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Paramedic View Drop Down
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Posts: 929 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Paramedic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Hardware development
    Posted: 11 Feb 22 at 8:14am
I think rope technology improved beyond recognition over the period 2000 - 2010.

Sailing kit was next with wetsuits becoming warmer for a given thickness and making a drysuit less of an essential for the winter if you don't like the cold.

Actual hardware like blocks, cleats etc hasn't really changed much as it? Yes we have soft attachment but its only the same sheave in a different housing. Low friction rings have only become mainstream in the last few years but these are only a rehash off a very standard round ferrule used in a different way. Both of these innovations are brilliant when used correctly but not really revolutionary. 

In fact I see a lot of "innovation" that I think is a change for the sake of it. T Terminals on the bottom of shrouds (Someone is going to lose a rig due to this) and bolting shrouds/fittings into carbon masts are my two particular pet hates. What is actually wrong with a pin/ring or an upper T terminal? 
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Grumpycat View Drop Down
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Posts: 497 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Grumpycat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Feb 22 at 8:14am
Think you’ve been very unlucky.iGRF.
I’ve been sailing for 35 years and it’s never happened to me and I’ve only ever seen it happen to other people three times and one of those was a Laser top section.


Edited by Grumpycat - 11 Feb 22 at 8:15am
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Paramedic View Drop Down
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Posts: 929 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Paramedic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Feb 22 at 8:16am
Originally posted by Do Different

iGRF.

I have a degree of respect for your drive to innovate.

However on this point.

If you have had a mast fall down five or six times, statistically compared to other dinghy sailors that would point overwhelmingly to operator error on your part. 

LOL LOL LOL

Fast pins are great when used correctly. If you can pull one out on a GP when it's under tension you really should be on TV.
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Paramedic View Drop Down
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Posts: 929 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Paramedic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Feb 22 at 8:29am
The drive to innovate classes is a funny one.

the I14 - once the main UK development class - has never been considered accessible even in old days and now is a very niche market.

The International Moth adopted foiling and completely wrecked a fantastic and unique UK development class where home building and low cost competitive racing was in full swing. This has never been replaced, but the Low Riders are making a small comeback. 

The National 12 reduced its weight beyond what its current fleet could achieve and then followed it up with a game changing foil change obsoleting its whole fleet virtually overnight - its just sort of recovering back to where it was but again this was a huge thriving class in days gone by.

The only "development" class that really survives is the Merlin, as a result of accidentally embracing one design racing as Douglas loves to point out! But even here the cost is creeping back up partly as a result of the current world/europe situation but also partly driven by people seeking that 0.01% advantage and being prepared to spend hundreds on doing so. Again, the merlin has never been considered an affordable class, but new ones came closest in the early noughties, and these days a competitive inland boat will set you back about three grand.

Just the opinion of this observer, but innovation is a double edged sword. You need it for things to progress, but if you do it too quickly you destroy what the previous innovations created. And it takes far longer to build back up than it did to create the magic string.


Edited by Paramedic - 11 Feb 22 at 8:32am
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H2 View Drop Down
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Posts: 750 		Post Options Post Options   Quote H2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Feb 22 at 8:56am
I have come to the conclusion that iGRF just needs to follow his hearts desire and set up a new "innovation class racing series" which he can win each and every weekend because he is the only entrant. A pleasant side-effect will be that he can leave the rest of us luddites to go racing each weekend whether we choose handicrap or class racing in our backward boring boats. Personally I have had a huge amount of fun and enjoyment out of this winters Sailjuice events, just catching up with so many friends and having a laugh doing a sport that makes me happy!
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mole View Drop Down
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Posts: 43 		Post Options Post Options   Quote mole Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Feb 22 at 12:08pm
Coming back to the original question...
Ball bearing blocks made a big impact when they became affordable.
Here is a bizarre one, combination trolley/trailers!
Not really hardware, but modern ropes and also clothing. 
The transition from wooden to FRP was painful. Timber, the original exotic material,  was and is still competitive when combined with the right design and build method. FRP was initially largely very poor in most cases, no durability (in terms of stiffness) but now much improved with newer sandwich construction and understanding of the lay of directional fibres. 
I reckon that takes us to the 2000's. Since then it has been tinkering at the edges and the introduction of carbon in rigs/structures for the few that can justify the cost. 
If you look at other industries then that is were the development starts, particularly with materials, but the biggest changes there have been in process control and quality. 
I guess the next development is a production 3d printed complete boat!
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Mark Aged 42 View Drop Down
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Posts: 98 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Mark Aged 42 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Feb 22 at 1:17pm
3D sails have been done.....
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davidyacht View Drop Down
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Posts: 1345 		Post Options Post Options   Quote davidyacht Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Feb 22 at 2:39pm
Seriously, hardware has improved dramatically in my sailing lifetime, a lot of credit must go to Harken who have reliable kit that can out live a boat, and typically are sold in packs to the builders.  Buying blocks and cleats to improve systems was a regular Saturday activity in the 70's, but since then this is a rare occurrence.

Modern spliceable line is a gift to the boat bimbler who has nothing left to do on a Saturday, and offers the opportunity to junk large quantities of line, when you realise that the newly fitted continuous system is 20mm too short ... at least the dogs now get fancy leads.

Mylar and CAD technology has transformed sails.  Dacron sails only held their shape for a few races, and sailmakers struggled to replicate a fast sail back in the day, now I can by a mylar sail that is fast for two or three seasons, and is exactly the same cut as the National Champions.

But my award for contribution to hardware goes to improved rudder stock technology, particularly Mr Winders carbon rudder stocks ... gone are the days of sketchy downwind legs where controlling ones direction was a somewhat random event.

In by opinion soft shackles, thimbles and dog bones are a solution looking for a problem, though I was recently excited to find such a problem requiring a solution on my Solo inhaul system ... though there is more friction than the block it replaces I now have a system that incorporates a thimble, dog bone and soft shackle ... at least it used up some of that expensive Dyneema lying in the garage
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Posts: 6499 		Post Options Post Options   Quote iGRF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Feb 22 at 2:40pm
Originally posted by Mark Aged 42

3D sails have been done.....

And were slower and to this day I've never completely 100% understood why, I have theorys in that none 3D sails could 'breathe' better than their 3D fixed shape counterperts, but they were an expensive failure in Windsurfing (I was selling North in those days when they developed 3DL.and knew Larry Herbig the North Sails boffin that developed 3DL for windsurfing by grabbing time on their 'Area 51 Computerised mould. Having said that some of the 3D wave sails they built, I still rate to this day as superior to anything that has arrived since, but they were assembled from 3 D panels over special formers, so there wasn't the single continual strand sandwiched between the mylar or whatever carrier film they applied at the time.

It's still a very black art what makes sails fast over what you actually think is going to do it.

Edited by iGRF - 11 Feb 22 at 2:40pm
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Riv View Drop Down
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Posts: 353 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Riv Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Feb 22 at 2:47pm
iGRF should move onto model yachting. Maybe the 36" box rule class. Loads of room for innovation there. 3D printed model yachts are a thing now.
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