Expensive Sports...

I hear what you're saying, but it only takes one example to disprove the rule, and that is the healthy membership and racing that goes on at the welsh harp.  Perhaps people left to their own devices will destroy class racing and subsequently participation, but if you make them all sail the same class everything runs along quite happily?

The way I see the issue is that people want to "win" and in class racing, you generally can't.  If you let people go and buy another boat that might let them "win more" even if that's only on the water and not on handicap, or at the very least gives them the excuse that it was the handicaps fault they didn't win then some of them will go and do that.   

You can also solve the problem with a little bit of effort in the organisation and have different competitions running within the class racing for people of different standards.   I'm a firm believer that quality of racing is what matters, not "quality" or "speed" of boat.

As an analogy, IMHO the world's standard road bikes all basically fit into a single restricted or formula class; that is, the rules governing their design are probably about as tight as the rules governing (say) the F18s or Merlins, and much tighter than the Moths. If you turn up with anything outside of that box you're not normally allowed on the start line. I notice that even something fairly casual like the Ride London Sportive bans a lot of bikes, including half of the ones I race.

It's interesting that two of the world's dinghy racing heartlands seem to have completely different ideas about class racing. Where I used to live, at most clubs if you turned up with a boat that didn't fit one of the official classes you would have as much chance to compete as if you turned up with a cricket bat and stumps at a baseball club. Obviously that works. Since the UK commonly follows the opposite model, obviously that works as well.

Can anyone tell me whether there is more class racing in the regions of  the UK where dinghy sailing is more popular, and (because of the obvious chicken and egg issue) what the changes have been like over time? It's apparent that in the dinghy boomtime, there was a great emphasis on class racing. Obviously the current model still works well, but is there data which proves that one model is better than the other?

PS For what it's worth, I'm the opposite of Jim. Since I moved away from an area where you get class racing I've been trying once again to get into mixed fleet racing, but just find it so frustrating that I've given up club racing instead. I'd rather just train and sail for fun than go mixed fleet racing.

Chris 249 and TT....

Had you asked this question in March, after the Dinghy Show, you'd have gotten a fairly negative, dismal answer. However, as I wander around the UK following events, either as RO  or to cover them for various media outlets, I'm seeing something happening.  What this is I'm not sure as yet for how things are going to end up is far from clear. What I have started to note is yet another twist in the turn of the fundamental changes that are impacting on the dinghy racing scene. Underpinning these changes is a theme that runs along the lines of  " I pay for my club membership, why fork out a small fortune to go somewhere else?". As a result, clubs are trying to sort out the PY system to remove some of the most glaring anomalies, but this is only part of the change I've seen. I've noted that without any top down guidance, sailors at clubs are getting themselves organised into classes (anyone remember class captains??).  The result of this is once sailors get good quality sailing at their local club, are they less likely to travel to opens and championships. Just yesterday I picked up on a conversation that suggested that a couple of clubs that were in effect neighbours would do something of a 'local open'...a one day spent all sailing together. When you get a damn good racer, from one of the main open meeting supported classes, making a conscious decision to NOT go to an even because...cost, time away and besides, he's getting good competition locally. Are these just local hot spots in an otherwise gloomy decline or are they the green shoots of a different approach to how adults (I accept the youth scene has a different dynamic) is developing. Am digging further!!