Rich96,

Interestingly enough, I was asked about this at the Show last weekend. From my (albeit it limited) perspective, there are two boats that you could 'drop' into the Olympics today without recreating the wheel. You've the Star, as you so rightly pointed out - and the Etchells. Their recent Worlds here on the Isle of Wight were a showcase of close, tactical, world class quality competition. Out of the two, my own money would be on the Star, the boat that has more comebacks than Cher!

Yet, at the same time, there has to be the acceptance that bringing back the Star (or even giving the Etchells a shot) would fly in the face of much of the current WS thinking. The Star in particular is probably one of the most technically demanding 2 person boats out there, which makes it hard for the boat to appeal to the 'new' nations that WS are so keen to attract. Nor is it a boat that can be said to be strong with the youth scene and it cannot be denied that Star campaigns are horribly expensive. Please note; this is the line of reasoning that I see, not that I think is right.

I could well see the MNAs, even in the so called 'wealthier' countries being very circumspect in how they approach this issue; many still have fleets of Elliott 6s from the Woman's Match Racing experiment that lasted for one Olympic rotation.

But - who is going to make way for a 100+ year old boat and at the same time, create a slot for foiling kiteboarders? 3 into 2 hasn't gone in the past and still will not do so after 2020.

D

And not all Star sailors are hulking beasts anymore. Top boats for sure

Ah that old myth that no one sails Stars. 

There is a UK fleet in Norfolk and a few others here and there in the U.K., but it's a strong class elsewhere. When I had my last one there was something like 4000 active boats around the world in the yearbook which is a little bit more than the total numbers built of that oft quoted popular keelboat the Flying Fifteen.

We often accuse the Americans of suffering from a limited world view, but for sailboats we can be just as bad

The Elliot 6s were mainly based at Weymouth as they were  chosen as the boat for the Women's Match Racing. As you'll recall, this was going to be the BIG thing in the five ring circus, though some cynics might say that the idea was at the behest of the US who thought that they'd have sure fire golden prospects in the discipline.

Ynglings another matter - go out to mainland Europe and you'll find them sailed by lots of young ladies......

But back to the OP; Yes, by definition the Star is a keelboat, in some much that it drags around a lump of metal slung permanently under the hull (as against the Finn that can raise and lower the lump of metal). But how does this translate into a representation of the  large numbers of people who sail boats ranging from the smaller sports boats to the  super-maxis. They are every bit as much a racing community as the RS-Xs, kiteboarders, Finn or 470s sailors....but in WS terms, don't appear to be getting much in the way of recognition -  unless they think that there is a family relationship between the Star and these other boats.

I'm just glad that someone will be sorting the mess out!

D

Not the best comparator necessarily. A competitive 470 is £25k or more and the polyester-only build and rig tension loads means it's trashed after 6 months, good for nothing in racing terms.

Fireballs embraced building with decent materials - cost half as much (admittedly with no stupid 5-ring price premium) and last for years at the top level

And I suspect a Star is cheap compared to TP52, say. There's boats for everybody.