My unbiased ALTO review

You could of course have just written a couple of sentences saying I like the boat, but you didnt you took time to put some thought into why you liked it etc etc. Thank you.

I hope, above all expectation, for a return to a scenario where you don't need to travel to get good quality fleet racing.  I was surprised in the review that OSC is mainly a handicap racing club, their website would paint a different perception to the would-be new member.  I am definitely in the 'half full' camp when it comes to our sailing club these days... we've got great fleet racing and handicap racing available if you really do want to sail something else.

I know the cliched 'proliferation of classes' argument is usually lobbed at any new entrant like the Alto, I've even read folks saying that in order to launch a new class, the company should buy up the class they are trying to usurp, burn them and offer cheap replacements to former owners.  Nonsense of course, capitalism doesn't work like that; besides there has always been 'lots of classes', it's just that club sailors used to value class racing more in the past and as a collective body, a club of members, would normally select classes appropriate to their home waters.  

I guess the horse has bolted on that one, after all it wasn't so long ago I was also transfixed by the illusion there really is a 'perfect boat' out there.   And that the PY system really could deliver the same quality of racing as a class regatta or a class race if only it were 'used right' as per the RYA instructions.  In truth, there is no 'right way to use it' anymore than there is a 'perfect boat', as it varies depending the club and the individuals as to how any of that could be defined.  At best a PN provides a framework for a competitive cruise in company.  Taken with the right attitude that pill is not so bitter to swallow once in a while- just see the fun we had at the FOM, or the town regattas that go on around the country in the summer months.  At the other end of the spectrum it facilitates the worst the sport can offer- oneupmanship on boats, cheating on class rules, disharmony in a sailing club and reams of discontent and disillusionment for the sailors themselves.  

I used to think it was sailing Lasers that 'did it' for a lot of my pre-uni sailing mates when they gave up dinghy sailing.  Now I'm questioning that... maybe it wasn't the Laser, maybe it was the fact that once young and competitive fleet racers are thrust into the bullsh*t that is adult handicap racing, with all its jibber-jabber about bandits, annual returns, loss of boat on boat tactics etc well is it any wonder they lose interest, especially at an age where political awareness is forming and a (healthy) disrespect for bureaucracy and establishment is omnipresent amongst intelligent teenagers and young people?  

So ideally I'd love to think that there were several clubs I could join within an hour of where I live- each offering different classes suitable to their waters, racing properly, in class races.  Could I see the Alto within that mix?  Absolutely, by many accounts it now seems to be a very nice boat from those who've sailed her, so it seems a shame to have it lumped into the dross of 'another handicap fleet boat', where frankly spending ten grand to compete seems a fools errand, especially as 'new boats' quite often seem penalised by the very system they set their stall on.   

So maybe one day there will be a local 'hub' nearby... when dinghy racing returns to some sense and starts racing boat-on-boat locally again.  You never know, it could happen in my lifetime and a boat like an Alto would be quite 'cool' to crew for those late teens and early 20 somethings who cannot afford a decent boat themselves.  There's certainly enough going on upfront, especially if the helm is generous off the water in the bar too!  I heard Blake 7's coming back and Cath Kidston's on record sales... the MPSs and Moths have been 'bunching up' for a while now, and they're usually a few light years ahead of the rest of us....  Good luck Alto, and thanks for the excellent review Bootscooter!

 

What is your all up crew weight when sailing the Alto?