Dart 15 Forums

Each year our Sprint 15 coverage in the Dinghy Sailing Magazine disappoints me. I have written to them about it suggesting things to cover which are ignored and each year we input statistics that are to be used in their "What Dinghy" supplement. This year their effort in "What Dinghy" is even more pathetic than normal. There is just one double page (18 & 19) devoted to Catamarans. There are 68 line entries (one per catamaran format) of which we get just one line entry (we should get 2 one for Sport mode and the other for standard mode). Many of the 68 entries are for catamarans that you will never see in the UK let alone have others to race against. There is no indication of:
How many boats have been made or sold
How big the Class Association is
How Active the Class Association is
How many competitors attended the Nationals
What Open Meetings are organised
If training courses are available,
etc, etc.
Thus despite the fact that the Sprint 15 is regularly both the 2nd & 3rd biggest catamaran fleet in the country based on National Championships attendance, TT meetings, number of boats sold in the UK, and almost any other criteria there is no guidance to advise the punter of these important metrics. Indeed the Sprint 15 is the natural "starter" catamaran in the UK for punters who have not sailed catamarans before.
To add salt in the wound they (DSM) even get much of the data entered in the wrong columns!
They have even omitted to include Windsport and Collins Fibreglass in the Builder & Supplier database on page 48.
I tire of complaining to them and it seems a bit like a cracked record when it comes predominantly from myself. I would be grateful if others could take up the cudgel and send them an EMail of complaint. The EMail address is info@seascapemedia.co.uk
Thanks
Bob

Bob

I've sent my mail in to DSM, let's hope the other 63 readers of your posting have too!

Charles.

I have, got a very blad reply (below) that did n't address any of the points I made I even explained that most of my sailing is cruising:

Mike1683

Many thanks for thoughts on this.

The What Dinghy supplement is intended as an introductory guide to those looking to narrow down their choice of class, whether coming into the sport for the first time or thinking about changing to a new class. The tables are designed to be used in conjunction with the flow chart to give a starting point when considering which dinghy or cat best fits the reader?s needs. Every class listed has been given the same opportunity to contribute their details through our Class Connect scheme, and has been given equal space within the supplement, with the exception of a handful of recently ?new and improved? classes. A huge amount of work goes into compiling this supplement, and due to the limitations of this and the space available, we have chosen to incorporate the most relevant details to indicate the size and speed of the boat. In many cases, our readers sail independently of their class associations, preferring to cruise or sail for fun, and so class association activity is not always a key factor when considering a class. However, the class association contact details are provided should readers choose to investigate this further.

As explained in the editorial features included in What Dinghy, this supplement is not designed to judge which class is the ?best? or which has the most active class association, but instead to inform readers which classes are available and to help them see which group of boats tick most boxes for them, as a starting point from which they can then investigate a selected group of classes further to make their own, informed choice.

I hope this helps you to better understand the purpose of What Dinghy.

Hi Mike
Many Thanks for sharing that with us. I suspect that they have drafted a standard paragraph to send to us all when we complain, now that I have stirred up the hornets nest.
I also got a reply from Dinghy Sailing - a different one as I had also posted a note of complaint on the Y&Y forum (which rubbed them up the wrong way).
As Class rep I had been consulted on the input to the What Dinghy supplement and I had input data on both the Sprint 15 & the Sprint 15 Sport which they abrieviated back to one line & got a load of it in the wrong columns. Even if they got it right the supplement is pretty useless (in my view) The following is an edited version of my reply FYI
Regards
Bob


