RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show in 60 Seconds
by Stephen Cockerill, Rooster Sailing 4 Mar 2014 20:11 GMT
1-2 March 2014
If Carlsberg made Dinghy Shows, they would never come close to the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show. For the exhibitors, classes and visitors, there is just nothing to satisfy the perfect dinghy nerd than this show.
Here is our 60 clip of the show from a Rooster perspective:
The centrepiece of the Rooster stand was the Boatyard at Beer Solo which we will be selling. One more available at our introductory price of £6750. It was on show with a new Load-path 4D sail that was just 23 microns thick but had 4000 polyester fibres per inch over the sail. The effect of these fibres following the loads in the sail was staggering. A small adjustment of the in haul and out haul could significantly change the depth of the sail. Perhaps even more striking was the effect of the Cunningham on the opening of the top batten. There were definitely a few gasps. Some asked the question: how long will this sail last received this brief explanation:
Take a look at a standard one design sail made with a Mylar with diamonds of polyester thread. Do you think that this sail has the thread orientated in the direction of the load in the sail? Answer was clearly NO. Then imagine we could take out the battens out of both sails. Then crunch them into a dustbin (only for exercise of course). The heavy Mylar sail with diamond polyester yards would clearly start to crack on every fold. However the 23 micron sail would behave more like cling film. It would bend and recover. Clearly more durable. Our load path sail was designed by Andrew Smith who is know for designing these load path sails for use on keelboats where careful folds are not the norm. His confidence has clearly convinced me that we have a sail with a future. His take on the longevity of this sail was that its racing performance would out last a normal polyester sail.
Solo Class video of the BoatYard at Beer Solo:
The Solo was our honey pot that brought many friends and familiar faces to the stand, obviously to show them the boat and our new sail, but also to tempt them into trying on our new glove range. For many of you who have tried our gloves in the past, we have had a mixed response - but our new glove range's quality has surpassed our own expectations and that hopefully of our customers, hence for the dinghy show weekend, we offered a 25% discount on our new glove range. We thought of this as our way of easing the cost of attending the show and of course to encourage visitors to try and buy.
Rooster prepared the 4000 for the show and the class surpassed our expectations with a new website, a full programme and a stand manned by enthusiastic individuals who were more than convinced that the class has now a new life with Rooster as its licence holder.
The Streaker we showed on the Streaker stand was over 2 years old. There were many that were confused why we took an old boat. Our plan was to show the sailors that Rooster Epoxy Boats still looked as good as new after 2 years of competitive racing. Perhaps that's why second hand Rooster Epoxy Streakers are like hens teeth and sell within a week of advertising?
Our new addition to our hiking range - the Race Armour Shorts were well received by those who were keen hikers such as Laser sailors. We also sold a pair of the Race Armour Lite Shorts to a keelboat crew to act as extra padding when sitting on the side of the deck before our show stock ran out.
You might have also seen me running to the main stage to do some Boat Whispering at 11:15 each day. I am never sure how much to give away in these talks - but despite only a 35 minute talk, Boat Whisperer DVD's were the flavour of the day. What a great audience - what a great show.