RULES !

To All Owners,

At the last Champs we were so happy to have boats there that we never touched the topic of scrutineering etc.
However people are putting in a big effort to get to Plymouth and within the context of having 30 year old boats, some of which have passed through several hands as cruising boats, and which we sail on a budget, we do need to have a level playing field.

Not directly relevant to a One Design series but in theory everyone who races off the standard IRC 0.89 should have on board all the required mattresses, pots and pans, doors etc etc. and meet safety Cat 4. Those with other ratings will be based on what they had on board when weighed.
With the passage of 30 plus years since they were launched parts will have gone missing, previous owners will have made a number of mods, owners will not have the time or funds to restore their boat to the original specs and cannot see the point; on the other hand some boats will have acquired weight through being in the water or through all sorts of junk building up on board, overweight engines etc.
Maybe it all works out equal in the end, but we need to move to a situation where all boats carry the min equipment and fit out per class rules.

Matters such as black bands, tracks, etc are easily dealt with, and  I am not too fussed about the sails – they are all made by professional sailmakers and the scope to oversize by an amount that makes a difference is very limited. (the overhang of the mast and boom beyond the black bands is minimal, and a full size genny can barely sheet on the track).

The main areas where I think there will be problems will be below decks.
Most of the equipment when purchased new is expensive, so I have have developed a checklist with the corrector weights for the missing parts.
If you do not want to restore the parts to your boat, then you need to add weights.
It is expected that the weights will be lead – but other weights can be accepted if you are fitting them just for the championships.
The weights should be added per the weight plan – see the rules section of the website – or if not shown there, then as close as practical to where the missing part would be.
The rule numbers is next to each item.

For practicality I have made two ad hoc variations

Rule 7.2 The door: rules do not give a weight,so I have allocated 5kg
Rule:13 Pilot Berth: The rule sates 15kg if the whole structure is missing, but I know of at least one boat that has done away with the hinged section and kept the lockers etc. We weighed the hinged section and they came to 7 kgs each (it was a factory finished boat). So I have divided the weight between the two parts. Of course that boat also carries weights for the missing mattresses.
I think quite a few boats have removed the lining from the forepeak – the weight compensation for this is quite surprising.

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HONG KONG ROUND THE ISLAND RACE

This took place on Sunday Nov 20th.

Course is HK Island to Starboard, with a number of  racing marks on the southern shore which have to be left to port to keep the yachts out of the very busy shipping lanes. Also there are a couple of small islands which must be left to starboard and a final starboard turning  mark to line the fleet up for the final beat up the harbour from the west.

The starting and handicapping is similar to IOW RTIR with two start lines off the Club House, with an event handicap based on IRC with non IRC boats slotted in as the handicappers see fit.

Simultaneously Starting from the southern point of the island, from the Middle Island clubhouse is the RTIR for outriggers. These are strange craft in which the occupants, eschewing the wind that nature has provided, expend vast amounts of energy paddling the boats along. With gentle coaxing and the offer of rum and coke, and genial relaxed company whilst letting the sails do the work the male paddlers can usually be brought back into the fold. The female paddlers on the other hand strike fear into the souls of the humble and gentle sailing folk. With their highly developed physiques, bulging biceps, and steely eyed, they are best avoided.

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LIPTON TROPHY IN HONG KONG

The Lipton Trophy – Hong Kong Harbour Saturday 19th November

This is a pursuit race around marks in the harbour in which the boats first sail three triangles of about 1 ½ miles per leg, then between windward/leeward marks about a mile apart until the target finish time of 16.30 is reached; the race is finished when the leading boat next reaches the leeward mark. Starts are staggered from 14.00 hours when the Pandoras set off, with starts every two minutes. Ruffians 14.08; Sonatas 14.12 Impalas go off at 14.22; SB3s 14.30; Etchells and j80’s 14.32, all the way up to IRC 1.51 (yes there are such boats !) at 15.16

It’s a finely tuned system designed to have all fifty-five entrants crossing the finishing line overlapped. As you will see it does not always work out that way.

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Plymouth Racing

The Autumn series at Royal Western is now in its fourth week – 8th race. Wisecrack (Roger Stanbury) and Zulu (Kevin Palfreeman) turned out for the first Sunday (18th Sept), and have since the 25th have been joined by a revitalised Imelda (9510) skippered by Robert Boalch. Robert started with Read more…