I would like to see this come back to the topic here.
As an N20 owner I also see the dramatic price increases as of late. We use to get a spinnaker for $900 for the N20 now the same one design spinnaker is $1460. That is out of control.
The mast issue is a monster problem. I don't know why Performance seems to be trying to punish us for owning this boat. We love this boat and it truely is the best all around production boat out there. I've sailed them all. The N20 is the Catillac of Cats. I'm feeling pushed out of the boat by the factory right now. They do have real issues with having so few boats produced in the class. I can see that.
Unfortunately with 12 boats at Nationals we are have not been a strong enough class to warrent our own class association such as the F18's have. I don't think that an F20 class can really work at this point. Not enough 6.0's still being raced anymore. Almost none at this point. Everyone has moved to the N20 as the big boy boat that is a serious racer.
I'll be the first to agree you can't race an F18 competitively in North America if you are much over 350lbs. So we need to keep an F20 option out there. If you are 6.4 and 220 you need a big boat.
Bottom line I think we could do our own class association if we are willing to work with the factory and the factory is willing to work with us. I think we can help them and they can help us if we put our energy behind it. But I don't see it as an organization that can just be at odds with the factory.
Prices have spun out of control. For the new guy getting into cats seeing a price tag of 20K for a new boat is going to be hard to swallow. That's going to really hurt our sport. Lot's of fun things to do with 20K that don't involve sailing at all.
Take a little history of boats I've bought.
Used P18-2 $3500
Used P19 $4000
New H20 $8500
New H20 $10,000
New H20 $12,000
New Tiger $12,500
Used N20 $8000
2006 New N20 $15,000
Now in 2008 they want 20K for the same boat. It forced me into buying a new set of sails this year instead of trading in my boat for a new one. Of course a new set of sails isn't exactly cheap. 1754+705+1435=3894. That's basically 4K in sails on the boat. Makes you so PO'd that you want to throw up your hands and quit.
Maybe if we had a class association run by the members that would be a class that would interest people more from the outside. I know I'd like to join a class where I'm not controlled by a group of H16 sailors or a factory.
I'd just like to see an owner driven class association for the N20. I'm not interested in the F20 class as that would be an arms race. Just look at the Acat for guidance there. I don't want to join be in an Acat class. I like a close to one design class with possibly opening up certain things like sails to competition. Something along the lines of the Melges 24 class. They have been very successfull.
Mike Hill
N20 #1005
