From Sailing Anarchy - February 22nd, 2006

Our friends at Sailing Anarchy posted our review of the Chicago boat show as well as our position on the Rocket versus Melges 24 debate. We've already had a few emails on this subject and would love to hear your thoughts.

Rocket Boats is back from a very successful trip to the Chicago boat show. The interest in the Rocket 22 continues to grow and each trip is better than the last. It was great to speak to so many Rocket enthusiasts and it seemed like every second person learned about the Rocket from Sailing Anarchy. And speaking of SA, a big thanks to Mr. Clean who checked out the Rocket summing up his review with, and I quote here, “Of everything new at the show, I think the Rocket was the most impressive”. Thanks!

Chicago area sailors are very knowledgeable and passionate about their sport and it was a pleasure speaking to them all. We also met quite a few hard core Rocket fans who had come a considerable distance to see the boat. In particular, a couple of great guys from Kentucky who Amtracked overnight to get to the show. It shouldn’t be too long before we’ll have couple of Rockets in the Bluegrass state!

As a result of the boat show we’ve left a Rocket in Chicago for demo sails later this spring. The boat is at Larsen Marine in Waukegan, just north of Chicago, and we already have quite a few demo sails lined up. If you want to be included please let us know. We’ll probably schedule the demos for some time after Charleston Race Week where we will be racing two Rockets.

One thing that came up a few times in Chicago, and has been following us around since we began this project, is the comparison to the Melges 24. Most people seem to get it, but still, there is some confusion or misunderstanding around our response. The truth is that we think the Melges is a great boat. If we were younger, had more money and wanted to race hard in an aggressive OD fleet with more and more semi pro crews then we would buy a Melges. But this isn’t us and this isn’t where the Rocket is being sold.

Our typical buyers are guys 35 and over with a racing background who want a boat that will satisfy their need for speed but with the characteristics of a bigger more stable platform. The Melges 24 is a high performance boat for grown up dinghy sailors, the Rocket 22 is a scaled down 40 footer for mature racing sailors who are looking to get back into some fast, enjoyable and uncomplicated racing. No 25 year old rock star athleticism needed here! The Melges 24 and the Rocket 22 are two great, but different boats, that serve different sailors.

We’ve never seen the Melges 24 as competition for the Rocket and we’ve never pretended the Rocket is a Melges wannabe. We like the Melges guys and believe both our boats can happily co-exist serving their respective markets. In fact, some of our best friends and customers are experienced Melges sailors who campaigned hard for a number of years, including Key West and other grand prix events. They will be the first to say they had a blast doing it, but now want something easier on their bodies that they can sail competitively on Wednesday nights, weekend regattas and in OD races with their families or like-minded crews.

Before we launched this venture we spent a lot of time talking to sailors to get a better handle on our market and who was going to be interested in a Rocket. We saw a hole for the boomer market that still wanted the thrill of high performance sailing but on a boat that wouldn’t leave them bruised and which they could sail easily. The Rocket is designed and built for this market and judging by the response so far we are on to something.