Open Bic

If this department developed a new radical craft and then allowed manufacturers to build it starting at a set date then introduced it to the pinnacle of the sport, the Olympics?

 

For example, if someone felt that speed and new classes attracted people then they should be able to show (for example) that "X" new catamaran classes have been launched recently, that performance therefore increased "Y", and that the number of people sailing cats increased "Z", or at least point to some trends or general indications about that. The stuff I can find (from diverse sources such as Australian cat regattas and the fluctuation in various types of Hobie in the USA) indicates no such trend.

 

It would be fascinating if you or someone with your views could scratch up some hard data so this discussion could be balanced by factual evidence from the "other side".

 

But fast and high performance* ISN'T difficult to use. Anyone can buy an old Hobie 20 and beat just about any dinghy to death while lounging around on the tramp with a beer. For some reason you abuse cats but they can be fantastic for what you want - and yet most people choose not to sail them because they prefer a different feel.

 

Fast and high performance in dinghies can be hard to use, but didn't your little experiment show that it's not as simple to create a fast-but-easy boat as you claim it is? Scows do hold a lot of potential but they have been widely accepted in most parts of the dinghy sailing world for decades, so it's not conservatism or Luddism that is holding them back.

 

You can actually create a high-performance monohull dinghy or skiff that can be used by typical club-level crews from 0-25 knots. The downside is that you need two masts and three sets of sails to cover the range, or a very long skinny hull, or big crew. And doesn't the RS800 come close to what you want?

 

Boards are not fast and simple, by the way. Try to find a board that can cover the wind range a good dinghy can cover, while being faster and/or easier to sail. Go to Boards mag's forum and see how many veteran windsurfers can't even do a basic move like a gybe without dropping off the plane.

 

You assume that a rig like a Radial's is inferior, but that's just from one viewpoint. I can be pretty unbiased here, IMHO, since I have had fully-battened roachy mains since the first boat I ever owned, and I still own boards and boats with both dacron pinheads and film full-battens, including one designed by Bethwaites.

 

A Radial rig is fast and simple to rig (I carry my club/training sails rolled around the mast), lasts longer at club/cruising level due to the dacron cloth, and is lighter for the cost. For some classes and sailors those are perfectly reasonable tradeoffs for the slight reduction in performance. If other sailors choose NOT to take those tradeoffs that's fine, as long as they respect those of us with different tastes or in different positions. It's not being a luddite, it's using what is fun. As Rupert said, people have very different tastes so why not respect that?

 

By the way, are you into modern alcopops instead of "oldskool" beer and wine? Are you into 21st C bit tunes and live coding rather than old man's guitar based rock? If you prefer the latter, are you a luddite or just someone who may not personally like some of the latest stuff?

You're talking Tasar there sunshine, well 68kg.......