Silver Dream racer article

Without knowing what a Silver Sailor quite is (I might qualify, in my early 50s) but the 400 (which seemed to be a bit dismissed in the article) is very competitively sailed by a number of notable couples who almost certainly fall into that category. But class alliances aside, I do wonder if a factor in the loss of many silver people to other pastimes (cycling has really pulled away quite a few good sailors that I know) is the constantly changing and ever complex racing rules that govern our sport. Unless you're at the front of the fleet they are a constant source of bad feeling and uncertainty. More so thn most sports/passtimes. Could something be done to make it simpler for your average club sailor?

Originally posted by Do Different Now read the piece, wash my mouth out with soap and shoot me down in flames, although he says a lot which cannot be contested I didn't see anything that amounted to much at all. Flying Fifteens; why heave and hike when a car and keel can do the work? How many easy easy new boats for Silver sailors do you need? K1, K2 and for that matter K6. Going lighter, Blaze Fire, Aero smaller rigs and D0 Blue.  Both Icon and Alto are listed as near the mark but have hardly flown off the shelves, if the current crop of Silver Sailors are the golden generation regarding their spending power then they haven't voted with their wallets. I really don't embrace the obsession for ultra light boats, a sensible bit of mass damps down twitchiness quite nicely and with potentially slower reactions this can be a plus for the Silvers. As regards physically handling the boat ashore and launching and recovering, surely a good self limiting safety feature. If you're not strong enough to move it alone ashore you're not strong enough to sort out a situation alone on the water. Why would a Silver Sailor want to or consider it safe or prudent to go single handed sailing alone when going company offers helping hands both ashore and on water.  BTW. I am certainly no young blood, could probably qualify as a Silver, 60 this year with one arthritic wrist and balance that is no longer as cat like as it once was. I have no need for new boats, what I value is friends to sail in company with in the boats we already have.

Do Different (and those who have also commented) - I hope that you will not object if I exercise something of a 'right of reply'.
Those who have read this (as you have) and some of my other articles will know that not only am I rabidly independent, but I try to be non-judgemental. There are people out there that are much better positioned than I to be banging out opinions. Instead I try to entertain a little and at the same time, lay out a line of reasoning that will get you all thinking. But thank you anyway for your comments, I do read them and those thoughts that make ME think - well, I add that to my repertoire for whatever I'll be doing next.
BUt - thinking aloud here....Flying 15? That cannot be the answer, launched by car or not. Although people from the 15 fleet will start leaping up and down in indignation, this is not a fleet that is showing rapid development or expansion. Weight...with or without a car - is not the way forward for dinghy sailing.
Now you may have noticed that the picture I used of someone lugging a boat around on shore featured a Contender. This is a boat that I can claim to know intimately - I've have sailed them for 40 years come next year and if that is not enough, I wrote the book on the history of the class. But you don't need to have been sailing a Contender for 40 years to know that however delightful the boat is ( and if you've not sailed one, it is one of the great sailing experiences) BUT - just like the Laser, it is the other bits that are flawed. You need another 9" (who doesn't?) air gap under the boom and the hull could do with a Supernova like 20% weight reduction. So 30 years or more ago I was helping a well known builder of contenders when he was making a boat for a World Champion hopeful - even with the maximum amount of correctors the boat was still significantly underweight! We ended up pouring resin in under the cockpit floor to bring the boat up to the measurement weight.
Does it make sense, as I said in the article, to be building boats at one weight when they could easily be lighter - or worse, building them and then making them heavy again.

But in the end does it matter? The very fact that you felt moved to reply suggests that the article has achieved its primary goal. I can only hope that you enjoyed it. Better beware though.... there are more to come including one that will fill the t'internet up with heated comment...but I'll leave all that to others!

One thing that does strike me is that there is the gulf in sailing ages. There is a vibrant youth scene at many clubs in the country which then disappears as they hit their late teens/early 20's. You then see people returning to sailing in their 30's and sometimes 40's.

Hi Dougal
As a club I think we get far better returns on the training investmet from Adult training. I think to much of our time is spent introducing the youth who then go onto another sport 6 months later.
Just my opinion not one supported by the club.
Gordon