Death of the 13.5m class?

On Thu, 28 Dec 2017 07:31:39 -0800, gebodc9 wrote:

Would any sailing enthusiast out there forego the flexibility offered by
an outboard motor on even the smallest of watercraft to get in and out
of the marina for a club race against his buddies on a warm summer
evening after work just for the sake of adhering to some old rule or
concept?

Bad analogy. Thats equivalent to disallowing winch-/auto-/aero-tow
launching and has little or no relevance to carrying (or not) a power
source that can be started in the air.

As others have said, the nearest equivalent in sailing to carrying an air-
startable mechanical lift source, i.e. electric or IC turbo or FES
without counting its use as a land-out, would be the 'grinder' teams in
or carrying an engine to spin the winches in AmCup boats.

And how about the 'traditional', hand tool-only woodworker in a
modern suburb? Do you honestly think he could put together a masterpiece
without someone else using a chainsaw to cut the tree, a sawmill to
prepare it, and at least one or more power tool to prepare the stock,
and modern chemistry to perfect his adhesive? I digress.

Well, there is a sort-of distant relationship he if gliders were still
wood, the manufacturers would have a nice steady income from replacing
old gliders as they develop rot or glue joint failure rather than their
current problem that at least partly comes from longevity of metal and
composite gliders, which can go on flying for a very long time unless
they get totalled in a crash.


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Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie
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