The revolution still seems to be delayed, looking at the sales and use figures. The Moth sales numbers are fairly good (150 on '09, 200 in '08). One wonders how much of that is due the brilliance of the Moth, the newness of the production foiler, the huge marketing spend, an outstanding grass-roots marketing effort, etc. BR was set up for a production of 500 boats per year with one product alone, and apparently a couple of builders have unsold boats.
However, class activity seems to be static, from the reported numbers;
2002 - Oz- 50 members, Japan 30, UK 50, Germany 70, Sweden 38*
2006- Oz 48 members, Jap 20, UK 41, Ger 75, Swe 38, USA "20+"
2008 - Oz 55 members, Jap 24, Uk 45, Ger 80, Swe 35, USA 25.
2009- Oz 42 members, Jap 20, UK 65, Ger 75, Sweden 35, France 30, USA 21
National titles fleet UK- 17 in 2000, 20 in 2001, 19 in 2002, growing to 20, 29 and 37 over the last three years. Oz nationals fleets also grew (until the drop to 15 this year).
BTW of the other foilers- Int 14 had 34 at the UK nationals in 2001**, 43 in 2002, and 53, 32 and 36 over the last three years. The RS 600 FF had 15, dropping to 11.
Moth Worlds fleets over last 4 events; 47 (Aust), 63 (Lake Garda), 49 (Gorge), 42 (Middle East).
Note that the UK has seen an overall rise of about 5% in nationals attendance, across all classes. The Moth has certainly moved up the list of UK classes, in terms of nationals attendance. There does not seem to be huge growth in foiler activity overall.
Of interest, over the period since foilers arrived, the following classes have also arrived in the UK;
RS Feva - first nats 7 years ago, now attracting 72 boats;
Laser SB3 sportsboat - first nats 8 years ago, now attracting 68 boats;
Laser Pico - first nats 4 years ago, now attracting 54 boats.
Musto P. Skiff - 9 nats, now getting 50 boats;
RS Tera - 39 boats at its second nats;
RS Vareo - 8 nats, 38 boats;
Rooster 8.1 - 3 years of nats, 34 boats.
Laser 4.7 - 9 years of nats, 33 boats.
In other words, you certainly can get growth, but it's normally happening in slower boats, just as it always has. This pretty much blows the "kids these days just want fast boats" line out of the water. The biggest growth area is NOT in fast boats (skiff types are losing numbers) but in polyethylene boats.
I have been interested in these numbers for some time, but I didn't bring them up until yet another foiler sailor slagged off the popular classes publically yet again. For all the stuff about how fast boats are supposedly the future, the fact is that they aren't growing. Maybe they should take the proverbial long hard look and realise that their negative sales tactics are not the way to go to grow the sport and fast boats?
The funny thing is that those who claim to be the innovators often seem to be unwilling to open their own minds. We're so often told that the future lies in fast boats that the facts are often ignored, and the fact is that that the strongest growth in the strongest market is in simple, slow boats.
Recognising the facts may not be as much fun as insulting other classes, but surely it's more productive. We're so ready to assume that all 2010 kids are speed-freak hoons that we are unwilling to see that most of them choose 'normal' boats. We blame 'normal' boats on a teenage/early adult drop-off that happens in every other sport (seen many 22 year olds at the skate park or on a BMX lately?? 75% of skaters drop out after 19, so why blame a smaller drop-off in sailors on the 'coolness' of the boats? )
The other fact that is often ignored is that growth in the fast boats follows growth in slow boats. Look at any boomtime (whether it was the first dinghy boom, the windsurfer boom, the yacht boom or cat boom) and the pattern is clear - simpler, cheaper classes move in and create growth where bigger and/or more sophisticated performance classes couldn't. Then a proportion of those new sailors move onto create a boom in the fast craft. This was specifically noted by some of the leaders of the dinghy and windsurfer booms, for example. And you can see it by graphing the numbers of various classes during the growth periods.
Maybe the real revolution will occur when sailors of fast stuff stop slagging off slow stuff and slow-boat sailors, and realise that they are often true innovators and the source of fast-boat growth.
* my note on Sweden 02 seems wrong so I used the 03 figure.
** previous national numbers affected by a world titles.
