Keith... The Laser SB3 from England is a completely different kind of ride then the sport boats. ... The boat is designed so that you CAN'T hike out on the thing...you sail the boat from the ****. The objective is to take a lot of the physical, muscle work out of racing ... It seems to be hugely popular over in England.

I would imagine that boats like the SB3 targets the Star, Soling, Etchells, Lighting, and J 22 crowd more so then the sport boat Melges 24... M20 or Viper 640 and us of a catamaran ilk. In addition... I could see it attracting PHRF racers who keep their big boat for cruising and shift to the SB3 for Wed Nights and a couple of weekend races on their purpose built race boat, but one that is NOT super athletic. I think the SB3 could do Oxford in 20 to 30…. I know the other boat classes would sink! Now… where you sleep when you get there is just like the beach cat problem.

The Esse 850 is another design shooting for this market of a stable not too athletic race boat that needs a crew of 3 or 4…

The Brits are telling me on SA that much of their growth in sailing has been in the low performance boats….new, cheap and easy to maintain… NOT the High performance skiffs and cats.

The SB3 would likely cost you the same in operating costs a year as a PHRF C boat or one of the old one designs but with the advantage of an SB3 over an Etchells or J22 of being able to do the bay distance races making an SB3 a better deal in my opinion. …

But... you can take the family cruising overnight on a PHRF boat. (never happens but you tell the wife that this boat is a family thing and not a stress test for her)

I could see the appeal of an SB3 down the road when the body starts to wear out.... I would keep racing a cat until then…