From the feedback - 3/03/01

We'll be publishing the choicest moments from the stuff you send us - but each contribution may or may not be subjected to a rigorous process of editing for language, taste and imparted wisdom. And of course, as they so famously say at the start of anything like this, the opinions expressed in From the Feedback do not necessarily reflect those of the management, staff or investors of madforsport.com. Instead, and much more importantly, they reflect your views.

From Charles Apthorp,
Will the K-6 clean up? A side issue is the fragmentation of class racing. Many years ago you used to see decent sized fleet racing at clubs. Now there tends to be handicap racing in a number of asymmetric classes, you get two or three boats of different sorts. This undermines the whole concept of one-design racing because everyone is sailing a slightly different boat. Compare B14, RS 800, Laser 4000 and 5000 all are very similar variations on a theme and all get lumped in together racing. The 49er is distinct.

The manufacturers then market for a few years and will drop the class (see B14) and start a new one. Second-hand prices freefall. Obviously some classes will survive long term, eg RS200 and 400 which fill the Merlin and National 12 market with mass-produced boats.

One of the problems for the future, as suggested in your article, is that a number of 20ft light keelboats will appear. As keelboat classes grow more slowly than dinghy classes this could be very destructive. Sailors in these classes tend to be very loyal to their classes, so rates of growth in new classes will be very low after the initial launch. The Flying Fifteen grew by 100 boats per annum at its peak. Currently it is about 30 - 40. Most of the boats sold are to repeat customers who have purchased second-hand first.

Clearly the RS will suit established RS sailors who want to trade up to something similar. But the K-6 has some fundamental flaws in design and construction. Plainly the sail area is far to big. There is no adjustment to the rig to allow depowering and the jib cars cannot be moved back because the jib is self tacking. In a dinghy this doesn't always matter because you can 'bounce' the rig off the wire to open the leach of the main. You can't do this in a keel boat. 200kg is a silly weight limit as it is too much for two, and not enough for three although there is not enough room in the boat for three.

From Malcom Morley,
Will the K-6 clean up? When RS had the prototype K-6 I ended up going out sailing it with them. I went out because I had been race officer that day and was desperate to get a sail, even if it was in a keelboat! As a fit dinghy sailor I thought it would be a few years before I would be sailing keelboats, but I was so impressed with the K-6 my name is now on the order book and hoping for the boat in May. We are going to sail the boat three-up to start with..... until we put on too much weight!

From Ben Nicholls,
Will the K-6 clean up? I do not think enough thought has gone into the design to knock the strong Flying Fifteen Fleet. A Flying Fifteen can be dry sailed with ease, launching from the beach at Hayling or down the slip at Rutland, and so on. The K-6 cannot do this nearly so easily, so the venues are automatically reduced. Also, if the hull is round, presumably the reaching speeds are dramatically reduced, and the fast reaching fun of an RS400 or RS600 cannot be achieved. I have owned a F15 for 10 years which I keep at Aldeburgh for ideal river racing - I would be fascinated to see how a K-6 performs.

From Simon Smith,
Will the K-6 clean up? At last some people who recognise that people are getting bigger and that there is a whole bunch of 100kg plus sailors who have been becoming more and more disenfranchised when it came to being competitive in small performance boats. Well done RS, but what about a true dinghy for well built inland sailors too?

From David Geening,
Have you got anything to add? In your profiles, the most common comment on how to improve races is the need to reduce unnecessary delays between races. From a competitors' point of view, staying afloat, getting cold in the winter or on a sea course is an unpleasant and draining experience, especially if there appears to be no activity on the part of race management. My understanding of back-to-back suggests that a warning signal should be given as soon as the last boat finishes, alternatively the race instructions should say, that the second race will start at least x minutes after the last boat finishes, giving competitors the chance to warm up, drink coffee etc. This would be helpful to competitors and require little effort by race managers. There is a move to running more short races back-to-back to create more tactical racing, however the racing time versus time hanging around must be smaller.