Boss with Carbon Hull???

49er wrote "People may sail the Boss instead of the 800 because it's a much cheaper boat and also they might be enthusiastic about their class. The best way forward for the Boss may be to hold a joint class association with the 5000 because the boats are similar on handicap. Once the classes are stronger, they could then choose to seperate or keep on growing together."

I am a big fan of the Fast Sail concept and would love to see it expand to other boat genres and to the way we organise club handicap racing in general , e.g. medium performance singlehanders (Byte, Streaker et al), single wire "skiff" (ISO, L4000), two-man hikers (RS400, 59er, Tasar etc), twin wire skiff (L5000, 49er, Cherub, RS800, Boss, I14).  The PY system is much fairer when applied to similar boats like these, but struggles when having to equate a Topper, Tornado and Fireball.

This is also precisely the reason I advocate a series of new formaula classes - see New Development Class thread. If Topper and Laser had worked together rather than competing against each other, the Boss and 5000 might still be selling well (albeit, now as a Boss Mk 4 and Laser 5006). Sailors get the latest developments and the manufacturers get to keep sales going by launching new designs without fragmenting fleets. Another example of this is the new Red Eye boat. It might well be 'better' than a Solo (it should be, otherwise why make it?), but how many people will actually leave an existing class to get one?