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SO please don't complain about designs until you've addressed all the above points. 
 

 
This thread isn't about how fast the boat is, (or how fast it could be if we applied ourselves as instructed) but how attractive it is to potential 12 sailors and what might make it more attractive to them.
 
What do people think of Andy's suggestion of a bit more sail (on the same mast, for ease and economy) 12foot x 12metres?

Oh, I think I see. The boat would perform better if I just threw the lead away, and then better again if I was thinner!
 
With the lighter boat you could have a heavier crew for the same performance, but the optimum crew weight for best performance would fall. Is that it?

Fair enough. I can't see the logic of it myself since the overall weight of the boat/crew package doesn't change, but bow to those with greater knowledge! I'll go and find a tame naval architect to explain it to me.
 
(It appeared to me that if I took the lead from under my thwart and strapped it to my back then the boat wouldn't perform particularly differently, other than I would have more righting moment.)
 
As Confucius once said, "Ignorance is only bliss if you keep your mouth shut".
 

"He's a heretic.....Burn him, burn him....". 
 
While I personally wouldn't want a spinnaker, the only thing I could take issue with are the comments about weight. Take 10kg out of the boat and you instantly have 10kg more crew weight available. Not a lot but a start.
 
The  argument for not doing this seems to be about protecting investments, but I can't see that. I'm sure the top 10 boats at Burton week are all carrying more lead than this (I speak from a point of ignorance here, but all new boats seem to be 10-15kg underweight), and at club level nearly everyone is handicap racing so losing some weight can only be a good thing. The only people who lose are those 12s with no lead who are racing those currently carrying lead.
 
In a development class, surely there should be no 'spirit of the rules'. The whole point is to use imagination or a bit of lateral thinking to move the design on. If, subsequently the class decide that a particular development is not in the interest of the class as a whole, then the rules get changed. (cf daggerboards.)

However, despite being 'restricted' the Merlin has developed at least as quickly as the 12, what with carbon everything, twin poles, big poles, big kites etc.
 
An interesting point is that most of the Merlin sailors that I've seen around seen to be under 30. Is this connected with them being seen as a lairy beast? Why aren't the slightly lighter versions of these people sailing 12s? Those who want 'well lairy' sail Cherubs and those who want 'less lairy' sail 200s.
 
Perhaps, as someone said earlier, we need to ask how these people perceive the 12, and what it would take to get them to have a go.

[Excellent handicap racer.]

I have to say that it was the image on the last poster that got me thinking about a 12. If it had been bobbing along I probably wouldn't have given it a second glance and probably wouldn't have a 12 now.
 
If we are looking to attract the 30/40ish returner to sailing who is looking for a club racer then I think the key points to stress are:

• Excellent handicap racer.
• Can be lairy.
• Can be a family racer.

 
I think as a generalisation that looking to attract late teen/early 20s is a lost cause. The attraction of a large genaker and loads of like minded to get lashed up with is too strong! Yes, there are exceptions out there, but as a rule, the RS200/800/L2K are the classes to be in if you are 20.
 
Our sailing club has exactly the same dynamic (because it 's unsuitable for genaker boats) and has virtually no members between 20 and 35

Fixed rudder. Don't do it.
 
A lot of the Finns at our club have fixed rudders and they regularly knock them off.
Best result - race over.
Worst result - pintles ripped out of hull.
Makes launching in a blow an unnecessary trauma, too!

Derek has a good point here, in that open meetings do little to spread the gospel, as presumably the attendees at open meetings are already converted. That's not to say that opens are not important, merely that they don't foster growth in the class, other than by generating useful publicity in Y&Y.
 
Our club has developed a good fleet of Finns, from a hard core of 5 two years ago to 15 now, by being out on the water every weekend, encouraging newcomers, tuning each others' boats, lending boats out, and by being seen at or near the front of every race.  This seems to be the way to build a class. It does however rely on a few dynamic characters to motivate the others.
 
This isn't a shot at those who primarily do the circuit. We are all doing this to have fun. Nobody has an obligation to club sail or go to training events or go to opens or to sail a 12 even. Everybody has limited time available and has to do their own thing. I'm merely making the point that the class can only be fostered at club level.
 
As an aside, who is the class aimed at? ie who is the target convert? I ask because, while I have a cadet crewing for me while she's between boats, generally our cadets are locked into the squad system (oppi, topper, laser or mirror, feva, 420) and would no more sail a 12 than buy a skoda. The people who come up and love my boat all seem to be 30+ (as am I, sadly).  Perhaps an issue for another topic.

I'll take a picture next time I'm down at my boat.
 
You can get more purchase as Sam describes but you lose the advantage of the split ended mainsheet, which is to be able to centreline the boom at all rakes without having to adjust a bridle.

Haven't any pictures I'm afraid but it is fairly simple. The split end main sheet comes up from the transom to the aft end of the boom, round a block and then forward under the boom to about half way. It then goes round a fairly chunky ratchet block attached to the boom at this point and then straight out to hand. It doesn't go down to the hull at all, and so leaves a bit more space than the hoop or a laser like system.
In theory it has less purchase than aft sheeting. Standard aft sheeting is 2:1 (up to the boom, back down the transom and then to hand) Coming off half way along the boom should give 3:2 (1.5:1) ie a stiffer pull.
However the conventional system is mainly pulling down when close hauled rather than in. Because the sheet comes off the boom horizontally with skiff sheeting you are always pulling the boom in rather than down, which increases the effective purchase.
The other good thing that I've found is that running into unexpected wind holes when fully hiked isn't as traumatic as you can haul your bum out of the water on the mainsheet!

Before going to aft sheeting, consider skiff sheeting off the boom. Having always sailed with a centre main I struggled with aft sheeting when I bought my 12. Tacking was ok but gybing was a nightmare. Over the winter I went to 'off the boom' and I'm much happier.
 

Where are you? I too have a suitable tin mast ex 3459 in my garage near Chichester on the South Coast. Buy me a beer and take it away!

Sorry Jim, your irony was not lost but the whole thing makes me so cross I just felt the need for a rant. (And this is despite my only cat experience being a crew on a hurricane 5.9. It was blowing, I'd been to a stag party, the helm was teetotal, I was sick over him, I wasn't invited back!)
Even if cats did only make up 5% of the non keel fleet it makes them more worthy of olympic representation than the Star and Yngling. I couldn't type enough zeros after the decimal point to point out their relative representation of the keelboat fleet.
I've got nothing against keelboats but surely a fleet of SB3s arriving at the leeward mark is both better TV and more representative. I know the SB3 is very UK/Euro centric at the moment but that is still better than the existing models which don't even exist outside the rarified confines of olympic sport.

...because ISAF committee members' primary interest is not the wellbeing of sailing as a whole but in defending their own niche. As a result they politic and trade to protect their own local interests and end up supporting the insupportable.
 
I defy you to find a club sailor anywhere in the world who thinks, "Ah the Star, that's the boat I'd choose to race"! In fact I suspect you'd be pushed to find many who have even seen one.
 
My hobby horse is de sexing the olympic sailing and having light, medium and heavy single hander, light and heavy two hander. That would leave room for cats, keelboats and the dinghy equivalent of moto GP, foiling moths!

It was just a turn of phrase, I've got one (or rather my children have), but thanks anyway.
 
Now, where can I find some huge waves..........