New OD....?

[flaming]

A new OD is being pushed...

https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/223781/Melges-IC37-UK-fleet-growth-accelerating

Claiming 4 hulls sold. I've seen the boat at close quarters, and it looks good. It looked really good lit up at Cowes as well. In fact I like almost everything about it and the OD rules limiting sails and pro crew, and especially the fact that it's built in the UK. Except one thing.

It's £235,000... +VAT, sails and electronics.

So that's a £300k boat by the time you've put it on the water.

Ouch.

 

[Lightwave395]

A new OD is being pushed...

https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/223781/Melges-IC37-UK-fleet-growth-accelerating

Claiming 4 hulls sold. I've seen the boat at close quarters, and it looks good. It looked really good lit up at Cowes as well. In fact I like almost everything about it and the OD rules limiting sails and pro crew, and especially the fact that it's built in the UK. Except one thing.

It's £235,000... +VAT, sails and electronics.

So that's a £300k boat by the time you've put it on the water.

Ouch.

You can almost buy a secondhand Fast40, the king of depreciation, for that money now, ouch indeed

 

[lw395]

Seem to have about 30 boats in the US?
A GBR boat came second in their nationals, 20 boats.
https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=9419
The y&Y report lists a few 'prestigeous' Solent regattas it's won against fields of less than a dozen boats on handicap.
I can get yardstick racing against a field that size for peanuts in smaller boats. Probably get closer, more tactical racing in my Laser.

I just don't think there is the cash swilling about in UK yachting to be talking about meaningful OD racing in boats costing £300k.
But to put it in perspective when the Lightwave 395 was growing as a class, they cost about 2 Terraced Houses in Portsmouth.
Which would be over £300k now.

 

[flaming]

Seem to have about 30 boats in the US?
A GBR boat came second in their nationals, 20 boats.
https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=9419
The y&Y report lists a few 'prestigeous' Solent regattas it's won against fields of less than a dozen boats on handicap.
I can get yardstick racing against a field that size for peanuts in smaller boats. Probably get closer, more tactical racing in my Laser.

I just don't think there is the cash swilling about in UK yachting to be talking about meaningful OD racing in boats costing £300k.
But to put it in perspective when the Lightwave 395 was growing as a class, they cost about 2 Terraced Houses in Portsmouth.
Which would be over £300k now.

Us fleet is mostly owned by the NYYC and used on a pay/season basis by members. That was the 1st 20 boats IIRC.

To be honest, the solent stuff it's been winning has been very impressive. It's come in and sailed against what is a very competitive fleet, the P40 fleet. I was not expecting them to be able to boss the likes of Nifty, Cobra, Juno etc with the boat fresh out of the box. Comparisons with lasers etc are a bit meaningless though. You either want to sail a boat with a large crew dynamic, or you don't.... If you do, then if this comes off it will probably be the best OD racing in anything over 30 foot next season.

But agree that I don't see 20 owners for £300k boats in the UK. I'd love to be proved wrong, but to get serious traction I wish it was about 3 foot shorter and £100k + cheaper. Then I think there would be a chance. But then it wasn't developed for the Solent, if it had been it would be different... And probably a commercial flop because it wouldn't work elsewhere...

I very much hope I'm eating my words this time next year though.

 

[Lightwave395]

But to put it in perspective when the Lightwave 395 was growing as a class, they cost about 2 Terraced Houses in Portsmouth.
Which would be over £300k now.

Haha ! and here I am still sailing one worth about the same as a garden shed now...:ambivalence:

 

[bbg]

A new OD is being pushed...

https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/223781/Melges-IC37-UK-fleet-growth-accelerating

Claiming 4 hulls sold. I've seen the boat at close quarters, and it looks good. It looked really good lit up at Cowes as well. In fact I like almost everything about it and the OD rules limiting sails and pro crew, and especially the fact that it's built in the UK. Except one thing.

