D-Zero

Still love watching father Ted, great show and even now it's timeless

First of all, i had found myself in a bit of a dull-drum with regards to my sailing.  I had made a choice to take a year out after leaving the D1 fleet, i had grown tired of being a demo donkey.  I had grown tired of looking at the forecast before making a decision to sail or having to travel to get a quick sail in.  I wanted my sailing to be like my cycling...Easy!  I live 5 minutes from the sailing club i have grown up around.  Sure its a small brown ditch sheltered by rolling hills.  However its a beautiful part of the world, the racing is small but competitive across the fleet.  I have a boat i sail with my daughter (when she feels like it) But i wanted something i could quickly pull the sails up and race on a Wednesday evening, or Sunday morning.  Something i could quickly whack on a trailer and tow to a winter handicap event and not worry about on water traffic, or course suiting my spinnaker.  

I wanted something modern that fitted in with my overall tight budget (i have so much money tied up in push bikes nowi cant afford £10k toys) However i wanted something with a traditional class association.  I really value a class association and the support it brings, but also the close knit community it generates.  

I want to spend my money with actual people, that have made an effort to sell to me.  But actually understanding me.  Something Suntouched always strived to do and kind of the ethos employed by Rodney when i worked for him.  Not only that i know the designer, he is someone i now consider a friend.  He is a straight talking chap and i would say his own biggest critic.  Who doesn't feel the need to try and fill me with sales bullsh*t.

So i guess my purchase indicators really were:

1)A builder and supplier that support a class for the long term

2) A proper 'Old Fashion' class association

3) An attainable boat, with a good turn of speed

4) Value for money

5) Good open circuit potential

6) Somethign that was not overly weight sensitive.

7) Something that looks slick

Now i guess the Aero ticks as many of the boxes as the zero for me, but as many can tell i am not really an RS funboi anymore.  I also dont beleive that removing all of the static weight from a boat makes it a better boat to sail, to me it makes things more difficult to handle.  Both on water and on trolley.  So my mind was made up....The choice was simple I had experience Devotis build quality on several occasions and knew that Rodney and Devoti would not allow themselves to be involved with a pup of a project.

Before i get grief around commercial interest and all that guff, I am a normal punter like the rest of us.  I have no money invested in Devoti, Suntouched or the D-Zero.  I am just a sailor like everyone else. I posted the above to detail how i went about making my purchasing decision.  As you can see PY never came into to it.  In fact I  never considered it really,  Rodney was always clear that he would not publish a MRN.  I trust the system to pull out a reflective number.  I will always try my best to sail under whatever number is published.