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Gordon 1430 View Drop Down
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Posts: 308 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Gordon 1430 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Dinghy Show thoughts
    Posted: 01 Mar 23 at 3:47pm
As a dinghy sailor on the south coast who for many years had had to fight round either the south or north circular route in London dating back to the Picket Lock days the change of venue is brilliant. 
I agree NEC would be a sensible compromise but the Dinghy show just isnt big enough plus NEC is expensive. 
Dint make it this year due to ill health but went last year and very glad to read more companies and classes were on display, now to Nag the Phantoms again!
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Posts: 116 		Post Options Post Options   Quote The Q Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Mar 23 at 1:38pm
Yes I agree it's in the wrong place, for me it adds another hour ish and 50 miles for the trip. Making it almost 4 hours driving each way plus the time at the show makes it a 2 day trip. Greatly adding to the costs.

Moving to the NEC or nearby, is no better for me, however I can see it's better for the majority of those interested in the show.

As for carbon, I have a one off boat, for which I bought a new boom this year, I looked at carbon which would have been nice, but at 3* the cost minimum, I just couldn't justify it.

Going all carbon is fine for the enthusiast, but if you want to attract people into the sport you have to keep costs down. Turning dinghy racing into to costs of standing in a shower tearing up pound notes like yacht racing will not help the sport at all.
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Posts: 135 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Dakota Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Mar 23 at 12:57pm
Originally posted by JimC

But the biggest advantage of all, to my mind, is taking the mast up and down. I hadn't really registered how casual I'd got about throwing sticks about until I helped out with a tin one after some years of only carbon on my boats!

So true, I sailed Lasers for 20 years but for the last decade Ive had boats like Lightnings and British moths and for the last couple years I’ve had a D-zero.
I re rigged our club Laser a few weeks ago , god I had forgotten how heavy the mast is . Smile
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Posts: 6644 		Post Options Post Options   Quote JimC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Feb 23 at 10:56pm
Carbon masts seem to offer a very significant performance advantage on classes where they aren't rule limited. But the biggest advantage of all, to my mind, is taking the mast up and down. I hadn't really registered how casual I'd got about throwing sticks about until I helped out with a tin one after some years of only carbon on my boats!
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Posts: 245 		Post Options Post Options   Quote KazRob Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 23 at 7:38pm
I thought it was a great show and while the venue is good, it's in the wrong place. Sure it's dead handy if you're based in Hamble but a proper pain from much further afield. A 7-8 hour drive each way from central-ish Scotland this year. I tried flying last year but it was not much different in time or cost I suspect (1hr to airport, 1.5hrs before flight, 1.5hr flight and it would have been another 2.5hrs and 3 changes by train to Farnborough). Even friends from East Anglia were saying it was 4hrs for them to drive there.
I was on the OK/Finn/Europe stand which I think worked well. Three classes sharing a bigger stand than any single one could reasonably afford with lots of space for visitors to walk through and linger between the boats.
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Posts: 749 		Post Options Post Options   Quote H2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 23 at 5:11pm
A basic stand is around £400 from memory, so whilst its not "cheap" for a class to come along its not prohibitive either. The real issue is having a bunch of people willing to come along with a boat, set it up and stand around for two days and then take it down. I know that does not sound like alot of effort but I suspect that the effort is more a barrier than the cost.
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Posts: 302 		Post Options Post Options   Quote fleaberto Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 23 at 3:26pm
It was a lot better than last year, that's for sure.
I only really went this time to see if any progress had been made and, on the whole, I thought that it was a big improvement on '22.

Needs to expand a bit room-wise (Do they have extra space at Farnborough?) 'cos it did feel a bit cramped at times.
Signage needs to be improved a lot - I pretty much got lost trying to get out of the building as it's such a 'Big bland hall' rather than something with features to help navigate around.

Definitely needed a few more dinghy classes but, as pointed out, how much do these stands cost? At AP the 'basic' stand was in the high hundreds, but extras like walls, electric, carpet etc were all charged on top so smaller classes just don't have the funds.

More retailers was good to see this year and the food vans were a welcome change.

I thought it was a big improvement on '22and showed a bit of promise with a few more changes.

I travelled down from the Midlands but drove this year and it was dead easy. I usually catch the train and that, last year, was equally as straightforward so location wise I don't think it's too bad.

Yeah, i'll give it a cautionary thumbs-up and hope for more improvement next year.
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Posts: 749 		Post Options Post Options   Quote H2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 23 at 1:32pm
As for the comments on carbon booms....as an owner of an OK (heavy square sectioned ali boom) versus a H2 (light, round, carbon boom) I think I can say that my head prefers the H2 any day!!
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Posts: 403 		Post Options Post Options   Quote GybeFunny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 23 at 11:20am
I didnt mind the walling around stands, I wasnt going to read stuff on the walls but if they had some nice photos of the boats being sailed then that was nice. If I wanted to find a particular boat I just looked up at the sails which could be seen from a distance.
How much are class associations paying for these stands? Perhaps if we knew that you would realise why there was only 1 solo on the stand.
It was my first time attending with the kids and they had a great time, the treasure hunt and kids activities in the interactive zone at the end were great.
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Posts: 749 		Post Options Post Options   Quote H2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 23 at 9:04am
I could be wrong but suspect that for many the attraction of the solo is the ability to race other solos in fleets at club, open or national level rather than they think it is the loveliest boat on the planet. Cant recall anyone ever telling me they thought the solo was a great looking boat or extolling the virtues of its mast. Don't get me wrong, if you want great class racing the the solo is a great choice.

I am not sure if you have sailed a boat with a carbon mast recently? For me its a transformation similar in scale to sailing around in oilskins compared to modern wetsuits.

Have heard lots of great feedback from people that went to this years show and some of the same voices concerned about the location for those North of London.
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