Case study

It’s a process that began with the Laser in the 1970s, small boat racing increasingly devolving to manufacturer-led classes. Some have been more successful than others but RS Sailing have rarely faltered in continuing to produce fast, modern and attractive designs that quickly acquire a strong following. The company’s latest number, the RS100 singlehander, set a new benchmark by attracting 120 orders before launch… Martin Wadhams and designer Paul Handley look at how a major manufacturer like RS comes up with a concept for a new class, the development process and how the final product eventually emerges

Concept stage
‘The RS100 first appeared on our agenda at our annual international dealer meeting in October 2007,’ says Martin Wadhams, managing director of RS Sailing. ‘We had picked up on significant bar talk about the hole in the market for a more attainable, modern, performance singlehander.’ Through 2008 the RS team kept their ears to the ground, wanting to be sure there really was a demand for a new class. RS director Nick Peters and production director Alex Southon began to build up a brief for the boat they felt would suit the market, working closely with naval architect Paul Handley. First step in this process for RS is always to define the market as tightly as possible. The RS100 target market was summarised as:

• Singlehanded dinghy sailors who have done the same thing for years (for example, Laser sailing) and would like a new interest.
• Sailors who have tried modern boats such as the RS700, Musto Skiff and Moths and found them too difficult, too complicated or too expensive, but who would like to race a modern boat.
• Double-handed asymmetric sailors who find it difficult to sail regularly and with the same crew.
• Keelboat racers keen on some convenient excitement in between other sailing commitments.

The next step in the process involved creating a design specification, with input from the international dealer network giving a global view. Key elements of this process included:

• arget prices: Having decided the £7,000 UK retail price felt acceptable for the market the team worked back to calculate the target Bill of Materials cost – and broke that down into individual component costs to achieve it......

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