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Hope you guys are getting some sailing in ... very windy here!!!
How many entries are there?

Two things. One was not enough spinaketr free boats being built and the other was to make a big difference in downwind performance for the spinnaker free boats as spinnakers have not proved to be internationally popular. 

The whole AC thing is a bit of a UK only issue as far as I can see so from an IC class view this is a very dramatic change to try and create a new phase of building and performance. Good on them for doing somthing ...

Class Rules/Arbitary... I can speak as someone who's had a bit to do with Cherub rules in the past, and the new IC development rule more recently and also tried fraing a development rule set from scratch.
Yep, of course your rules are arbitary. Everyone's rules are arbitary... They're just a framework around which the class members agree to design and build boats. At any given time some rules actively restrict the shape of the boat and even typeform it, others may have no effect at all... Which rules are restricting at any given time can and does vary...
Writing rules is suprisingly difficult. Writing rules which don't typeform yet keep the boats within the basic style you desire without creating loopholes is damn near impossible. On that subject that's why boats built to hit every single limit in the rule and bend it as hard as possible are rarely successful: they're making the assumption that the folk who formulated the rules over the years knew far more about the future of sailboat design as could ever have been possible!
Rise of floor rules are especially problematic - the IC one had I think 3 or 4 people kicking ideas about for many emails before something half decent came out...
I reckon we've got the best current set with the IC, but we had the "advantage" that we'd deliberately chosen to outdate every current boat in the fleet without a spinnaker and return from one design hull to box rule. The old boats can be spinnaker converted, so there's a role for them and new boats without kites were not being built. Needless to say this was a very unusual situation and its certainly not your position. We had a very obvious problem so the big change was a fairly easy decision (and still only just went through). Whether it was right or not - well actually, no-one ever get to know what *would* have happened...
 

Jim,
Would you say the ICs fundementally changed the rules in an attempt to revive the flagging class or were there other motivations?

"Perhaps Rick is suggesting we are all happy with the 3/4 height  "
The 3/4 height is excellent ...  (can't make the quote feature work)
 

"I was also a little bit surprised to read that 12s are high maintenance." 
You misunderstand (or I explain poorly) ... what I am saying is they are hard work to own compared with mass market boats not that things wear out a lot ...
They are hard to find & buy, you have to make choices over components many of which are not freely available and your competition may have spent hours bimbling to gain an advantage etc etc ... of course many people see this as part of the joy of ownership in fact most people who own one will do more bimbling than sailing.
The point is, all this has to be worth somthing in return...
If the class is to recover in any sort of numbers then it needs to do somthing clearly visible that the sailing public will understand, tinkering with the 3/4 height will go noticed by no-one.
From what I read here everyone is happy as it stands (well most) and I wish you well with your future ...

Well said. In a nutshell you sumed it up.

Owning a N12 is "high maintainance" compared to owning most dingies; and expensive so if people are going to do it sailing the boat must offer somthing more than other classes  ...
The n12 to me looks like an old fashioned boat built with high tech materials; the designs are all many years old and the sail plan even older.
You many struggle to improve the weight carring a great deal but the sail plan could be brought upto date with a rotating mast with fully battened sails like the NS14.

I am not trying to be disrespectful to any individual; but it’s fair to say I’m stirring it up just because I enjoyed owning the 12 and I’d like the see the class recover and if it was a class I could compete in I’d buy another.
The class currently has very low numbers of new boats built, small open meeting turn outs and very little club racing. If that is what the members want then that is fine; it is a members assocation, is this what you want? It is just a shame to see the class as a shadow of it's former status as one of THE classes on the UK dinghy scene.
It’s a real challenge to navigate out of the current situation but perhaps the class needs to make some bold changes in attempt to recover; if that is what the members want.
70 years of history doesn’t guarantee another 70

This has been stated many times before, and at the last AGM and recent Forum.  The class sought expert opinion on the weight question and was told that the only three ways to make the boat carry more crew weight were:
1.  A longer boat.
2.  A narrower boat.
3.  A heavier boat.
The people that provided this opinion were respected dinghy designers, sailmakers and others that have an amatuer interest. in such debate.  I have no expert knowledge but was convinced by the logic of their conclusions.  IF there was an easy solution to the low optimum crew weight and the increasing weight of the human race then we would have already implemented it!
Antony

What about more/bigger sails?
A 12ft Skiff carries loads of weight ... if you don't want to address this and leave the class on it's current path then why not just say so ...

Seems to me you guys have no appetite for dealing with the decline of the class ...

I am not sure there is much difference between the restricted Merlin and the development N12 rather than semantics, not in the eyes of the average RS200 sailor anyway ...
I think it's a shame where the N12 is; I like high tech, quality and fine design but the N12 has eveolved into a niche where by you need to be very light to compete ... I very much enjoyed sailing our 12 but we are over 21 stone so we could not compete. Plus I like big fleets and sea sailing.
I think you guys need to come up with a recovery plan before the decline becomes irreversible.
I would have thought the NS14 offeres some inspiration.
 
 

[quote by=passion_pudding link=Blah.cgi?b=Cool1,m=1200247274,s=4 date=1200329324]ps. Are you getting another 12 Rick?[/quote]

not unless we can lose 3 stone between us ....

Nice shot of John & Katie

[quote by=Valhalla link=Blah.cgi?b=Cool1,m=1197026318,s=2 date=1197030732]
Probably another consideration is that I'm 80kg & my partner is about 70-75 kg but I will probably attempt to sail single-handed in lighter winds.[/quote]

At that weight you will no doubt be able to have lots of fun in a 12 but you will struggle to be competitive, I don't know if that matteres to you.

http://www.force5marketing.co.uk/private/n12/album0.html

The above shows how to check the foils & rig are square

Thanks John ...  

I am sure the time in the 12 sharpened up my tactics ...

All the best.