Decent amount of boats out there with sailors who use them. A bonus is having top talent out and about to provide benchmark performance levels and help out with on-water advice ( I think this is the key to any class being successful over the long haul)
Construction is a decent blend of performance and durability. It ain't bulletproof like the old solid-fiberglass bricks of the 80's, and it's not a super high-tech featherweight like the Acat which dings if you look at it funny
The ability to sail with as few or as many "tweeks" as you like. Not as complicated as all of the stuff you can tweek on a Star (for example), but more adjustability than a Laser.
Reasonably forgiving to middle-fleet sailors who like the performance but don't really have the talent to drive much more than a sheet of plywood
Somewhat based on one-design concept so I don't have to continually update the platform if I want to get closer to the top end of the fleet. I don't necessarily agree with SMOD, but I do like the one-design concept theory
Cost to get into the class isn't exhorbitant, although since the boats do seem to last a long time despite hard use, it's difficult to find a lot of used boats out there. They do hold their resale value pretty well, too.
So, I think to grow the class we need to retain these factors and adapt the platform to retain top level talent. Would improving the sailplan achieve this while not entirely alienating the "restofus"?
Flatter sails and a wing mast... would this improve performance across the wide range of conditions we sail in, Or would this type of thing actually narrow the performance window? Would it require more expertise to tune the sailplan correctly for the conditions? This could further frustrate mid-pack sailors (or give them more excuses)
I know that I sailed both light (325 soaking wet) and heavy (400+ before breakfast)with the same sailplan, and thought I was reasonably competitive under most moderate conditions (8-20 kts TWS and low-moderate chop) using the adjustments available on the platform.
In 95% of the regattas it wasn't the boat's fault that we ended up where we did in the finish list.
