David Henshall's article

So much food for thought on here. I trained as a boat builder, but having not done any major jobs for quite a few years, I certainly worry whether I can actually remember how to do stuff properly, so I can see for someone starting from scratch, the pressure could be pretty huge.
Over at the cvrda, we do of course see a lot of people (usually, but not always, in the "prime of life") restoring an old boat. Some worry that what they do won't be showroom style - and I think they always get the reply that it really doesn't matter - the point is to have a boat you can sail at the end of a process that you have enjoyed. 50 years ago these same people would probably have built a kit, but now there are so many old boats around, and very cheap, why start from new - a restoration can throw up a much more varied problem solving set.

I'd say the vast majority of restorations SHOULDN'T be works of art. There will always be people for whom the aim is to spend years painstakingly building something, but for those who simply want a winter passtime that leads to sailing in the spring, you shouldn't get too bogged down in the detail, and should accept that perfection isn't needed and can even be a bad thing - you won't want to sail it in case you get damage, you won't want to let anyone else sail it, you'll cry if someone bumps into it.

I too like the Cherub way of thinking (bodge it together, make it go fast till it breaks, then bodge again), and more discussions on here would be good.

A few years ago a couple of chaps turned up at the cvrda event at Bough Beech with a Hornet that had been in storage for many years. They sailed it on the Saturday broke something went home bodged it back together to race on the Sunday. Their comment was that it was like old times you would break something at an event and put it back together so you could sail again next day. I am pleased to hear that spirit lives on in the Cherub fleet.

I am of the view, as are many cvrda members, that an old boat will have battle scars and are part of her history. A fifty year old boat will have some tales to tell so let her tell them with her bumps and dings and get out there sailing.

Chris, One thing is for certain! Germany is one of the great powerhouses of International sailing. They have long replaced the UK as the spiritual home of the 505, ditto the Contender. Go south and you'll find great fleets of 470s - not to mentions Tornados, FDs, OKs and other international classes. And, as you noted, there is a lot going on in their stable domestic scene, boats like the Pirat and Korsar. Maybe the answer is in that one word - stable! But if you think that Germany has cracked the path to International success, just head up and across to Denmark and you can find an even more focused approach. Have they got a different mentality regarding the structure of the sport? I think so and if you look at the results, you'd have to say that they achieve more with less. After the 2012 Olympic Regatta finished, I hosted the Chair of Selectors for a small but successful sailing nation as he waited for his flight home. I took him down around Hamble and showed him the Office 'complex' that is the powerbase for the RYA. He was dumfounded that leisure boating should need such a large set of palatial premises. Maybe that is part of the problem, that running the sport has become more important than the activity that they are there to support. But in some ways you are so right with your observations! Twice this year I've been caught on the hop; the first time was at the excellent classic event at Hunts, when the Ian Proctor designed ST (for Sunday Times) dinghies turned up. I was expecting a couple of boats but they kept arriving. That is one happy class that, like the British Moth, continues to occupy a niche but below the radar for most of the more vocal observers. The second time was when I was a guest at the Miracle Nationals - similar thinking to when I was at Hunts but again I was wrong. This is a fleet that happily pulls in more than 40 boats for most of their Nationals; the bottom line is that they just get on with their sailing and having fun! The more you look at things, the more you start to think that stability is really where it is at; classes like the Solo and Merlin Rocket have been around for decades, yet continue to thrive no matter what new classes try to threaten their position. I was at Salcombe this summer, covering Merlin week there. So many of the sailors I spoke to said that this was their 15th week (relative newcomers, many had already had their Silver Anniversary of weeks). And this is what it is all about; these classes where stability is a given also seems to be the classes where the fun is to be had!
D

Edited by Dougaldog - 20 Dec 14 at 9:58pm