The Best Two man dinghy this century?

The best two man dinghy this century?  That's a daft claim! 

The best two person dinghy this century so far doesn't sound quite so ridiculous.

By the way, I am the best contender sailor in my street!

It is a 'marketing' style claim I'd use if I were trying to market it.

It is obviously sort of in my interest other folk buy it, but the flip side, if it
were to simply fade away, what better boat is there?

I14 is a WIP it's been around forever, so are the others, they are all 'so last
century darling'

In seriousness then; agreed 'so far' but even that hasn't helped it's cause,
nor has the financial climate, in order for it to succeed they would need
to build dozens rather than the three or four that are out there so far, but
then would you build them without orders?

It's a tricky one, if it fails to succeed, does it mean the end for the
Independant, will the market be forever consigned to ancient dross or
SMODs?

Edited by G.R.F.

The Alto certainly deserves some credits for aiming at a wide open gap in the market.

It brings developments like asymmetric kites, self tacking jibs, light hulls to the average skilled/committed but maybe more than average weighing sailors.

But Laser Vago and RS500 are doing a damn good job in what they are intended for, too.

(Providing fun to youths that are willing and able to learn, one maybe more for sailing schools, the other more for private owners )

It's not the recent int 14's that are "last century", it's your Alto that is launched like 15 years too late. It's not even self draining.

Well, at least your are lucky that the RS800 was already launched in '99

Clutching at straws here aren't we Grumpfh, even if it is just for marketing BS?

Having had a good look at the Alto at the weekend, out at Weston, I would hardly call it ground breaking, and parked next to a 4000 it was hard to see any real development at all.  It was a well finished bit of kit, don't get me wrong, it looks like a nice enough, well manered boat.  But if you are going to re-invent the wheel that is the single trapeeze, 2-man assymetric, you are going to have to come up with a bit more initiative.  All that iron-mongery on the bow for the swinging pole could only remind me of a quote from Uffa Fox "weight is only of use on a steam roller"...?

You want to be careful talking about 'so last cenruary dahrling'!  did the Alto not start life as a 505?!  Granted it beat me on handicap in the B14, and I accept it is probably far better suited to the shifty sub 5 knots we had (as well as possibly a number of other conditions). In my defence it was the first time I had helmed in anger in well over an year, and my crew had never set foot in a B14 before.  Anyway excuses aside (before I'm accused of 'the lady doth protest too much') back to a constructive point... 

If it fails does it mean the end for the independent?  I very much doubt it, there will always be a market for that method of boat design & build.  There will also always be people wanting OD racing, and development classes, why try and change this, people are vindictive and will stick their heels in, we all know this!  I would be careful with the term 'ancient dross' partly because of the Alto's genes, and also because great designs are timeless, tell me honestly that the Enterprise, or Flying 15 are not fantastic boats, and would you not want to sail on a J-Class given the chance?! 

I apreciate this post has rambled somewhat, and maybe waiting for emails to arrive at work before I go home is not a good time to try and collate my thoughts effectivly, but if nothing else maybe we can have a good aregument over them...  

What does "independant" mean? Was RS kind of "independant" in this regard when they started against the well established "Laser whatever"?

If yes, I would say "independents" definately have a chance if they got the right products...

Anyway the Alto will be the "best boat" at least in some regard so call it that way if you like. I hope the Alto brings back in some of the money that went into it's development and there is definately a potential market, but I am not sure that overall you are really helping it.

BTW: After realising that flying the asym kite to windward DDW like an RS200 even works on a RS800, was it tested if it would be an alternative to this somewhat irritating pole arrangement?