"Follow-up" classes

[Chris 249]

Hi all

Recently I was looking into the most popular classes out of those designed after around 1971 (when the dinghy boom was about to peak) to '95 (when arguably a new breed started to arrive). With the help of Y&Y we decided that the Topper (c 47,000 sold), Force 5 (US Laser type, 12,000 claimed), Laser II (10,400 sold) and Miracle (4,000 sold) were the most popular.

The thing that struck me then was the fate of many of the craft designed as a "follow-on" to highly successful boats of the boomtime. Many of them, while often nice boats, failed to come close to the popularity of their predecessor. For example, the Laser II didn't sell anywhere near as well as the Laser, the Miracle, Mirror 16 and 14 were much less popular than the Mirror, the Monarch (2 person big Contender) never caught on, the Bullet didn't happen, the Streaker wasn't as popular as the Solo, the Aussie 145 couldn't match the earlier 125, etc etc etc.

Interestingly, those craft that HAVE been more successful than their predecessors are also normally slower than their predecessors - the obvious example is the Minisail and Topper, while the Radial and Laser 1 could be similar.... I had some others listed but there was a computer crash.

So, gentlefolk, I ask you - what classes were created more or less as follow-ons of successful classes, did they succeed or fail, and if so why?

[neil]

Not strictly a follow-on but wasn't the OK developed as a Finn trainer?

This was in the days before mass marketing. The issue today is about the brand and filling gaps in the market. The big boys have the marketing, cheapish production methods and most of the new classes would appear to be designed for a relatively short lifecycle.

If you can't attract new people into the sport then the obvious next step is to give your existing market something new/different/better or something that matches their change in circumstance - upsizing/downsizing/family etc.

An example being the D-One - aimed at finn sailors, middle aged, want a thrill and have the spare cash. Time will tell if it's a success, but a successful class nowadays is different from one 20+ years ago. Does success now mean 100 or 1000 boats built? Will we ever see new classes getting into the 1000s?

[roger]

i heard that the lazy E was a replacement for the "outdated" GP14.

[Rupert]

More to the point, it was the Ent's big sister, and never caught on here.

[JimC]

This was in the days before mass marketing. The issue today is about the brand and filling gaps in the market. The big boys have the marketing, cheapish production methods and most of the new classes would appear to be designed for a relatively short lifecycle.

Not sure that's true. The British market is certainly very fickle, with people running to the next fashion, but I find it hard to think of a defunct "new" class that has been replaced by something vaguely similar... RS show no signs of actually replacing RS400, RS600 etc, although they have tried for new bits of market like the singlehander/kite fashion, whilst Topper and Laser have simply given up on pure racing craft completely.

If you think of the car market then one would expect to see RS401, RS402 etc coming out every three years or whatever...

[Rupert]

The Peregrine was Ian Proctor's attempt at a big Osprey, with added lifting keel, and fits quite nicely with the thread on Y&Y about 3 person dinghies not being popular.

Skipper 12 was the baby sister of the 14, but I've no idea how sales compared.

The Fly dinghy was designed as a kids trainer for the British Moth at Highams Park lake in East London... there are still a few around, I believe.

Nigel can help you with the differences between the Seabat and Beachcomber, maybe!

[Nessa]

mini sail, mini sprint?

i have no idea really

[Rupert]

The Minisprint was Ian Proctor updating the Minisail for those who wanted the sliding seat - one of many changes, none of which were as drastic as cutting 2 feet off her and turning her into the Topper, but certainly Proctor enjoyed fiddling with his designs - the Gull went through a few changes, too, and the Wayfarer was followed by the Wanderer.

[Nigel]

Seabat was 11'6" whilst the Beachcomber was 13'. The Seabat also did not (generally) have a footwell

I think the sailskiff was a later wooden version of the Beachcomber. Same shape but the foredeck came back further and the daggerboard went through it. Still had a fat B on the sail. Not really a racing boat though.

The point about racing classes

If you think of the car market then one would expect to see RS401, RS402 etc coming out every three years or whatever...

I think the difference with these boats that to be successful, they need to have an active class. Building an RS201 would likely fragment the class and upset the owners of the obsolete boat so much thet they would move to something else entirely.