Twenty years from now

State of sailing in 20 years time depends on a few things: 

Originally posted by Peaky Sails will become colourful again.

And coloured hulls too? Please let that fashion return.

I predict 3D-printed boats are the norm in 20 years time. We're already seeing the beginnings of machines with multiple nozzles that can handle printing with two materials at once. I see boats with honeycomb double floors being printed with carbon thread inserted where needed, etc, etc.

Sailors over the age of 90 will still compete, in Illusion or 2.4m yachts where the rudder/strings are controlled by a couple of probes inserted into the brain.

Match racing will die out, and elements of early naval warfare will be introduced instead: each America's Cup yacht will have 14 cannon and you can blow away the opponents spars/foils/sails as desired, if you can't keep ahead.

Change brings churn though.... We better damn well hope the new classes bring in enough fresh blood to keep the top of the pot full.... And that there's a more rewarding method of conducting racing for all this diversity than (bloody) PY...

Having just spent most of the last 2 years doing the history of the Merlin Rocket, ready for their 70th Anniversary this year (and in the meantime starting a similar project for the 505)one of the observations that I made is on the cyclic nature of support. Interestingly, if you go back 20 years - the Merlin Rockets were in a pretty bad place, with a far from certain future. Yet, from those darker days, the class emerged, albeit somewhat different to before, but as a boat that would grow stronger and more entrenched in the niche it has created. Now it is not the job of the writer to be opinionated, so I avoided that pitfall, all bar a two page conclusion as a clearly separate tailpiece to the book. And yes, there I do look forward - to the next 30 years that will see the class celebrate a centenary in 2045. I have no doubt that the merlin Rocket will still be there and will look pretty similar to what we have now. Set against that, wooden boats will be a thing of the past, limited to some glorious examples competing on the classic circuit.

As for other classes, I can see that a good number will be gone by 2035 (many of them by 2025!) with some currently household names vanishing from view (and no, I'm not going to 'name names' - there would be an outcry, but it is not difficult to make a list) and even some classes that are highly cherished on here will by then be museum pieces.

The driving factor will be when the generation who used to sail in that 'golden era' - the days of the Holt and Proctor boats - are no longer around.... hmmnnn.... yes, then you can see the old defence mechanisms, of people spending half their life in one class, once that goes, change will happen more quickly!

D

... you think this forum will be around in 20 years?