The question I have after this brief look, is that is the disappearance of the odd dead-boat-society boats a bad omen? Does this illuminate the lack of new sailors entering our sport? Does the gradual evolution of box rule boats, making older boat designs less competitive, choke the entry level purchase point that used to be a spring board for new sailors?
I have a couple thoughts on the dead boat society. I don't think the old boats are just the new people, I believe these are also some of the people that have been casually sailing one boat for the past 20 years. These are some of the people that only come out to a regatta once or twice a year. There are some regattas that really seem to draw this crowd out. For example Ship to Slip in Ocean Springs and Jaunas in FWB seem to have many drive a long ways with old boats. I do not know that makes these races so attractive to stand out from the others.
I do think there is less attention placed on the Open class in some of these regattas compared to the bigger fleets. I think that can only be expected though with the numbers we have had lately.
How many that start in the Open class fleets ever make it to the new boats? Is the jump to the new stuff over whelming? Does it discourage racing in general for these people?
I think a healthy open class can only be a good thing, so long as we also had fleets of the current boats.
