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Classes and Sail Numbers #32527
04/20/04 06:10 PM
04/20/04 06:10 PM
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 915
Dublin, Ireland
Dermot Offline OP
old hand
Dermot  Offline OP
old hand

Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 915
Dublin, Ireland
With every class I have sailed, the boat's sail numbers are an indication of the age of the boat and also of the number of boats in the class.
So, if I am buying a secondhand boat, I can tell the age by just seeing the sail number. If I am thinking of joining a class, I can see the development of the class and total number of boats by just checking the latest sail number.
I know that some classes started their sail numbers at numbers other than 1. For instance in the UK, the Dart 16 class started at 1600. And numbers like 13 are sometimes left out.
This may have happened with other classes also.
But, I do not know of any make of boat other than Hobie, where, once a sail number has been allocated, it does not stay with the boat for life.
It would seem that with Hobie it is impossible to actually tell by the sail numbers, the year of a boat, or the exact numbers of that class sold.

I recently noticed a Hobie Tiger that I knew had a sail number in the 700s was now sporting a sail no. in the 1300s
I asked, and I was told that he had bought new sails.
Then I remembered the two quotes I have included below.

Quote
In reply to flounder

250,000? Where did you get that figure? I would say it’s less than half of that. Remembering that Hobiecat often print sail numbers without actually building a corresponding boat. They do that for Worlds, Europeans, some National events and people ordering new sails. So the numbers are more than they should be anyway. They also skip blocks of numbers, so they assign 90000-95000 to South Africa for example, but only 1000 of them are used.

I would agree they have sold over 100,000 boats but not 250,000

--James


Below is a quote from the UK Hobie forum.

Quote
Hi Graham, i am a youth sailor in the Hobie 16 class. When i entered the class i bought an absolute dog of a boat as i did not know what i was looking for. The main problems to look for are leeky hulls/damaged hulls, state of the sails, whether the boat has internal or external travellers (internal are better), and the stifness of the hulls. As for sail numbers. This can be desceptive as when new sails are purchased, new sail numbers are given!


My experience is in Ireland and the UK, and probably also Europe, with classes like Laser, GP14, Dart, Hurricane 5.9, Spitfire etc.
Until the Tigers arrived in Ireland a few years ago we did not have many Hobies here and nobody ever considered that a sail number would not reflect the age of a boat. In my experience, once a boat is in good condition, its secondhand sale price is determined by the year it was built, and the sail number is accepted as proof of that. I have never been asked (or asked) for an original invoice.

Does this happen with other classes in the US ?
Is it a form of marketing where a company artificially boosts the perceived number of boats sold?


Dermot
Catapult 265
-- Have You Seen This? --
Re: Classes and Sail Numbers [Re: Dermot] #32528
04/20/04 08:41 PM
04/20/04 08:41 PM
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,884
Detroit, MI
mbounds Offline
Pooh-Bah
mbounds  Offline
Pooh-Bah

Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,884
Detroit, MI
With Hobies, the sail numbers are more like serial numbers of the sails themselves and are independent of the rest of the boat. I've ordered replacement sails for both my 16 and 17 with the same (old) sail number - and it cost extra (both money and time). Most people aren't that attached to sail numbers.

The masts have serial numbers as well - independent of the boat.

It's not so much of a marketing tool as it is a tracking tool for warranty and the like.

With the exception of the very early boats, you can always tell the age of a Hobie by the hull serial number.

Re: Classes and Sail Numbers [Re: Dermot] #32529
04/20/04 09:25 PM
04/20/04 09:25 PM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 12,310
South Carolina
Jake Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Jake  Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 12,310
South Carolina
Nacra sail numbers used to correspond to the hull numbers like you refer too - but they now do the same now as Hobie. When I ordered my new sails for my Nacra 6.0NA (#209), I received sail #404. However, at my request, they gave me the digits for 209 if I wanted to peel off the new sail number in lieu of my hull number. This doesn't really matter since they index the sail #'s - nobody is getting #209 or #404. The whole point of all the sail numbers is to ensure that two boats don't show up on the start line with the same numbers right?


Jake Kohl

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