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Byte C2, So why is it big everywhere but here? |
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iGRF 
Really should get out more 
Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6499 |
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 Topic: Byte C2, So why is it big everywhere but here?Posted: 16 Jul 13 at 6:42pm |
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Seems to me to be a popular modern class with a nice rig, so why isn't it happening as big here in the UK as it obviously is elsewhere in the world?
What's the history? |
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yellowwelly
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Joined: 24 May 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2003 |
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Posted: 16 Jul 13 at 6:57pm |
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Kids boat- and the argh y aye would rather push the knee wrecker as the choice for the Olympic spiral of disillusionment
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GybeFunny
Far too distracted from work 
Joined: 27 Oct 09 Online Status: Offline Posts: 403 |
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Posted: 16 Jul 13 at 7:06pm |
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There are a couple at my club and although they both have C2 rigs they prefer the old rig. I think the C2 rig is a bit powerful for them and they dont like the full length battens as they are tricky to pop across during a tack.
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i tick
Groupie 
Joined: 15 Jul 13 Location: Tunstead Milton Online Status: Offline Posts: 93 |
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Posted: 16 Jul 13 at 9:05pm |
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Right, let us analyse the last two posts. "Kids boat", why? Lightweight boat, boat for lightweights. Lightweight? Up to eleven stone? Rig to powerful? Rig with controllable power, Rig that will keep the boat racing in almost any wind. You should have been at the Cardiff Inlands!
For these reasons the rest of the World has adopted Byte for teenagers however because the RYA is not interested in the class or the Youth Olympics preferring to cripple its sailors early and snag mainsheets to form their character. There are kids racing these boats in the UK but the two times national and five times inland champion is a 55 year old medical consultant who weighs 9 1/2 stone. The three times Inland Champion and former National Champion is the "boy" now 26 and 10 stone. The lightest helms would be a couple of girls, one less than 8 stone. The heaviest chap is 14 stone who can win in a blow and the oldest a lady of 66. In this country our middle class kids tend to be well fed and go from Topper to 4.7 to Radial to full rig. The RYA is obsessed with Laser even though only "big" girls can be competitive in a Radial. So why few boats in the UK? Many Kids are too big for them and climb from Topper into a Kirby Torch, and yet they have a reputation as a kids boat. There is no longer a builder in UK because that Antipodean lot took the licence away from Ovington and no one is interested because the RYA will not support it and create a market. Catch 22! I thought GRF was going to get one, that would have been good advertising but he got that failed Laser thing instead. I do not sail mine now because I prefer my lazy old Lightning rather than the pin sharp handling of the C2, rather more pin sharp than me! And...don't someone pipe up about not liking the rig, you know who you are, its the best out of the box small boat rig I ever saw. Get over to Combs at the weekend and we will prove all this......... |
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GarethT
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Joined: 21 Apr 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 714 |
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Posted: 16 Jul 13 at 9:33pm |
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But why should the rya support it? Should they support the lightning and the splash too?
As a parent, I think the laser 4.7 through to radial then standard gives fantastic value for money, and has enabled my son to race with the grown ups of varying shapes and sizes at the club. |
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winging it
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Joined: 22 Mar 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3958 |
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Posted: 16 Jul 13 at 9:43pm |
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I suspect there are many more Europes in 'the rest of the world' than there are bytes. We have just sold our because her indoors didn't like the full lenght battens (as said above) and I can't help but feel the boat needs to be a touch bigger to accomodate the sailor for that rig.
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the same, but different...
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RS400atC
Really should get out more
Joined: 04 Dec 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3011 |
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Posted: 16 Jul 13 at 9:58pm |
We are very UK centred on here are we not? what do persons of suitable mass sail in the rest of Europe? The europe perchance? Isn't that the Byte's direct competitor? The elite will want to look at Europe (the place) and beyond. Club sailors mostly care what's happening in their county, if that far afield. Yes the rig looks nice, I bet it's more expensive for junior to embed that in the shingle than a Rooster equipped Laser Radial? I guess if Ovi were selling enough boats, they'd still have a license to build it. Manufacturers can only do so much to promote a class, I believe the strength or otherwise comes from the people racing the boats. And secondly the merits of the boat itself. The single hander una rig market is spoilt for choice as far as I can see. |
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iGRF
Really should get out more
Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6499 |
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Posted: 16 Jul 13 at 10:24pm |
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So basically it's because the RYA don't recommend parents put their kids in it then?
Ovington are builders, marketing like most of the folk in this business isn't really their thing. It doesn't have critical mass like the knee wrecker, so it's stymied, even though Asia, the America's and I guess Aus & NZ must have a bit of a scene for it. So what's needed is a Brit Youth Team sent to the championships around the Ah Why Eh, that requires a sponsor and a bit of a rebel breakaway youf squad I would have thought. Edited by iGRF - 16 Jul 13 at 10:25pm |
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GarethT
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Joined: 21 Apr 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 714 |
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Posted: 16 Jul 13 at 10:32pm |
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but why is it needed?
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i tick
Groupie
Joined: 15 Jul 13 Location: Tunstead Milton Online Status: Offline Posts: 93 |
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Posted: 16 Jul 13 at 10:34pm |
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The reason the RYA should support it is because of the Youth Olympics. Europes are to expensive to sort out and tune. That is why they were dropped as an Olympic class (I believe). The single handed una rig market is well catered for as long as you are a heavy girl or a bloke. The hulls last and have an element of frp. The boats we have had in our family have been old hulls converted to C2. Sails last for ever. One of ours is 8 years old and still performs. New boats have to be imported now from Italy but there are loads of old classics for sale at about £500. A C2 rig is about £1500. I never saw a mast fail or change in any way. Can that be said of Laser sails or bottom sections? Byte C2 was designed as an "out of the box" Olympic replacement for the Europe.
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