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Too Many Classes?
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yellowwelly View Drop Down
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    Posted: 24 Feb 14 at 3:55pm
no but the unicorn boat were named after the unicorns... they're currently sailed by gay zebras.
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JimC View Drop Down
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Posts: 6662 		Post Options Post Options   Quote JimC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 14 at 4:03pm
Just been transcribing the 1983 list... 161 classes, some of which I've never even heard of. What was a Myth OD for instance?
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AlexM View Drop Down
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Myth - Trearddur Bay Myth?

http://classicsailboats.co.uk/index.php?f=data_products&a=1
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Rupert View Drop Down
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Posts: 8956 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Rupert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 14 at 5:32pm
I think you'll find the Myth OD never actually existed... legend has it that it was all things to all people, though.
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yellowwelly View Drop Down
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Posts: 2003 		Post Options Post Options   Quote yellowwelly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 14 at 5:35pm
a bit like Camille from Red Dwarf?
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Posts: 1151 		Post Options Post Options   Quote 2547 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 14 at 5:52pm
Originally posted by iGRF

Windsurfers - Jet Ski's, basically the same thing.

Yep ... Mindlessly roaring up and down, often right by the beach, hoping to impress the local female chavs ...
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Posts: 1760 		Post Options Post Options   Quote maxibuddah Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 14 at 7:07pm
Originally posted by yellowwelly

no but the unicorn boat were named after the unicorns... they're currently sailed by gay zebras.

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Posts: 742 		Post Options Post Options   Quote rb_stretch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 14 at 8:07pm
Originally posted by yellowwelly

And this is sailing after a Faustian Pact... here, in Cornwall, England only a few weeks ago:



That looks like Gwithians beach near Hayle. I've windsurfed there in more normal winds and the waves were pretty powerful and dangerous even then.

Can't imagine what it must feel like to get trashed by the waves from storm force winds shown in the video...

(Did notice Duncan Coombs in the vid, which is name I've not heard of in many years)
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Chris 249 View Drop Down
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Posts: 2041 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Chris 249 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 14 at 11:32pm
Originally posted by getafix

I don't think there's that much need for excessive hand-wringing over a fall of classes listed in the PY figures or not.  Are there as many cricket bat makers as there was 30 yrs ago? Are there as many brands of football boots available?  In any market, where there isn't 1 or 2 dominant suppliers, then periods of start-ups followed by consolidation are just part and parcel of the 'business' side of the sport.  

Some classes may have relied on 'craftsmen' to keep them alive, others more related to a particular commercial body.  As these come and go, there will be changes.  Technology and materials move on too, so some classes are bound to go by the wayside.  

What's interesting, to me at least, is to see the classes that have survived and embraced new technology (e.g. MRs, N12s, i14s) versus those that survive despite "potentially better" alternatives being available.....  the well trodden path of "racing quality is more important than having a good sail to me".

There's plenty of open water around, pretty much everyone is within an 1-2hrs drive of some, so higher performance, higher-speed, isn't necessarily limited by availability of places to sail, more by cost and complication as a barrier to entry, IMO.  Boat park space is a PITA, the guys who come up with an affordable stacking system for sailing clubs allowing more boats in less space, will become heroes of 21st century dinghy sailing in the UK.

Is there any hand wringing going on? To me the point is that the claim that "sailing's problem is that there are too many classes" has to be seen in perspective, or maybe in perspectiveS. There were as many, or more, classes in days of yore. However IMHO having "too many classes" was less of an issue when dinghy sailing was more popular overall. 

The perceived problem seems to come about because people tend to forget older and smaller classes, or were simply never aware of them, and therefore assume there were fewer classes in days of yore. We get the same thing down here; people assume that there are more classes today because very few people have any reason to go through another city's papers from the 1930s and see that they sailed classes that are basically completely forgotten, just as (dare I say it) Buzzes will be largely forgotten in 30 years. I've been researching our dinghy history for years and only just heard about another small class.

PS re the boat park space issue; how many clubs stack boats 3 or 4 high in sheds and if not many do it, why not?
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getafix View Drop Down
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Posts: 2143 		Post Options Post Options   Quote getafix Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Feb 14 at 1:54pm
The hand-wringing comment was aimed at the oft-quoted "there are too many classes" postings on this forum, I think we probably agree but we're saying it differently.

I really don't know why more isn't done to stack boats and create more capacity in boat parks, there are great swathes of UK club boat parks taken up by Lasers, Toppers, Optimists and others which could be stacked without greatly inconveniencing owners, boat park maintenance, views from the footpath etc...

We have some clever people out there, the materials required are not going to need a midnight raid on the local mil-aero clever/secret stuff factory to produce, even HSE couldn't quibble (much) as long as there are hand-rails in the right places and not too many sharp corners!
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