The Boss

The reason the Tornado could change and the Dutchman couldn't is that the state of the art in the catamaran platform hasn't changed that much since the Tornado ( a boat if not ahead of its time certainly right at the forefront) was designed. By contrast with the FD there was nothing about the boat that was worth retaining towards a modern platform. Best it should be appereciated for what it is - updating it would kinda be like putting wide wheels, spoilers and the like on a vintage Bentley.

Something I've noticed is that we're starting to see quite a few more 49ers being club sailed as the necessary skills become more widespread. Unfair to call it Olympic hopefuls only.

The Boss and 5 tonner et al died not so much because they were about 15 years behind the pace when they were designed, never mind being quickly outdated by the development guys, but because they just weren't very good boats. There are plenty of far more outdated classes doing very nicely thankyou. While people may admire the build standards and so on of the development boats relatively few people are prepared to shell out the extra cash that such build standards require in off the shelf boats. We're certainly never going to outsell the SMODs. New Cherubs, for instance, aren't quite rushing out of the boatbuilders shops...

I do think the lifespan of SMOD classes will be interesting, but I doubt that the latest new thing will be such a big deal with Vagos and Xenons and things. The original Topper is scarcely suffering... More likely that there will be updates every few years if new materials/techniques become available. If, for instance, rs400 sales start getting too low I'd wonder about a next generation RS400 with a new plastic rig and a bigger kite. Maybe a slightly smaller main too...

Edited by JimC

But the 700 is still soo much better 

They tried to give the FD an update by turning it into the Mach 2; FD hull with wings about one metre, fathead main, big assy, twin traps, smaller jib. There's probably not much more you could do.

Although apparently quite quick, it scored lower than the original FD in the trials and most FDers think it was a step a long way too far for something which still couldn't rival the 49er in terms of age and pace.