Mary asks whether all things being equal, if people would rather race one design or Open. As I understand it, open meaning racing on corrected time under Portsmouth, Texel, etc. For myself one design is great in concept. The only problem is there are not any one design multihull classes in the US that I find fun to sail. I am not willing to sail an overweight, poorly built woofer just for the holy grail of One Design. If for instance the Taipan 5.7 Spi had sold in any numbers in the US, I would have happily raced it one design. Nobody bought them because we are all mostly cheap bastards. On the other hand, I don’t like racing on corrected time although I will do it for the Alter Cup qualifiers or for distance racing because there are no alternatives. So where does that leave you if you want a high quality lightweight racing machine on a first to finish wins basis? In New England that means A cats in the summer and DN ice yachts in the winter.
And now I leave you to argue for the rest of the winter as I begin the long drive from Connecticut to Minnesota for the 2005 DN worlds and North Americans. Speaking of Large fleets, initial estimates are 160 DN’s from 17 counties in attendance. How exactly do you say Starboard in Estonian anyway?
