Cirrus Icon Development

Although you can expect to see Icons at a number of winter handicap events the great thing about the Icon is that everyone who has tried one loves it    That's what sells boats!

There will soon be an open circuit but not just restricted to the UK but also at many European venues.

Don't worry I am sure that you will see the Icons delivering some good results everywhere including the South Coast   

I think Merlins are great boats but, given the turn of speed and acceleration of the Icon I would be most surprised if they don't give them a good run for their money!

That's in your imagination and the only way to get over what you can't see is to try one 

Over the years I have seen too many people putting boats on the market when they are not yet perfect.  I am glad that Mike has taken the amount of care and time to develop the Icon into such a fantastic racing machine.   I have seen many potentially great boats end up as just mundane, or worse, useless as a result of lack of care in getting insignificant things like rigs right and that's not the case with the Icon.  It's unfortunate that the transfer of production to Devoti happened in an Olympic year when a significant amount of resource was committed to the Finn class.  All of the Finns at the Olympics were Devoti and the demands on resources was considerable.  Devoti have now allocated significant resources to the production and marketing of the Icon on mainland Europe.  Mike and I will be arranging test events of the Icon over the next few months going forward.

This is not a boat for the armchair sailor (although, of course, they are welcome) but it is actually a great performance boat for all enthusiastic sailors at all levels.  Even the top flight sailors who have tried the Icon have been impressed with its performance, balance and handling.

On second thoughts perhaps you best not try one or you might want to buy one and that would never do  .

BTW, the price of a new Icon is modest when compared with most other similar two handed classes. Even better, with the current introductory offer!

Maybe in small numbers, but what really sells boats to the demographic the icon is aimed at is established fleets, other people to sail it against on a friendly traveller circuit and a reduced risk in the cost of ownership.  And there's the chicken and egg debate that cycled around this forum and sailing club bars for as long as I can remember.   

My advice for you guys would be to concentrate developing fleets in selected clubs, as in my opinion, travelling is becoming less and less viable as fuel prices increases, household budgets are squeezed and in general, people seem to have less free time for selfish pursuits than they used to.   This seems to be the approach the Alto seems to be taking in the Medway.  It's definitely where the RS100 has morphed to with good fleets at Datchet, Parkstone, Hayling, Weirwood, Chelmarsh etc, (despite growing numbers the open attendance doesn't seem that much better than when there were only 1/3 of the boats in active circulation) and you'd be mad not to sail a Musto Skiff at one of the key clubs where there is fleet support, hey Neptune? 

There are loads of boats I would enjoy sailing, but the simple fact is, why would anyone spend £5-15k on something they can only race on handicap?  I guess there's enough clubs which only offer handicap racing, (how sad for the SPORT of sailboat racing) but then how many of their members are typically willing to pay new build premium + 20% VAT?  Maybe a few... those who would otherwise buy a lipstick boat when nanna pops her clogs.  

Okay you're argument is that they're great fun to sail.  It certainly looks like it is in the videos, but is this really enough?  I 'get it' for really high end toys- like the Moth or Musto Skiff, quite frankly I enjoyed blasting around in my musto and gradually improving far more than racing it around the cans; but can you really get much out of 'freeriding' a moderate performance boat when all your club mates are racing each other in something arguable a bit older, crapper and even possibly made of wood?  I guess the concept is more attractive as a double-hander or with something a little more imaginative like a 100 or D1, but the truth is, if there's no sailing for it then you're a brave man (or a fool) to spend money on it and assume other people will dump their fleet boats to join you- especially in this economic climate.

And this is going to sound very Grumpfesque.... but in other industries you may well find products are given at sub-market rate prices to early adopters to help them establish themselves against incumbent competition.  Worth a thought maybe? 

 each to his own n' all, but after 18 months away from racing dinghies I come to completely the other conclusion and will probably have a Solo on the water next year.

Although to be fair, the only singlehanded fleets around any of my local clubs are Lasers and Solos, which is a no choice option at 95-100kg, even then I'll be grossly over the optimum for inland sailing.  But if I could get class racing in something a little more lively, or weight tolerant, I would welcome the dilemma of switching clubs.  I need a time machine.... 50 odd Finns at my club back in the day.