Alec

I don't think I said I was happy with the state of the sport! I seem to complain more then most though! Neither of us have polls of racers during the past 25 years. From my vantage point coming at the end of the hey day... I rank the causes somewhat differently then you do who helped build the hey day.

Perhaps you could offer some insight on history.

The Prindle 19 and the Nacra 5.8 were the top performance cat fleets in the country. They predated the Nacra 6.0 NA and Hobie 20. Prindle had an open sail plan and Randy Smythe drove sail development following his Olympic Campaigns on the Tornado. (It was a big deal on the beach to be able to use the same jib design that randy won a silver with... Nacra had a SMOD model for their sails and you could only get Skip Elliot sails. The 18 Square class was open and rooted in the nacra class and he kept the designs updated for the squares.

The story is that the very strong south east Prindle 19 fleet engaged in an arms war fueled by Sail makers like Smyth and Glasser who would or could change their sails in mid season. The 19 fleet cratered within two years of having 20 boats on the line. Any truth to this story? It would support your argument a bit.... (although I stick with my leadership idea)

So now, the builders have sold the US sailing community that SMOD sails are in their best interest and no classes have open sail plans. Even today, Performance and Hobie won't let you race at the events they sponsor with non branded gear in the supposedly open sails F18 class. The cynics among us believe that this is just a profit center for the builder and swear by our ability to get sails for Tornado's, A Cats and F18's from any sail maker we want at prices set by a market.

I am curious how you would see it both back in the day... and now.

One other question, It's my opinion that back in the day, the 19 and 5,8 were highly competitive with couples... They made the social scene much more social... As the boats required more brute strength the community suffered. Fleet leadership did not cope with the changes and the sport suffered. TIA
Mark