Dinghy Show

the Blaze struggles on as an orphan .... · Originally posted by Wetabix

The Dinghy Show brochure arrived on my doorstep today along with my copy of Y&Y. The dinghy show does not change much over the years - you only need to attend about once every fifteen years to keep abreast of things but it is nice to browse the brochure and drool.  
No Norfolk Punt this year but the classes that evolved in the fifties are still there and all claim to be thriving. There are Cadets and Mirrors and Enterprises, Herons and even Hornets although why someone should choose to sail a Hornet when there is class racing available in the Fireball I do not know. And let us not overlook the Yachting World Dayboat which provides 'keen and competitive racing' we are told. 
And then there is the litter of all the classes started by Topper and Laser over the years and then dropped. Many of these are excellent boats but if they don't sell they don't sell. The Breeze the Boss and the Bull are no more, the Blaze struggles on as an orphan as does the ISO and the Buzz and the Laser 5000, 4000, 3000, 2000, and perhaps the RS 300. 
  But Good News! - there are another half dozen new dinghy classes on offer this year and even a dayboat. Even more choice, and even less class racing.  Class comments range from the banal ('the Buzz is all about having fun') to the incomprehensible pseudo-Martian  ( 'D-One is a powerful but easy to keep control multinational hiking asymmetric singlehanded').( Actually the Weta is faster, more easy to keep control of, won't capsize and hiking consists of nothing more energetic than 'sitting'). (PS I realise that Mr Devoti may not have English as his first language but class sec Jon Hammond could surely do a bit of proofreading?)
The Hornet Class cannot spell symmetric; the Tera claims to be 'Fast, fun and safe' (fast compared with what?) while the Topper claims to be 'fun friendly and fast'. Well, it's probably faster than a Tera. The Scorpion claims 'terrific' performance' which must refer to its PY which is about .3% faster than an RS200 . 
Jon Manners is secretary of no fewer than  seven classes, an achievement topped only by Heather Chipperfield's eight. The Vortex will be exhibiting 'hopefully' a hull, or maybe a mould or maybe a picture of an 'imminent mould'. That should sell well. Apparently the Vibe was voted best dinghy at the Paris boat show. Not recently, I would guess and don't confuse 'best dinghy' with 'best new dinghy' - they are not the same thing.  Why do manufacturers choose such odd names for their boats? Who would buy a boat called an Argo or a Magno or a Qu'ba, nice boats though they may be, and why has someone who does not work for Topper called his boat the Alto which sounds rather similar?
 So what is the 'best boat' at the show? There are probably as many answers as there will be visitors to the show which is why we have so many old classes which refuse to fade away and so many new classes which live for a day but don't become established. Thank goodness for PY!

(This post originally appeared under 'technique' but I have moved it and added paragraphs following a helpful prod from a fellow forum user)
George Morris