A new class of dinghy?

I agree I race primarily because I enjoy sailing my chosen boat which to my eyes is a "nice thing" and the people I sail with. I would have little to no interest in racing for it's own sake in a boat I felt no connection with. 

Originally posted by zippyRN Originally posted by getafix My 3p worth. Target space: fast-draining double-hander for couples, parent+child, two people, carrying capacity to ~24-25 stone. A ~14ft, hiking, ~6ft wide boat with double floor but decent leg room (high freeboard), twin-pole system with symetric kite out of bow-chute. dagger* & kick-up rudder. Furling jib. Carbon sticks. Semi battened main with two sizes. ......Symetric kite because they are better suited to a wider range of waters and uses. Two sail sizes to accomodate different use cases. Open sailmakers would encourage more parties to be interested and promoting.   sounds  rather  Merlin Rocket  / RS400 ish

Originally posted by getafix I acknowledge that weight reduction and modern materials can equate to faster speed and maybe handicap bother, as JimC posted. ... a boat people look forward to sailing.

I said nothing about handicaps.

My point was that once you get beyond a certain level of performance it seems you end up with a boat that many people don't look forward to sailing. My guess is its because it will get you into trouble faster than you can get out of it unless you are a really expert level sailor.

The big change in popular classes since I was young is the loss of the edges. By and large people no longer sail neither the fast boats or the slow boats, it's all concentrated in the middle range.

I remember predicting, when the 29er came out, that we were going to be heading for a golden age for the high performance classes. With all those youngsters with high quality training in the high performance skills classes like us (as I was then) in the Cherubs, the 14s, all the rest would see a major upsurge in popularity because we wouldn't have people buying a boat, scaring themselves s*****ss, realising they don't want to play the game and getting out again.

Boy, was I ever wrong. The popularity of the high performance boats has plummeted since then. Its almost as if those youngsters are stepping out of the 29er, and saying, with obvious exceptions, "B*****r that for a game of soldiers, never again". I'm at a loss to explain it, but can't ignore it.



Edited by JimC - 01 Sep 18 at 10:29am

Jimc,

Edited by 423zero - 01 Sep 18 at 9:59am