Based on Nationals attendance the Sprint 15 and the Sprint 15 Sport were second and third biggest catamaran fleets in the UK and the Sprint 15 was the 18th biggest fleet including all the monohulls. All metrics show a similar thing (2000+ boats sold - mostly in the UK, Class Association 350 members & very active, regular Summer Traveller and Winter Traveller series well attended - we do not go a single month without a well attended traveller event, 2 weekend training courses run annually, fun events (cruising, go carting, etc) organised, very friendly and family oriented class, excellent website, 2-3 magazines a year, etc) yet we hardly get any coverage in your magazine. Many times I ask myself why and I have also written in a number of times. It is probably for a number of reasons:
1) we are an old established class and are not newsworthy because as a one design we are not launching any new "gismos" (although much has been happening with our new builder Collins Fibreglass and the transition of the supplier / importer from the Laser Centre to Windsport).
2) your decision not to print any race reports in the magazine effectively hides the activity of big established classes like Enterprises, Darts, Sprint 15s, etc.
3) In the early days we got fairly good coverage as you engaged Nick Dewhirst as a columnist. Subsequently we have had very little exposure at all. Karen Richards completely left us off her article on selecting a Cat earlier in the Spring of 2006. I wrote to complain and others wrote to suggest covering car-topping options for catamarans but neither made any difference. David Henshall did give us a mention in his excellent Cat history article in November but that is the only bright spot in the year,
4) The What Dinghy supplement caused my public outburst. I had spent some time filling in all the data and sending it to Suzy so I was expecting it to be accurate. I had created 2 columns (one for the Sprint 15 and another for the Sprint 15 Sport) and filled in the data correctly. I then find that you have omitted our supplier (Windsport) from page 48 and that we have got just one line entry much of which is in the wrong column. To add salt in the wound the Catamarans get only 2 pages of a 50 page supplement and the Catapult (a dying class that no longer can supply new boats) has a two line entries to our one. In fact most sailors will never see half of the boats listed on that page. How can the unsuspecting punter detect a vibrant popular catamaran class from a dying old dog or a not yet established new design which may never take off? Surely you should be providing information on such things as
How many boats have been made or sold
Is one design or a development class
How big the Class Association is
How Active the Class Association is
How many competitors attended the Nationals
What Open Meetings are organised
If training courses are available,
etc, etc.

Additionally your "What Cat" paragraph is so generalized that it is not much help to anyone. "Mostly Harmless" would be the kindest description. A couple of years ago I had the same view and I sent in a letter (reproduced below) with a summary paragraph on some of the popular Catamarans. I had hoped that you would sort of build on it. The letter was printed but the "What Dinghy" supplement shows no sign of improvement.

I concluded that many other cat classes (like Dart 18, Hurricane, Shearwater, etc) might feel the same - hence my posting on the Y&Y forum. In writing this note I suspect that many other established monohull classes (Enterprise, GP14, 505, Fireball, Flying Fifteen, Phantom, Solo, Finn, etc) might have the same view.
etc, etc.

My letter from 12 Feb 05

Dear Dinghy Sailing,
I would like to thank you for the What Dinghy supplement to the February Edition of Dinghy Sailing which gives some useful guidance and a lot of data to the prospective sailor. When choosing a boat it is a good idea to find out what classes your local sailing club (or clubs in your area) sail and think about these classes first. You will then get guidance from the local experts and better racing if you choose to race.

I am the Catamaran Fleet captain at Grafham and get lots of questions on what catamaran to buy and I produced the following quick reference guide for the catamarans we sail at Grafham, which may be of interest to your readers as it complements the information in your What Dinghy supplement. It is not exhaustive but gives some concise information on a number of the major catamaran classes concentrating more on the newcomer to catamaran classes.

Dart 16
Modern plastic catamaran. Most suitable for sailing 2 up but can be sailed single-handed - but hard to right from a capsize when single handed. Mostly targeted at the holiday market - very tough (but also heavy to manhandle on shore). Can pick them up for ?3000 - ?5000. Mostly owned by "fun sailors". Not much of a traveller / Open Meeting scene.

Dart 18
Older (29 years old design) 2-up, single trapeze, catamaran class. Sold over 7000 worldwide. Big Racing class. Have active traveller series, plus much more. Can be sailed single handed, but hard to right from a capsize when single handed. As there are many old boats around you can pick these up for anything from ?1000 to ?6000.

Hobie Dragoon

Two person (junior) catamaran with spinnaker. Tough Built. Ideal for 10 ? 14 year olds. Used by the RYA as the junior training catamaran under Brian Phipps guidance.



Hobie 16

Two person (twin trapeze) racing machine with optional spinnaker. Tough built world top seller. Has taken off more in the UK recently since it has been used as the RYA youth training catamaran under Brian Phipps guidance.


Shadow
Strictly a single person racing catamaran - not suitable for two-up sailing. High performance and light weight. Easy to manhandle on shore. Expensive to buy due to the use of exotic materials and very new class. Not suitable for the novice.



Sprint 15 (formerly Dart 15)
Predominantly a single hander but also quite good for Adult + youth, not competitive when raced with 2 Adults unless it is windy. Easy to right single handed. Very Flexible. Can be sailed 1 up with 1 sail, Two-up with two sails or Sprint (single handed plus two sails plus trapeze). Can Car-top it if you buy one with an (optional) split mast. Active Class Association with both winter and summer traveller series and two National Championships.



Spitfire
Strictly a two person (twin trapeze) racing machine.High performance and light weight. Very modern. Definitely the Cat to buy if you want to have the most up to date 2-up machine. Quite expensive and not suitable for the novice.

does any one else think that advertising revenue might affect the coverage? or am I cynical. Lots of big laser ads in ther.