A new class of dinghy?

Originally posted by maxibuddah You get a novice in a tippy boat in the first few goes and I bet you it will put them off completely, unless they are thrill seeker types who like a roller coaster or two

This it right to a point, but, there are very few truly bad boats, especially from a total novices POV. They are far more likely to be put off by the people or the environment.

Originally posted by 423zero Biggest single issue for dinghy sailing in UK is non sailors perception that sailing is expensive and participants are snooty.

Good point, the father of one young man who came to my club to participate in the boatbuilding programme I run told me, "I had no idea that sailing could be cheaper than a season ticket to the footy!"
The whole family is now interested in the sport. The next task, to get them participating, along with their son, in the boat he built.

Originally posted by mozzy   Younger generations are much less likely to have a garage to build something in, but they're much more likely to have access to decent computing power.  Half the problem is that the technology we're using to make boats can't be replicated in peoples garages, but also that most young people don't have garages or time to spend in them.

I honestly don't think new classes will make much difference to people joining the sport. Yeah, one can dream about the boat made out of unobtanium that will cost half of what current boats do, be stiffer and nicer to sail that the most sophisticated epoxy/carbon build, and as capable as any current boat both as a singlehander and racing with a crew of three, but its not going to happen any time soon...
To my mind the big challenge for sailing popularity is the dilettante/bucket list mentality which militates against any sport you have to put serious effort in to get much fun out of, but there's nothing we can do about that. Times will change sooner or later anyway.