Why PD's Will Never Get Out Of Reach by David "Shorty" Routh
Occasionally in the discussion group, the topic of over development of the PDRacer comes up and the question of "Will the PD ever get out of reach, of the common sailor".
Numerous other sailboat classes have gone this way - they start off cheap and simple, then the competitive level gets to the point where the leaders are spending thousands of dollars on equipment and the average sailor gets priced out of the fleet.
This will never happen with our club, because of several simple facts:
There are no protected territories, anyone can start a fleet.
If there is a local fleet competing that has gone super expensive high tech, and you want to race the simple life with cheap materials, then start a fleet of your own and invite people to compete using those cheap materials.
This also protects you from the mega over controlling class association which added 27 pages of rules.
Just ignore them, and start your own fleet, and get to the prime directive: being cheap, creative, and having fun on the water.
Fleet organizer can make their own rules
If for some reason you don't like the rules, you can make your own set of rules, for the fleet that you organize.
You may want to limit rig size, the weight of the boats, try to equalize something between the boats -- whatever it is, you need to talk with your local fleet and figure out what they view is fun, and then create the atmostphere for your fleet to enjoy.
What is good and fun for your fleet is the most important, and as the organizer it is your job to make it happen.
Anyone can build a PD
Now here is the greatest reason that PD's will be around for a long time.
Literally, anyone can build a PDRacer with materials from local home improvement stores.
If you wanted to race in another class which used factory built boats, you would have to located one that is for sale in a price range you can afford.
You might have to drive to the far side of the world to pick it up.
If purchasing a new one (if a manufacturer still makes them), the price might be a bit too high for your interest.
After you go thru the pain and expense of getting one, you now have to convince all of your friends to get them, and go thru the same trouble you did.
With a PD fleet, all you need is a couple of spare weekends, a quick trip to the store for materials, and presto you have your boat.
You could even build a spare one for your friend, so they would have no excuse of why they can't come race with you.
The Class Can Live By Itself
What would happen if I got hit by a bus, died, and then the website went offline.
That doesn't mean the class would die, all you really need is is a print out of the class rules page and the local fleets page
With those, you can continue to contact each other, and build new boats.
So as long as you all keep building and sailing the boats, the class will live on forever.