Dinghy popularity

I've been reading the rs600 thread with interest, it's sad that sure an innovative boat in its day "have it's day" so to speak I loved borrowing the yellow demo boat at datchet when I worked there it was never a dull sail especially in 15 knots and above! The flight of the navigator inspired 300 was great fun too once he progrip was added and the designer of both had a good name 

I suspect there are many reasons, but I think one of the key ones is that older boats are well proportioned. Their sail area, beam and weight provide a mix of stability, sensitivity, manageability and excitement that is appealing. Fun and attainable.

More modern “improvements” on the older boats nearly always focus on making them faster, in the (mistaken) belief that faster equals better. This is partly because just about the only thing that is measurable in dinghy design is speed (by yardstick number if nothing else), partly because better development class design IS proven by being faster, and partly because we all like the idea of going faster IF NOTHING ELSE CHANGES. However, if by making a boat faster you also make it tippier, less robust, more awkward to launch and harder to tack, is it actually better? No, not in terms of ‘goodness’. And of course, the easiest way to make a slightly faster mouse trap is to make it lighter and narrower, which inevitably means tippier.

Boats that are designed as high performance boats will struggle to sell when they are no longer the highest performance option. The ISO and L4000 both died with the appearance of the 800. Had the 900 come in to being, that would probably have been the death of the 800. Boats that are not marketed on speed will not be superseded by faster boats, but by “better” boats. The better boat may also be faster, but not necessarily. The trouble is, not many people seem intent on designing ‘better’ boats, just faster ones.

[QUOTE=Clive Evans] "easy to sail hard to sail well classes"QUOTE]

Be careful what you say    I was crucified for using that expression about Finns by a git from down under and another from Sunbury or somewhere similar. I agree with what you say but hope that the gits in question don't try and intimidate you as they did me. I had only said that the boat was easy to sail, which it must be because I can sail one (just about) and hard to sail well which is also IMHO true. that's not to say that other classes aren't hard to sail well but, in my experience, many of them are also hard to sail, period

Edited by rodney - 24 Jun 13 at 3:31pm

Originally posted by Clive Evans So why is the dinghy world so slow to develop new designs? Why do old designs prove popular time and time again

Simply put it's because the sport is marketed to newcomers by its incumbents and they want the new folk to sail what they sail.

It's because the industry never had a structure that supported marketing in the modern day sense of the word, that and the cottage industry nature that never really got stamped on by anyone.

So even if a wonder product did happen along, where could you secure orders large enough to make it viable from your network of dinghy sales agencies? No, because there was never a big enough profit margin for such a network to become established, so we are left with the infernal class structure within which it is generally in everyones parsimonious interest for nothing much to happen so their investment is never challenged, until of course it's too late and the class dies.

The only reasonably successful sales model is a dinghy retailer gone vertical, but their model is such that programmed obsolescence was not considered and their designs were pretty much re workings of traditional designs.

The other reason was the trend towards performance was never really thought through and for the most part was just big engines placed within unsuitable chassis's. I'm glad to see that the thinking has changed a bit from where it was when I came in, but things are still so very conservative, I guess because so often as in the case of the 100 (not sailed a D1 they wouldn't let me near it)the product doesn't live up to the hype.

That and too much attention was paid to a convict boat designer and his offspring at a critical point..

Edited by iGRF - 24 Jun 13 at 3:46pm

Originally posted by winging it I see  an awful lot of newcomers to the sport and beleive me, what they want is NOT the latest fast thing with all the cool gear.  What they actively ask for is something steady and conservative where they can hone their skills  and make their mistakes before they commit to something new and fangled.  The few that do rush out and buy something fast, cool, groundbreaking etc go out, crash and burn, feel foolish and fearful ,with the new toy left rotting in the boat park.  They then leave the sport for good with a sour taste in the mouth.Most newcomers are naturally cautious, with only an idiotic few thinking they can run before they can walk, and most good instructors and club members know this and give sensible advice that keeps them coming back.The thing is, there must be only a few shapes and sizes a dinghy can take to stay within the paramters of what makes it stable, manageable and affordable to the average beginner, so it's hardly surprising that most of those sizes and shapes - designs if you like - have already been found.

I agree    For example what sort of idiot would choose a Musto Skiff as a first dinghy?