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turnturtle View Drop Down
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    Posted: 29 May 15 at 4:20pm
Originally posted by Rupert

Its true that if you like a boat you are a fanboy and if you hate it then you are a troll, so there isn't much upside to writing a review, apart from just loving boats and wanting to talk about them, ignoring the nonsense and hoping it helps another boat lover to buy something they will enjoy.


The very reason why I haven't got the inclination to put fingers to keyboard on the D-zero I was fortunate enough to charter for a few months. I don't think a warts n' all review has much place ... Just demo a boat, ideally on some kind of lease, then make your mind up factoring in everything.
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Woodburner View Drop Down
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Posts: 332 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Woodburner Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 May 15 at 9:31am
And a very good review it was, and this environment is still an excellent instrument in which to discuss and note other folks points of view (and agendas)something magazines to date have failed to achieve even though the online era offers the opportunity.

If nothing else it's convinced me to go down the boat park and dig mine out for a refurb, there is no doubt it is the nicest boat I own when things are working right.
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Bootscooter View Drop Down
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Posts: 1094 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Bootscooter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 15 at 8:47pm
Originally posted by Woodburner

The thing is why would you? If you do then the assumption is you're fanboying to build the class, I know I bugger about on here with tales of boat drama, but what's the upside?
I'd had a half assed ides of doing a blog on the various boats I've buggered about in, but who's going to see it that doesn't probably already know better.
It's the job of a magazine really, not an anarchist.


Well that's exactly what I did a couple of years ago on here, when I sailed the Alto... I'll see if I can find it...
Here you go;

Alto Review

Edited by Bootscooter - 29 May 15 at 1:54pm
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Rupert View Drop Down
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Posts: 8956 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 15 at 5:32pm
Its true that if you like a boat you are a fanboy and if you hate it then you are a troll, so there isn't much upside to writing a review, apart from just loving boats and wanting to talk about them, ignoring the nonsense and hoping it helps another boat lover to buy something they will enjoy.
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Woodburner View Drop Down
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Posts: 332 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Woodburner Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 15 at 4:45pm
The thing is why would you? If you do then the assumption is you're fanboying to build the class, I know I bugger about on here with tales of boat drama, but what's the upside?

I'd had a half assed ides of doing a blog on the various boats I've buggered about in, but who's going to see it that doesn't probably already know better.

It's the job of a magazine really, not an anarchist.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 15 at 4:33pm
Surely in this day of social media, it is easy to do a review that is independent of advertising revenue? Just stick one on FB or something. The difficulty is convincing everyone that such review has credibility and isn't astroturfing or from someone with little of idea of what's what.
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Woodburner View Drop Down
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Posts: 332 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Woodburner Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 15 at 3:40pm
Originally posted by Rupert

 "You'll piss it in on the gybes unless you happen to be world class", or "You'll need big guns to hold the mainsheet upwind" are 2 comments I never read about certain boats which shall remain nameless.

That's exactly what I mean, but having said that about the RS300 say, how much pressure do you think your ad man would be under, or the chorus of fanboys telling you you're a crap sailor...

But it needed to be said and if they were as good sailors it wouldn't actually stop them buying it would it allegedly?
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Rupert View Drop Down
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Posts: 8956 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 15 at 3:02pm
If the stats you get are misleading, then that is surely worse than not having them at all. Looks pretty in a pie chart, but that is about all.

For me, a boat test should give an impression of what a person thought of a boat to sail (hopefully in a variety of conditions and maybe in different sailing waters, but this is unlikely), what market the boat is aimed at and contain some pretty pictures to make me think about actually going for a test sail myself in the boat. If someone who's views I respect tells me about their experiences with a boat, then I can make a judgement call as to whether the boat MAY be for me. Past that, I can then make decisions for myself.

Trouble is, when all boat tests are peaches and cream, lacking in the nitty gritty of real life, it is very difficult to make the 1st decision as to whether the boat is worth test sailing at all. After all, I'd not want to waste my time and that of a boat owner or even salesman if the boat simply isn't what I'm looking for, but the bland write up didn't make that clear. "You'll piss it in on the gybes unless you happen to be world class", or "You'll need big guns to hold the mainsheet upwind" are 2 comments I never read about certain boats which shall remain nameless.
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Woodburner View Drop Down
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Posts: 332 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Woodburner Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 15 at 12:54pm
Then again there's no pleasing the anoraks.. Even the stripey ones..
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Chris 249 View Drop Down
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Posts: 2041 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Chris 249 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 15 at 12:49pm
Anyone who bought a Bull because that test said it was that much faster than a Melges 24, J/80 and Farr/Platu 25  would probably be very, very disappointed.  The Bull's a great boat but experience seems to indicate that it's not in the league of the straight racing machines.

The fact that there was a often a variation of a knot or more between the speeds recorded for the same boat on different runs in the same recorded breeze indicates the problems involved.  So too does the fact that if you believed the downwind speeds in the test the Farr 25, a 1990s sportsboat, would be slower than the shorter, heavier, under-rigged Farr 727 he designed to fit the IOR rule two decades earlier.  In fact the 1994 designed 1219kg Farr 25 could, according to the test, be slower downwind than a 2000kg 1973 Eygthene 24 IOR boat, or the shorter '70s designed Sonata 7.

Hmmm...........  back in the day we tried doing this sort of test.  It's really, really, really hard to get anything approaching accurate information from it, because speed varies so much according to sailing technique, gusts etc, as we all know so well.




Edited by Chris 249 - 28 May 15 at 1:06pm
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