asked to find ten things to make the Solo easier and possibly faster to sail, they could all do it and probably agree on which things to change. Surely that is not the point? There are 1000s of this one design racers and if you are a full on circuit sailor or a club sailor on a small tree lined pond, the rules are still the same. Rudder changes? Fixed lightweight rudders next? Take the centreboard capping off? Easier to tack and we are then going to pretend that the one design ethos is maintained against the original Holt design?