so much’. Now, with due respect to Rob’s legendary insight and that he has been successfully looking after big boat owners – and their regattas – for decades, he is perhaps more used to the rarified world of TP52s and Maxi72s and not deep in the trenches of pro- duction classes in the US. This is what lured Barry to the keyboard, particularly when it came to his new baby the IC37. ‘Having been involved in the conception, construction and man- agement of one-design classes like the 1D35, Mumm 30 and 36, Farr 40 and Corel 45, plus numerous handicap race yachts, I feel qualified to creakily crawl up on my soapbox for just a moment. This is not a defence of the IC37 class structure, which doesn’t require defending,’ he says. ‘But Rob’s loose metaphor for the IC37 rules as “socialist” and “against the [traditional US] principles of consumer sovereignty and freedom of choice”, were at the least a little… provocative!
‘Actually, the IC37 demonstrates the purest form of free market model: buy the boat if you want to race in the class and abide by the class structure, don’t if you don’t. The class will succeed or fail on that simple premise.’
There are indeed some unusual aspects to the IC37 class rules, such as the single-source sailmaker for the minimalist inventory of one main, one headsail and one spinnaker. This approach may be without precedent and Barry admits that he was also sceptical about whether it would be accepted. ‘I have been marching to orders from the NYYC flag officers who initiated this project and I initially thought this would never work,’ he said.
‘Usually we get the top four or five sailmakers to participate in a discussion of what the sailplan should look like and develop the rules with their help, that way everyone feels included and will hope- fully bring along their customers into the new class. Not doing this I thought would endanger interest in the boat among anyone other than the chosen sailmaker’s client base.
‘Yet turns out I was wrong. Talking to owners, not the guys leaning on the bar at the club but the guys actually stroking the cheques, they are welcoming this feature because it potentially saves them thousands of dollars.’
Carroll says that with his industry background he also had questions about the levels of amateur and pro sailor involvement. However most modern one-design classes already specify the designer, builder(s), sailplan, deck layout, weight, mast, engine and hardware suppliers. Crew weight or number, and pro make-up, restricted or not, are typically addressed too. The rationale is that controlling these details can help to level the playing field a little. ‘So how is stipulating the sail supplier any different?’ he asks. ‘Remember the outcry when the Farr 40 [successfully] mandated strict amateur owner-driver and pro limits 25 years ago? How is now trying to encourage mixed-gender, owner-driver, Corinthian racing a swerve toward “socialism”?’
Carroll says every aspect of the boat and IC37 rule was indeed debated at length during the development process. However, he says that NYYC’s strong vision for the class and Melges Boatworks’ understanding of their target market has never wavered, and the current rule is the embodiment of that vision.
‘Chip Johns, the longtime successful owner of Sunfish Laser, had the best explanation of one-design classes I’ve ever heard,’ adds Carroll. ‘Chip said, “The cost of the boat (Sunfish, Laser, Farr 40 or IC37) is simply the initiation fee to the club. You join the club (OD class) because you like what the club does for you.” ‘That’s why the J/24 and J/80 are still going strong after so many years. People aren’t buying the latest high-tech platform, they are joining the “club” because of outstanding competition, cama- raderie, good class management and, yes, real cost control. ‘We all understand that the IC37 rules will not appeal to all. But we are prepared to subject the concept to pure capitalist Darwinism: survival of the fittest! Owners will choose to join the club, or they won’t. The class will succeed, or it won’t.’
With 45 boats already on order it appears there is a certain appeal to some part of the market at least… Dobbs Davis
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