A 'Cyclical' decline in double handed boats?

In another thread Mike L said:

"Double handed boats are possibly in relative decline it is true - but at Cirrus we believe this is in part cyclical and partly down to demographic changes and the marketing approach now required."

Reasons for the relative demise of double handed has been discussed on here before: time rich older sailors who find it more convenient to sail in singlehanded boats, maybe because their spouse/children are no longer interested in crewing.... Too many calls on people's time it is harder to establish a committed helm and crew pairing.... Many younger sailors who are probably more inclined to go double handed dropping out to manage the demands of building a career and mange young families etc. etc.

But "cyclical" suggests things will change. I am curious to know how Cirrus see how this will happen and in what time frame. And how do you market against such a trend?

If you want to sail with 3 crew, there's plenty of fun to be had in keelboats, I don't really know why you'd want to put all that weight into a dinghy and most people in the UK don't have access to sailing waters where such beasts would be practicle.

Originally posted by Paramedic Its funny how no dinghy that was designed around a three man crew survives in that form as a racing class. you'd have thought there'd have been a market among the retired who can't manage a fast one or two man boat

Edited by getafix - 06 Aug 14 at 9:17am

I saw a National 18 at Filey Regatta this year, which I think is a 2 or 3 up with single trap. It was huge! Most popular dinghies seem to fit into a 14' x 6' plan (maybe wider for Merlins) this is a size that would fit into most peoples garages (if the other half hadn't demanded a chest freezer go in the back of the garage!, next house will have a double and somewhere else for the freezer).

Ospreys sometimes sail three up and they are not 200kg as the National 18 shown in the last Y&Y.
The main reason I swapped to from crewing FD, 505 was desire to drive and from helming 400 to single handers was hassle with crews not keen enough or turning up and me being to heavy.