The minutiae of the minutiae

by John Curnow on 25 May 2016 In the mighty US boat market, sailing yacht sales accounted for something like 0.32% of all waterborne vessels sold last year. Of that, racing yachts were their own fraction. Hardly huge, but here’s the thing. It is exceptionally visible and loud, which is a function of both the colour of the sport (bring back coloured kites immediately) and the deep passion held and very much expressed by the participants! Remind you of anyone?

At a show, production or near-production racing craft simply do not exist, and as for custom builds, well they are almost dodos. Of the five or so large builders in the country all are power based, at least two are purely commercial, and then there are a smattering of super-niche builders doing an awesome job. Think companies like Van Munster and the Wooden Boat Shop here.

It was interesting listening to two industry stalwarts the other day. In their reminiscing you could hear names long forgotten and that they could fill the ad space in a magazine, just by one successful sales trip through Sydney’s many Northern Beaches builders. Today, some 35 years later, not only are all the builders gone, Buizen was the last some 18 months ago, but virtually all of the publications have disappeared too!

So if it is all about sailors of all ages in OTB craft and the adults doing social racing on keelboats, then we need to embrace it whole heartedly. For in there are the next steps, the next wave of buyers, the next participants, the next customers for the lofts, the yards, the chandleries, and so on. Even for those seeking that elusive gig of the pro-sailor need to hope they all come along smartly.

So we will no doubt see even more polarisation on the start lines between all-out racers and production cruiser/racers. The dedicated racer will indeed be the minutae, and lets hope they are as striking as an FB35 or the like, and that the next rule does not penalise people building smaller, all crew nestled in the quarter rail, bow out flyers. Yeehaa…

Now there are a few, sub 40’ (even sub 35’) OD craft appearing, but it seems that people still want to fleet race at some point, and passage racing is also getting a big nod. Historic racing like the One Tonners has gained traction as well. It all says passion, and it all says there are still mad keen racers out there, even if everyone is now stuck in traffic jams playing Soccer Mum/Dad all weekend. As mentioned, embrace, innovate and adapt would seem to be the new buzzwords, for it will never again be like it was.