Rolf et. al

I have a question regarding this comment.

Note this is my personal obsevation, but in Europe people seem to be very accepting of the idea of the box rule or Formula class as it pertains to racing. The A class and F18 both thrive and the ideas of design obsolecense etc do not seem to be a factor.

Contrary to this, in the US, the idea of a true formula concept is a tough sell. The A class is just starting to get enough participation to move it away from its "cult" status. The F18 class had a huge push a couple years ago when a few people put in the effort to really promote some events. Quite a few people jumped boats and seemed to be consolidating to the F18 class. It may be just coincidence but it seemed like the moment NACRA introduced the Infusion all the F18's in our area anyway went up for sale. I heard many complaints of "not being able to compete now against the new platform" and "not wanting to be in an arms race class". The F18 (in FL anyway, maybe not nationwide) went from being the next great thing to not having enough boats for a class at almost all of last years events.

IN any open / developmental type class the design life of a model is going to be about 3 to maybe 5 years. Most changes will likely be solely cosmetic, but the buyers expect something new when moving to a new boat now. New lines and a new set of sails and a boat is realisticaly cometitive for many years. The serious racers and the technoweinies usually buy sooner and new helps this along with now having a good supply of decent used boats.

From a class marketing standpoint, getting across and selling the formula concept is something we might need to spend some time considering.