-1- What is best for the youths and teenagers? (We forget about the adults in this)
Something with enough performance to draw them from other small sailboat classes, and from other sports that are competing for their time and money.
-2- What is best to keep costs
Keep it open formula where sailor can build their boat with what is available, both financial and materials wise.
-3- What is best to achieve sufficiently fast and deep market penetration
Creative marketing, doesn’t matter how good the boat is if you can’t convince the target market that it wants an F 12, it needs an F 12, it has to have an F 12 .
-4- What is best to achieve sufficiently fairness in racing
Do the racing thing, but also have a program for those that would love to go out on the water and have fun without competing as an option. Not every kid wants to race…if it’s either a race or nothing scenario, some kids will just say forget it and go back to their playstation. Is this about getting kids into sailing? Or just racing? Or both?
-5- What is best to achieve a fast and well behaved boat that can engage the competition (laser, 29-ers, twixxy etc) and come out on top.
Go to the 12’-10” length as proposed, no sense in creating a class that offers a level of performance lower than what’s all ready out there. We want to build a better mouse trap…not one an inferior one… If these same kids that are being targeted don’t want to sail a Hobie Wave because of it’s perceived lack of performance, what chance does a boat of less performance have?
-6- What is best to see the F12 suit the largest group of people who have an interest in the F12
Again go to the 12’-10” length so it is a boat that can handle a greater spread of crew weight. Make it so a small child, a teenager, or small adult can use by starting out with a performance hull that can be tuned up or down with the size and style of the rig so as to accommodate all three groups. Any parent knows that children get all fired up about something, the parents go out and buy all the necessary equipment and then the child looses interest…If it could be also used by an adult, a parent might say to themselves, well if junior looses interest after we pour all this money and time into building this boat at least the wife or I can sail it ourself. The wider the weight capabilities, the larger the market…the more that are made, the more used ones become available on the market for other kids to get involved...Also... have you looked at the size of some of the middle/High school kids these days? They are not all the model of fitness…don't make it so the "big for their age" and "over weight" kids are effectively out of luck.
-7- What is best to get this F12 of the ground and not have it fade away once the going gets tough (and it will get tough at one point)
Keep the rules open as to fuel development within the class so it keeps fresh and the there is always a next level to aspire to… don’t make a class where the boat is so small that it is outgrown in a couple years…the 420 is sailed all the way to college age if I am not mistaken. I am sick of the tired argument "that open rules killed the C class and 18 square"
-8- Any other reason you feel is important to consider
What is the magic about a 12’-0” hull length? The FJ –s 13’-3”, the 420 is 13’-9”, The Laser is 13’-10”, and the Sunfish is 13’-9”. These are all boats youth sail…
At 12’-10”... better performance…can be home built for less money.. handle the weight of an adult…it would be in direct competition with ...
Regards,
Bob
