So Class Racing is clearly in serious decline, but

Originally posted by Dan Vincent

Originally posted by Dan Vincent

There is definitely decline in the two leading junior
classes, and Optimist and Topper class experts may be able to highlight
why,  but maybe they have dropped back to
sensible numbers?  

There was a rise in all junior classes in early 2000s with lottery funding and Volvo. 

The was a drop off in Cadet and Mirrors in the mid to late 2000's but outweighed by the rise in topper and oppies (even counting sailors rather than boats). 

Since 2010, Feva, Teras and the new topper rig somewhat cancel out.   

However, overall junior sailors peaked in 2010 -2011 with 1400+ sailors. 2015 was 1152 and 2016 1044.

However, the upper age for RYA squads in topper reduced to 14 somewhere around 2010, from 15. So you'd expect to see less sailors in junior classes and more in youths. 

However, I can't see a corresponding increase in youth numbers for post 2010 (however it's impossible to distinguish youth laser and radial sailors from adults... maybe look at youth national results?)

... a lot of kids drop out at the junior to youth transition, so maybe they're just dropping out earlier now? 

Edited by mozzy - 15 Nov 16 at 1:27pm