Class Redevelopment

Originally posted by Wave Rider Yeah but development classes don't mean you have to buy a new hull every 4 yeears or so, iif you are good enough and have the same sail area, you will still do well!

I'n not convinced about that.I would say redback is closer to the truth here I have raced against 5 year old 4k's in a new one and they are just as quick!

 

It depends the type of boat your sailing, I reckon older modified Cherubs could be just as quick as new ones. The 4Ks and 5Ks don't suffer too much with age just as long as nothing major has happened to the boats. Comparing running costs of a 4K to a 14 seems a bad comparision to make as the 14 is a more high-tech design, built lighter using more high-tech equipment. A more suitable comparision would be to compare the 14 to the 49er, for comparing development class costs to ODs. My pal races 14s and we reckon the boats are on a par running cost-wise.

i think that had something to do with the crew thorugh strawberry

Laser sails was just an example, how long does a new hull/foils/mast etc. stay faster for? And when you do buy new ones the price is bumped about by the manufacturers big time as you have to buy their products.

"A boat built 6yrs ago won the 2005 Cherub nationals."

OK, so if old boats are just as fast as new boats that's great.

But it then makes it very hard to argue that development classes can progress and therefore don't become obsolete, as SMODS are said to.

Surely, either you are developing (so you are going faster and old boats get obsolete) or you aren't (in which case old boats stay competitive but you don't progress).

It cannot be logical to say "yes, we are getting significantly faster but that doesn't mean that old boats are left behind".

"Taking the Laser class as an example, a very new sail will be faster than an older sail. But they only stay faster for a very short period of time. Therefore, in a one design fleet, if you want to gain a speed advantage from your equipment it will need replacing much more often. Therefore more expense!"

Is it logical to compare what is necessary to compete at the front of an Olympic class that attracts hundreds of competitors to sailing each weekend, to the much smaller, amateur and generally local development classes?

I'm fairly sure here (a strong Radial fleet; ie winner of the Open Radial, women's radial and several Masters Radial worlds in the last 2 seasons) you could get into the top 10 with a '78 boat and a second-season sail. This is in a class that has 100+ at the champs, several hundred competitors nationally and Olympic aspirants. Try getting ranked ahead of 200+ sailors in a '78 development class boat!

It's much easier to beat 15 sailors than a few hundred including Olympians, therefore it's unfair to compare what is required in a class of 15 boats to what is required in an Olympic class of hundreds. From personal experience, it's miles easier to get on the podium in some development classes than it is to get at the front of a club fleet in somoe major SMOD fleets, because some SMODS have many club fleets that are bigger and more competitive than national fleets in some development classes.

But when it comes to getting equal boatspeed.......well put it this way, if anyone can get me a world-class International Canoe for the price of a new world-class Laser, I'll send them a cheque tomorrow.

If you look at what was arguably the ultimate development dinghy, the 18s before they got restricted, you see that boats cost more than a Formula 40 cat, and about 5 times as much as a J/24.


Edited by Chris 249