Youngsters top dinghy charts

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

Of the group just outside the 50 mark, the Firefly, Contender, Hornet and Flying 15, the first two seem likely to bounce back from one poor year and the golden oldie the Hornet, added 18 entries and looks like it will join the 50 club in 2002, which would be a nice touch as they celebrate their 50th anniversary.

Anyone else to join the 50 plus club?

Apart from the classes mentioned that had perhaps a one year hiccup, the Dart 15 is on a strong upward trend, as are the Laser 2000 and the 49er could be an outside bet if the UK circuit does not suffer from the Olympic build-up taking competitors abroad.

But these are small beer and there does not seem to be any new thinking that will be able to gather sufficient support to drive a revival of numbers. The recent newcomers the RS300 and the Laser EPS have failed to catch the mainstream imagination but the Laser Vortex is a possible candidate for the future. The RS200 and 400 seemed to have reached their peak while the 800 is still growing and has fulfilled the builders' hope of it becoming a 49er for the club sailor.

But nothing looks likely to spark a new era of expansion of real numbers of competitors. We have seen that money poured into an elite group produces the goods at Olympic level. Will the same investment at grass roots level in schools and local clubs produce a similar explosion of interest at the national level?

The interest in the junior classes is promising. Although that is not a new phenomena, it seems that the problem is in the jump to continuing to compete after that level. Possibly the problem lies in the lack of class racing at club level. The tables show the figures for a one class national championship, but how many clubs encourage class racing? Junior racing tends to be concentrated in such classes as Optimists and Toppers at clubs, but when they move to the 'senior' classes the only choice is often to join in the handicap racing and then travel to open meetings for any class racing.

Does 'racing' that pits a Laser against a 49er or a Wayfarer against an RS600 have any real meaning as a competitive sport? The entrants are essentially completing the course in their own time, often following different courses as their particular dinghy requires and after the start never interacting with another competitor. This is fine for the die-hard social sailor who finds this a pleasant weekly sail round the course, but how long does the youngster fresh from junior class racing and RYA training courses stick with it - not for long if you look at the average age of competitors in some dinghy classes.

Who's fault is this state of affairs.....page 4