POW

Exactly Mr Tick. Not everything is about price and or accessibility. I could go about trickle down of of ideas and technology......................., but I suspect like you I am simply happy to applaud the dedicated few and take some inspiration to pursue my own modest efforts.  

Fairly sure they haven't had that sort of turnout for 15 or 20y. Since maybe beer worlds year. 70 boats at 2011 POW but that was aprt of worlds.
I think that any boat built in such low numbers is custom to all intents and purposes. Trouble is that the building is very fragmented, so there are about 3 or 4 pro builders who have been active in the last decade, and about 30 boats have been built in that time. Often 2 builders have each built moulds at vast expense to the same design, and only a couple of hulls made out of each!
I do believe that there should be scope for a mach 2 or exocet style high fidelity productionised newbuild i14 but even they aren't cheap and lead time on an exocet is 3 years!!!
Still, such an approach if done well and sensibly could be a good basis for those who like to throw money at problems to build on, and accessible for those that just want to sail.
Still, 9 newbuild boats in the UK in 2016 to 4 designs I think, pretty cool!

The big numbers of old were before the rules changed to amalgamate with the Aussies, weren't they?

Originally posted by craiggo As for Jim's comments, you'd expect that to have a bigger effect on used values rather than new,

Availability, not cost. Say two classes have 10 owners who keep boats fully competitive. Class A is 2% off the pace after a season, and the 10 buy a new boat every year, trading it on at light depreciation. Class B is fully competitive for 10 years.
At the end of ten years class A has had 100 boats built, Class B has had 10.

It also depends on the class. Modern FRP Solos are competitive for well over 5 years but guys at the top of the fleet (granted, many of them pro sailors) get a new boat every year which ensures a good supply of nearly new (and well-tuned) second hand boats. But then they are a load cheaper than and i14.