The Solution.

I don't know. I go off-grid for 2 weeks and up pops a thread on Solutions in time for me to miss it completely!

A quick potted history for those interested...
Following a discussion at a phantom nationals, Andy Elliot (of Red Eye Sails) and Kevin Clark decided that what Kev needed wasn't a 10% reduced sail, it was a 10% reduced phantom. That was the birth of the concept and originally the plan was for Kevin to build them himself. Somewhere in the design phase, Red Eye Sails became part of Evolution Sailing and Evolution got the job of marketing the new boat. With so much initial interest at the launch, it was too big a task for a one-man-band to build and Ovingtons were brought on board as builder. Evolution sailing then got itself into a wee bit of financial trouble which led to a few issues in getting boats out to market. At this point, Ovingtons stepped in and took on responsibility for the whole package.

The class is very much led by the sailors but Ovingtons give us plenty of support. There is a strong drive to keep things one-design and stay away from arms-races and cheque-book sailing. The deck mould was changed when Ovis took over but the differences are mostly cosmetic and principally for ease of manufacture. When Hyde was introduced as the sailmaker (in place of Evolution), existing owners were offered a sizeable discount if they wanted to trade up to a new sail. Sails and spares are generally pretty competitively priced in comparison to equivalent classes. Even new boats are bloomin' good value for money when you look at what you're getting for your money.

Aluminium rigs v carbon rigs? Carbon might be sexier and the latest best toy but it is also more expensive and more vulnerable. Not only would it put up the price of the boat, it would put up the cost of insuring it as well. And not only that, there'd be nothing to stop the boat blowing over the hedge on a windy day... the hull is so light it sometimes feels like the mast is the only thing that holds it down. It's not unheard of for a capsized solution to blow itself upright on a breezy day. Personally I prefer a tin rig as it keeps the price down and I don't have to worry about looking after it in the same sort of way.

So why aren't there more out there? The class has never had a marketing machine behind it creating the hype that leads to masses of new boat sales. There are a couple of demo boats out there but there isn't the £££ to trail them all over the country for anyone who fancies going out for a play. We try to make them available to as many people as possible as far as budgets allow and most Solution sailors are more than happy to loan their boat to someone wanting to have a try. The biggest downfall is the lack of big fleet sailing - if everyone who said "this is the boat I really want to be sailing but I prefer the fleet racing that solo/laser/insert-class-here gives me" made the leap and bought a Solution, we'd easily have the big fleets that everyone wants. I realise that some of those folks don't necessarily mean it but it is frustrating all the same when you're trying to build a bigger fleet. It's gratifying to see how many Solutions were out for Bart's Bash - a lot of those entries are folks who don't come to the opens so I'm pleased to see that they are getting out at their clubs and being sailed.

iGRF - I see you've been onto the class forum looking for a test sail and had a couple of offers. I hope you've managed to get something sorted out but if not, you're welcome to take mine for a spin at the Ovington Inlands at Grafham next month. I'll do anything to get out of sailing once the clocks go back

Is it a lost cause with the arrival of the aero and zero? Both seem to cater for similar sized sailors tovthe Solution and they're on the ascendancy.

Originally posted by getafix Do you think there is scope to make a leap in numbers, perhaps at a few clubs, gaining some momentum for class numbers overall?

I'm trying to do this at Hickling, hoping to get some to move from Lasers and Solos ....... we did have 4 Solutions there but one never seems to sail, one only rarely and the other regular has now gone over to a Phantom .....

The Solution does appear to be a nice looking boat, and appears to be a little more technical and less agricultural than the Aero.  We have a group of lighter weights sailing Radials, Standards, Solo's and Streakers, who could all benefit from deciding on one type of boat, so that they could acheive class racing, at a discussion last weekend, the Laser option is hard to displace because of the availability of cheap second hand boats.  It is hard to build a fleet without an affordable entry level, as well as confidence in residual values.  This is a problem for the Solution and Aero (and dare I say Icon), which might be the best boats, but no good unless you have £ 5k to take a punt.

Originally posted by boatshed Originally posted by iGRF I wonder how it would stack up, lined up against the D0 & Aero, how much slower would it actually be? The Solution has got stays holding up the mast.   Dead downwind, you'll never get the boom out square or even beyond for efficient by the lee running.   The Aero and Zero are stay-less and will be much better on this point of the wind.   As will a Laser, a RS300 and an OK.

I thought that, although looking at pictures, the stays do look quite far forward, they appear to be forward of the mast.