2007 OD Survey

MC

The MC Scow has risen to the top of the 2007 One-Design Survey. This is the seventh edition of my annual survey of one-design classes in North America and while the MC Scow has been near the top in all of them this is the first time they have reached the number one spot.

Over the past few years I have listed only the top twenty classes but this year there was a three way tie for the last spot forcing me to expand the list to at least twenty two. With a few strong classes just missing the cut I decided to expand the list up to twenty five this year.

Let me review the un-scientific method for determining my list of the top one-design classes in North America. What I have done is taken the number of boats competing in each class North American or National championship for each year. The location of the championship is also included. I think this is a good measure of relative class size and activity. To rank the classes I use the average number of boats over the last three years. The numbers going back to 2000 can be found in past surveys. Many people will notice that some popular Jr. Classes are not on the list and would  be at the top if they were. I have chosen not to include exclusively Jr. Classes in the survey.

This list of 25 classes includes every class on my radar that has a three year average of 40 or above. If you know of a class that I have missed please let me know.

One of the fun things about doing this survey is discovering new classes sailing in secret somewhere. The Butterfly class is one such class. Clearly this is not one of the largest classes in the North America but there is a big fleet in Michigan that gets the class on the list. Call it a technicality but we can welcome them all the same.

Roger Jolly

Class

2005

2006

2007

3 yr avg

1) MC Scow

75 (IA)

85 (NC)

88 (MI)

82.33

2) Thistle

88 (NJ)

100 (MI)

64 (OR)

81.33

3) Laser Radial

68 (WA)

64 (NS)

111 (MA)

81.00

4) Laser

94 (WA)

61 (NS)

87 (MA)

80.67

5) Lightning

66 (WI)

71 (CA)

80 (MD)

72.33

6) Sunfish

83 (DE)

62 (TX)

55 (AL)

66.67

7) E Scow

48 (NJ)

92 (MN)

50 (NY)

63.33

8) J/22

56 (OK)

59 (MN)

68 (OH)

61.00

9) Snipe

59 (CA)

57 (PA)

63 (CO)

59.67

10) Hobie 16

68 (CA)

56 (RI)

50 (CA)

58.00

11) 29er

57 (CA)

50 (ONT)

63 (ONT)

56.67

12) Star

41 (CA)

79 (FL)

49 (BC)

56.33

13) C Scow

63 (MN)

50 (IA)

48 (GA)

53.67

14) J/24

47 (WA)

74 (TX)

34 (FL)

51.67

15) Lido 14

38 (CA)

49 (CA)

52 (CA)

46.33

16) Flying Scott

39 (TX)

56 (MA)

42 (VA)

45.67

16) Melges 24

38 (MD)

47 (FL)

52 (MI)

45.67

18) J/105

35 (ONT)

31 (CA)

69 (MD)

45.00

19) Albacore

52 (ONT)

40 (ONT)

42 (ONT)

44.33

20) Etchells

NA

46 (MA)

30 (TX)

43.00

20) Butterfly

32 (MI)

42 (MI)

55 (MI)

43.00

20) Vanguard 15

64 (RI)

36 (IL)

29 (CA)

43.00

23) Interlake

40 (MA)

36 (MD)

45 (MD)

42.67

24) Inter Club

40 (MA)

36 (MD)

45 (MD)

40.33

25) Y Flyer

46 (TN)

35 (SC)

39 (IL)

40.00