Solo fleet still growing

I must have a similar style to you then- I've gone to maximise lightwind, offwind performance and I'll take the pain elsewhere.  (Not bragging, but I can normally get a boat uphill well enough, it's all downwind where I lose out no matter what I've sailed in the past)

P&B will do a very good fit out and if you like their sails, you're guaranteed good after-sales... give them a call.  You might even crack a good deal this time of year    

you could buy a lot of boats that tick more boxes for sure... but how do you get the incumbent fleet(s) to switch and dump their current class?  Or what about encouraging everyone else to zone in on just one, all at the same time and all with enough free cash to do a group deal on 20 boats that'll guarantee 5-8 in a proper race every wednesday night / sunday morning?

Ah yes, we should be early adopters and pimp our new class and they'll all come running, sometime between now and 2020... been there, done that, even paid for the T-shirts.  You might get a great race at a circuit event once in a blue moon, but the compromise is handicap racing the rest of the time.

No thanks... if you can't beat 'em, join 'em and get on with enjoying some proper racing, locally and convenient, while we're still young and fit enough to make the most out of it.

I guess that's one advantage to multiple sails and rigs... you get to offer natural adjustment to suit people's sailing style and body shape, thus making the competitive weight range quite wide.  I think the Solo claims 65-105kg in the top third of the national fleet.  That's pretty impressive from one 12ft one-design platform.

Usually the only way to do this in a SMOD is through weight equalisation rules.  Feeling like you're attending Slimming World when you go to the registration desk and someone presents you with a set of scales is hardly the welcome most folks want from an open meeting... 

The open transom and deck redesign make the boat much much more attractive and like the solo, they could have gone carbon on the rig, but the current rig works exceptionally well with the battened sail and swapping would have increased the cost for little if any gain apart from mast weigh aloft. In terms of fleets, I bought one, another one appeared shortly afterwards , a third is due and a fourth under consideration. once people sail them they are quick converts as they are so nice to sail - fast but forgiving. Our converts are coming from epoxy streakers and lasers. Where the fleets get established they are growing quickly because they are not only a great sail, but are very good value for an epoxy s'hander.