Youngsters top dinghy charts

Poptastic Gerald New looks at the climbers and fallers in the dinghy Top 100

Who are the Winners and Losers?

Removing classes now scoring less than 50 entries we lose the Flying 15, OK, Firefly, Contender and Inter 14.

Adding in new classes that did achieve that target we gain the RS800, which has followed a steady upward path since the first championship in 1999 with 17 boats then to 65 this year. The Solo joins with a jump from last years 47 to a 63 entry at their popular south coast championship venue.

The Laser2 is up in a year when the Worlds were held here, the Albacore also benefited from a Worlds effect. The Phantom is in with a good increase from 37 to 51 and the new 29er class gathering pace with 50.

The Topper heads the chart with a massive increase followed by the Cadet, both on a steady upward trend.

Then there is the 1999 number one, the RS400, which is on a gentle decline from the 128 of that year, tied with the Dart 18 in its 25th anniversary year, first catamaran and only one to get into the 50+ chart.

Below these leading three, the only other one to crack the one hundred, is the senior fleet of the Optimist, the number one class last year.

Then come the Enterprise and Laser dropping entries before we come to the next improver, the GP14 which stopped its decline with over 20 added entries.

Rounding out the top ten are the Laser Radial going down and the Merlin Rocket improving. Sowing after a strong upward trend from 47 in 1998 to 72 this year, the Merlin is also first in the restricted class category.

Highest newcomer? The RS800 comes straight in at number 13 to take the honours, closely followed by the Solo at 14.

Biggest climber? The GP14 which went from twenty-fourth place to ninth adding over twenty boats. The next best was the Dart 18 adding 15 places, they also had a fun fleet that added another 30 plus boats. The Laser 4000, at twelth, was up nine places with 70 entries.

Biggest drop? The Mirror down from second to eighteenth place and the Squib from sixth to twenty-first.

In competitor numbers after the Topper's massive 67 boat jump the Dart 18 had an extra 45 and the Laser2 was up by 32 entries and the GP14 added 21, while the newcomer RS800 added 20 boats.

Overall the total number of entries at the top ranked championships has dropped but with changes to the pecking order. Some of this will be down to a less popular venue or a choice between attending a Nationals or a European/Worlds event. The Inter14 and 505 seemed to suffer from some event clashes in a crowded calendar this year, both dropping from regular 60+ entries to the thirties.



Where now for dinghy racing.... page 3....

and full ranking table....