For discussion sake.......A Valiant is a pretty traditional design. Maybe the people that have the disposable incomes large enough to purchase a boat in this price range are no longer interested in traditional designs? If you looked through last month's issue of CW, there was nothing on the pages that jumped out as traditional to me? In fact, I am a traditional kind of guy, so not much on those pages appealed to me. The Beneteau Sense 50 is about as ugly a boat as I have seen that wasn't carved out of a 2x4.

BUT! I can tell you that of the dozen or so couples in our club that purchased new or used boats in the last 24 months, only one got a traditional Bob Perry design. I had several discussions at a club get together this past Saturday and these folks are looking for fat boats, with aft cabins, queen size beds like they have at home, headroom, legroom, beam way aft, swimscoops and SS arches.

I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying it is.