It's £235,000... +VAT, sails and electronics.

So that's a £300k boat by the time you've put it on the water.

Ouch.

Looks great, but the price will keep me out of the market.

At that beam it would be nice to have two rudders - but that would add a few more beans to the price ...

 

[lw395]

Us fleet is mostly owned by the NYYC and used on a pay/season basis by members. That was the 1st 20 boats IIRC.

To be honest, the solent stuff it's been winning has been very impressive. It's come in and sailed against what is a very competitive fleet, the P40 fleet. I was not expecting them to be able to boss the likes of Nifty, Cobra, Juno etc with the boat fresh out of the box. Comparisons with lasers etc are a bit meaningless though. You either want to sail a boat with a large crew dynamic, or you don't.... If you do, then if this comes off it will probably be the best OD racing in anything over 30 foot next season.

But agree that I don't see 20 owners for £300k boats in the UK. I'd love to be proved wrong, but to get serious traction I wish it was about 3 foot shorter and £100k + cheaper. Then I think there would be a chance. But then it wasn't developed for the Solent, if it had been it would be different... And probably a commercial flop because it wouldn't work elsewhere...

I very much hope I'm eating my words this time next year though.

What is the picture 'elsewhere'?
Is this really a potential world wide OD class, or is it basically a batch of boats in the US, which won't ever see a class start in Europe?
OD is a two edged sword, it can stop owners improving their boats, when inevitably there is something slightly better on the spreadsheet in a couple of years' time.

Comparison with the Laser is fundamental. Either you want to play the OD game of having the exact same hardware as the competition and try to win by sailing it better, or you want to play the development/pick the best boat/optimise your yardstick game. It's very hard to do both seriously, particularly £300k seriously. £300k is a lot of wonga to slot into an OD pecking order in a small fleet, when your class is no longer the latest and greatest on handicap.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Looks great, but the price will keep me out of the market.

At that beam it would be nice to have two rudders - but that would add a few more beans to the price ...

I've been up close to 'Icy' in conditions that had most of its competitors looking a little twitchy downwind - it looked impressively stable. (Downwind finish with gusts in the high 20's, and on the committee boat we were feeling more like targets than impassive observers as stuff broached all about us attempting that last gybe for the line).

 

[flaming]

What is the picture 'elsewhere'?
Is this really a potential world wide OD class, or is it basically a batch of boats in the US, which won't ever see a class start in Europe?
OD is a two edged sword, it can stop owners improving their boats, when inevitably there is something slightly better on the spreadsheet in a couple of years' time.

Comparison with the Laser is fundamental. Either you want to play the OD game of having the exact same hardware as the competition and try to win by sailing it better, or you want to play the development/pick the best boat/optimise your yardstick game. It's very hard to do both seriously, particularly £300k seriously. £300k is a lot of wonga to slot into an OD pecking order in a small fleet, when your class is no longer the latest and greatest on handicap.

I doubt this is a worldwide OD class. Could be a few scattered fleets. Suspect they'll look to Sydney after the Solent, as the MC38 fleet there proves there is the demand, and by all accounts the boat may well be better suited.

My point re the laser is that saying you can get OD racing for the ice of a laser is of no interest to someone who isn't a dinghy sailor and enjoys (as I do) the part of sailing that is building a team as well as the pure racing side. I would absolutely love to be sailing a 30-something OD with a crew of 8 or so with 15+ boats on the line, but that doesn't exist.
Currently, with the J111 and J88 having never really got going, and the 109 fleet collapsing, there is no OD bigger than a J70 that gets regular starts in the UK.
This is, by my estimate, about the 10th "Hot new OD" to release a regatta schedule and promise 10 boats on the line next season in the last 5 years or so. None ever came to anything, and most never even saw a boat sailing.
I'd love to see it work, but I think the price needed to be under £200k for it to get the sort of numbers that we used to see in 109s, which is the last OD of that size to get fleets.