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yellowwelly
Really should get out more
Joined: 24 May 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2003 |
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Topic: IconPosted: 04 Nov 13 at 10:50am |
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it's a catch 22 though isn't it... any new class/new design needs some early adopters to fill the pipeline, but the type of personality who would welcome something new or try something different, would also tinker and fart about with it. Adding traps to the 59er sure as hell gave the 400 a surer footing in the UK in the face of a potential competitor.
I've no stats, but gut instinct would suggest that most classes that get off the ground seem to find their natural demographic in second and third generation owners, rather than the early adopters who took the initial punt. If we look at the RS100 as another more recent example, it's taken what, 3 years for the class to settle down a bit, the end outcome with the split / focus on 8.4 not being what a lot of the first owners would have chosen imho.
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JimC
Really should get out more
Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6662 |
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Posted: 04 Nov 13 at 10:50am |
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In some ways oneoffs almost easier to give a PY for. If you have an established sailor at your club, and know where they tend to place in the pecking order, then all you have to do, a few races in, is calculate a number where they end up with the same sorts of placing. Theget problems problems if the sailor is new to the club or thinks they somehow deserve to do better with the new yacht.
Clubs should NOT deny entry to boats without published PY numbers - how else would boats get on the list... |
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yellowwelly
Really should get out more
Joined: 24 May 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2003 |
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Posted: 04 Nov 13 at 11:00am |
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agreed for club racing, but some events still prevent them though, BM for example?
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2547
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Joined: 11 Aug 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1151 |
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Posted: 04 Nov 13 at 11:05am |
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No the BM accepts all comers now but you have to give them prior notice if you have an one-off ... I would expect that any random would be given an arbitrarily tough PY otherwise if they clean up then it will just invite complaints that the PY was soft ...
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yellowwelly
Really should get out more
Joined: 24 May 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2003 |
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Posted: 04 Nov 13 at 11:13am |
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Ah okay... well I shall be happy to see the defCON 1 in the results in January...
Edited by yellowwelly - 04 Nov 13 at 11:13am |
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iGRF
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Joined: 07 Mar 11 Location: Hythe Online Status: Offline Posts: 6499 |
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Posted: 04 Nov 13 at 11:42am |
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The 59er was already a dead class when I came along, a couple of friends of mine had one and were bemoaning their lot and that was back in 2002-3 during my MPS period. I don't think anyone putting trap wires on it did anything other than improve a bad lot as far as I could judge. The reason boats like that failed was the same that all those over canvassed 90's craft went the way they did, totally unsuitable for the actual genuine none artificially Olympic squad induced market which is obvious to me in that it is by and large inland water and often very restricted at that. Hence if I were to be designing a commercial product it would be very much with that target demographic in mind as it seems RS have eventually spotted with their new billy no mate offering. The Icon in its standard form is actually that sort of product and all that is preventing that from taking off is marketing support. There needs to be an Icon in every reasonably sized piece of water in the UK for demo use, and one available for immediate delivery there and then, we live in a sunny day impulse purchase world. Someone should have done the legwork, got one into P&B, Jonti at Grafham and every other spot where a chandlery adjoins the water. Interest free finance deals, trade your old boat in deals, hell there are companies that would even lease them, like they do our mountain bikes, it just needs a modern day marketing approach like that which the rest of us have to employ to continue to survive in what is a very tough leisure market. The days of folk coming to you, sadly are over long since. As I've said before, what's needed for these local builder operators is a professional marketing arm financed by a working margin, but then for that to happen they'd have to stop chiselling direct sales and let someone do the job properly. |
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boatshed
Far too distracted from work
Joined: 12 Apr 05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 457 |
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Posted: 04 Nov 13 at 12:04pm |
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It wasn't over canvassed. Same white sail area as a Merlin or RS400. Bigger kite to get the apparent wind working properly down hill. Sure it needed a bigger bit of water than a puddle but then so do many boats. If you want to sail on a puddle choose your boat accordingly. |
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Steve
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boatshed
Far too distracted from work
Joined: 12 Apr 05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 457 |
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Posted: 04 Nov 13 at 12:19pm |
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I dunno. It's pretty much the same spec and PY of a Tasar. If the Tasar, which is a great boat, can't crack the UK market in any sensible, class forming numbers, then I think the Icon will really struggle. Still, lets see, maybe Devoti has a plan. |
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Steve
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yellowwelly
Really should get out more
Joined: 24 May 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2003 |
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Posted: 04 Nov 13 at 12:32pm |
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that's your one sensible post quote reached, please can Mrs Grumpf hand the keyboard back to the old boy in the corner now? |
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2547
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Joined: 11 Aug 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1151 |
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Posted: 04 Nov 13 at 12:40pm |
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People were messing with trapezes on the 59er long before you ever tampered with it. Anyway ... why don't you take on the UK dealership for the iCon seems you'd make a fortune ...
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