Classes fading in popularity

The national championships table is progressing nicely this year and so far seems to be showing a general increase in numbers. Great turnouts in the Mirror & Squib nationals and the Contender, Feva, Blaze & Hurricane 5.9s all in the 50+ club. If this trend continues we are going to be looking at a new record for total boats attending a nationals?

The whole SMOD vs. non-SMOD debate seems a bit irrelevant to me. People will sail what they want to sail. As long as a class has a good size fleet then it doesn't matter what they sail as long as they enjoy it. With such high attendances there is definitely room in the market for most of these designs.

Out of the 21 nationals results so far in,  6 decreased in numbers, 11 have increased in numbers, 2 haven't changed and 2 I don't have the figures for 2004.

With regards to a class that was labeled as fading the Hurricane 5.9 was often called a dieing class by the so called experts in the yachting press.

HOW can a class that pulls in 50 boats at a nationals (putting it up there with some of the largest dinghy classes) be labeled in this way.

One reason for the large number of boats attending is great social scene organised by the class assoc. After attending another rival classes event ending up very bored, I realised how lucky the 5.9 fleet is to have this active assoc.

So not an RMW Cherub then...

Just a question Rick - looking at the Musto Skiff website there are a lot of boats on the second hand list being sold by people saying they are have new boats on order.  Obviously it shows that people like the boats enough to stay in the class, and invest more money in staying in class, and it does keep a flow of second hand boats moving into the market, but what does it say about the longevity of the original boats and the cost of remaining competitive in this OD class? Given that the hulls are Ovington built there should obviously not be any question about the build quality so why the need to replace the boats?

Having said that, to me class success and longevity does depend almost completely on the energy and attitude of those in the class.  Being friendly and welcoming to newcomers, assisting people in learning to sail the boats well, maintaining a fun social side, keeping the class visible in Y&Y etc.  Above all though, when talking to others telling them that your class is great.  Obviously on this forum everyone likes to sell their own class and that is a good thing.  There will always be those who come up with opposite opinions but always remember, what you see as a downside is probably one of the reasons somebody else loves that class.  If one class premanently discredits another class, both eventually suffer because of the elitist / cliquey / snobbish etc. etc. attitude you portray which then tarnishes the whole class.

Soap box has now been banished again.

In which case that is damn good value.