Modern symmetric two-hander?

I think ICON was a pretty good idea. Most people liked that idea. But the double handed market is almost dead. If I were buying a double handed boat then I would not buy fresh, new and rare, I would buy into an established class. As Craiggo says where are these World beaters just waiting for a bit of marketing?

To keep on bleating about the dark lords of the PYG and Class Associations being at the root of all evil is to my mind a delusional diversion and a waste of energy. It credits the PY system with more influence than it has and disrespects the intelligence of the boat buying punters. Those who really care about winning buy into a class they fancy and those who do not buy into a class have the common sense to understand and live with the limitations of the system.

It has often been admitted that new classes without an RYA PY have been given a punitive handicap at events "to reduce their chance of winning". That could certainly be construed as a form of protectionism. A fair handicapping system should give the new class an equal chance of winning.

But this is broken record stuff, and accusations of sounding bitter and comparisons with Jose Mourinho will soon be made if the record isn't changed.

A problem with the PY system is that if the numbers change too much year on year it loses credibility, and if they don't change enough then it is slow to react and requires a good and impartial initial estimate for a new PY. I would gladly offer my services as an independent and impartial estimator of new class PY, free from claims of commercial incentive or establishment bias.

Edited by Peaky - 02 Nov 15 at 8:20am

To my mind the sad and unexciting truth is the icon people lost control of their development process. They made, effectively, ten 1% improvements and were then astonished when that added up to 10% faster. This meant the rather over publicised Py estimates were quite ridiculous.

They, or rather their nominal fans, then reacted to the initial PY, which looks to have been pretty accurate, in the worst possible way, creating a rather unpleasant aura around the craft which persists on here from certain nominal supporters.

I'm not sure there was really much of a market niche there in the first place, then they reduced the niche by losing control of development, and I think the on line rancour would have killed off much remaining interest. Finally to really put the cap on it were builder/supply problems.

Feels almost like a text book example doesn't it. It really isn't enough to design a better mousetrap. The 59er would appear to be another example of a better mousetrap no-one wanted. Define Better!

In general most manufacturers seem to make a reasonable fist of estimating potential Py numbers. It's after all not that difficult if a boat is reasonably mainstream. If peaky or anyone else wants to offer themselves as an authority then go ahead.

Edited by JimC - 02 Nov 15 at 8:55am