derekcjackson
Member
Where I do most of my sailing in northern NJ, many fleets still suffer the consequences of prior changes to the Sunfish. It is difficult to find a competitive used Sunfish to race at a reasonable price. Often when someone buys a boat it is so heavy that it will never be competitive, regardless of how long you let it dry out. In the event that they find a lighter older boat, they are stunned when you tell them they need to spend another $800 on a new sail and centerboard to be competitive on the race course. This has really crippled our ability to grow fleets.
What leaves me a little concerned about a change to the rudder is there will be VERY few to no boats available on the used boat market with the new equipment. Obviously this may eventually resolve itself. However, it will probably cause the cost of entry into competitive racing to increase further because the large majority of the used boats with a new rudder design will be the newer more expensive ones. So, there may not be a wide price range to the competitive used boats. In the interim and to save people money, I guess our club could consider modifying a few rudders, as shown in the survey to save people money. However, this could leave us with a one design issue or the perception of one.
I am curious to hear how the past changes to the boat have impacted everyone's fleets and what you think a new rudder design would do for or to sailing at your club? Do you think there would be more women and children participating? Would fewer people participate because of the cost?
What leaves me a little concerned about a change to the rudder is there will be VERY few to no boats available on the used boat market with the new equipment. Obviously this may eventually resolve itself. However, it will probably cause the cost of entry into competitive racing to increase further because the large majority of the used boats with a new rudder design will be the newer more expensive ones. So, there may not be a wide price range to the competitive used boats. In the interim and to save people money, I guess our club could consider modifying a few rudders, as shown in the survey to save people money. However, this could leave us with a one design issue or the perception of one.
I am curious to hear how the past changes to the boat have impacted everyone's fleets and what you think a new rudder design would do for or to sailing at your club? Do you think there would be more women and children participating? Would fewer people participate because of the cost?