From the Port Vincent thread....... and yes I asked Hack if I could copy it across
....I know it's off-thread, but for what it's worth, the PVSC guys reckon that the 'square-top' argument should not take precedence over the 'Mosquito' lettering on the sail. We reiterate that the beauty of this class is the low cost, versatility, ease of rigging/sailing etc. The immediate and relatively low cost impact of the lettering would attract more new sailors than a new sail/mast etc which will inevitably lead to increased set up and replacement costs...
I'll also reiterate that the further great strength of this class is the people within it, who are friendly, enthusiastic and willing to assist newcomers. I think that this is the biggest selling point that needs to be exploited. Recent comments about the 65+ division also has merit, so that older boats will be dragged out of the sheds...
All the best.
The PM I sent to Hack regarding his post went something like ......
On a rough calculation.....
we have had ~1800 odd mozzies in Australia
lets deduct 33% as written off long ago
lets take another 33% as un-sailable without major expense or rebuild..
that leaves ~600 boats that are scattered throughout Australia that in theory can be sailed with relatively minimal work or expense,
If we are looking to boost numbers up then surely that 600 need to be actively encouraged to get back n going again...
21 boats at a state tittle out of a possible 600, pardon my maths but that's like ~3%
if we encourage the +65 class of boat into the equation then we get the numbers without the sacrifice and costs.As for a square-top..... if we continue with the logic you would have say the most likely people to go with the square-top are those that
'have to' for that performance gain (all be it un-proven at the moment), 'those' would be the ones competing at the titles, again this comes down to a minimal 3% of the numbers......
so are we really ready to make a major change to the rules and have an additional cost for ~3% of the class (
remembering that the ~3% is only drawn from the maybe possible 600 surviving boats..... do your own maths on ~20 odd boats at a state title out of an original +1800 built which equals SFA in the percentage stakes !!!)
As I've suggested earlier there are other ways to
update the boat and get mozzie sailors back on the water in numbers with some ease compared to adding the dramas of a new sail into the equasion.
I still fully belive these need to be addressed before we take on a new sail shape and I'm sure we can all come up with various ideas on how to go about it.
