Uninvented classes

Gael quoted a collegue 'if they choose the Snipe I think I need to find a
new sport!'  (yes I know it was a long time ago but I've only just read all your contributions)

It all depends what you mean by the sport of dinghy racing. Our sport is not only about careering round a race course in only partial control of a very expensive unstable and fragile piece of high tech plastic. Tactics, finesse, close contact with other boats, big fleets, attractive events - these are also an integral part of sailing

 If you except the Olympic classes and the official ISAF feeder "yoof" classes the Snipe is still one of the fastest growing fleets world-wide. I believe it is the one-design class sailed in the most countries with big fleets in South America (including Cuba) and Japan. It is the dinghy class used for the Pan American games. . It provides extremly close tactical fleet racing for a wide range of weights, ages and abilities. It is a truly mixed fleet.This is despite (or maybe because of) the hull being a 1931 design, and closer to an ultra-light keel boat than a lightweight planing machine.

The Snipe is probably one of the cheapest boats providing truly international racing. I sailed a Snipe for a couple of years, based at a small club in Paris . During that time members of the club competed in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Belguim, Holland, Norway, Poland, Russia and the USA. Every year we had an open event on our "duckpond" with competitors from Belgium, Switzerland and the UK (30 boats on a lake 800m x 100m was fun). Not bad for a fleet of only 10 boats.

Unfortunately the class never really developed in the UK (although Ted Heath's first boat was a Snipe) and the excellent British Snipistes do not seem to travel as much as they could. There is still a fleet in the Orkneys (a relic from the US Navy in WWII I believe) - a good place for a championship perhaps.

In a wider perspective it is astonishing how older classes still provide fantastic sailing - look at the "pre-war" classes still attracting the world's best sailors -Dragon, Star, International 14 (no insult intended but some of the class rules have not changed from the initial format). It is the quality of the racing, the quality of the organisation, the quality of the competitors, allied to the gradual modernisation of a well designed hull and rig that ensure the future of these classes. I am not sure that the "manufacturers" classes wll be as long-lived.

Gordon

Not at all. Nothing to do with being slow. Some of the most successful boats in the UK are really slow. My point was to do with the classes which have ceased to be viable in any meaningful way in what is a very competitive marketplace. The Y&Y racing classes review reveals a good number of classes which saw zero new boats being built in 2004, and only a handful of boats at their nationals, and no other obvious saving grace. I would include the Boss, ISO and the Laser "tonner" boats in this category.

All classes will have a limited lifespan, and it seems some of these classes are in the Autumn of theirs in terms of supporting a racing fleet. Now, I have no problem whatsoever with beginners being taught to sail in any boat under the sun or cruisers doing likewise, I just question the handful of enthusiasts who typically seem to keep these classes racing for ten or twenty years after their sell-by date, stubbornly resisting the inevitable.

Really good point. I was thinking along the "fewer classes, more concentration, higher numbers" route which seems so logical at first, but as you rightly point out, the UK has the highest number of classes, and also the highest number of dinghy sailors. Sadly, I suspect this is down to the "small pond" mentality, where if we have enough small classes, then everyone can be a "big fish" to a certain extent. Not everyone wants to test themselves in a competitive arena.

Old classes do die though; it's the way of the world. I bet not many sailors today remember classes like the "Eleven-plus". I bet even fewer are sorry to see them go. There are many old classes which made a small contribution to dinghy sailing history but ultimately failed to survive. Darwin in action!

In other words I crew when I can find a boat that will accept the weight, and when I'm not sailing I do some Race Committee work and judging.

We sort of have a grading system.  I used to sail a Laser and to reach the top in that class is one hell of an achievement.  Being quite able, I could switch to a class of modest performance and numbers and win many opens.  I've actually chosen to sail a more demanding class (as far as boat handling is concerned) which is also faster and more exciting.  Its so demanding I rarely get in the prizes even at club level, but its so much more fun than a Laser.

What I'm trying to say is we have a grading system based on 2 factors.  Factor 1, level of competition.  Factor 2, difficulty of handling.