Greeting,

For several weeks I have been soliciting opinions and information from
North American and international Sport Boat enthusiasts and designers
seeking help with the initial formation of a North American Sport Boat
organization. Overall the support has been great with positive ideas
surfacing from all over and from a wide variety of sport boat & ULDB
designs. I wish to thank everyone that has participated to date and
welcome all to this ever growing initiative.

Here is a summary of my first impressions involving the introduction of
a North American Sport Boat Association. I would like everyone to know
these are just my early thoughts and do not and will not reflect
direction of this new organization, I will represent only one vote in
the democratic process of the formation and direction of this new
organization.

The immediate agenda should include;

1.      Develop North America Membership in excess of 100 members
2.      Determine Class Demographics; Region, Class Design
3.      Establish NASPA Rules & Bylaws
4.      Select Rating System (short & long term goals)
5.      Select Regional & National Championship Events

The current NA sport boat designs fill a very broad spectrum, from the
Farr 36, Melges 30, Henderson 30 and J80 to the newer and or higher
performance oriented designs like the Duncanson 8, Dibley 23, Melges 24
and Martin 243.

At the beginning class members should expect that the NASPA will
attempt to match certain design parameters within any potential section
break, but should expect some intermingling of unacceptable design
groupings due to lower than necessary entries to satisfy acceptable
section breaks.

I have studied the New Zealand sport boat formula and have asked
opinions of several sport boat designers. I have concluded that the
formula will work in establishing the necessary guidelines for
identifying a sport boat design.

Definition of a Sports Boat

·      Sports Boat shall have a minimum keel/weight ratio (weight of keel
fin and bulb assembly/empty weight) of 0.30. Fastenings and other
components of the keel assembly not permanently fixed to the keel shall
be excluded from the keel weight.

·      A Sports Boat shall have a minimum value of displacement/length
ratio plus twice the length overall of 60 (i.e.: DLR + 2 x LOA > 60
·      Be a ballasted, single-masted monohull with a hull length (measured
from transom to bow) of 19.5 - 36.5 feet

·      Have a maximum sailing beam of 16.1 feet including racks or
similar. Trapezes  are allowed, but trapezing crew are not included
within this measurement.

·      Use only asymmetrical downwind sails (gennakers), flown from a
gennaker prod or the centreline of the boat. Movement of pivoting
gennaker prods is restricted to 20 degrees either side of the
centreline.

·      Be self-righting, as defined by the NA Sports Boat self Righting
Rule (both Keel/Weight ratio and Displacement/Length ratio) See
Appendix one.

·      Carry safety equipment as defined by NASBA.

·      Have a lock-down keel, if the keel is retractable.

·      Be designed to be capable of sailing across open water, most of
which is relatively protected or close to shorelines.

·      Be constructed so as to be able to prevent water entering the cabin
in the event of a knockdown.

·      Compete only non-overlapping headsails; (smaller than 110% LP)

My early concerns regarding mixing heavy displacement & overlapping
(ULDB) style designs with lighter sport boat designs have passed.
Overall a sport boat design needs to be well balanced to perform. If
these higher DLR designs wish to compete within the sport boat class
they should be welcome. Typically these designs are only favored at the
low end of the wind range, with most sailing venues experiencing 8-10
kts. of wind this should equal out any advantages these heavier designs
represent. Designs should be restricted to use only non-overlapping
headsails up to (110%) & asymmetrical spinnakers to maintain similarity
of performance both upwind & downwind.

In general I feel the Sport Boat Fleet will sort itself out with only
true sport boat designs successful over the full wind ranges. From time
to time a non-sport boat design may win a race here or there but in the
end the more successful sport boat designs will tend to be at the lower
end of the DLR.

To assist in getting the NASPA racing quickly as a structured class I
suggest we adopt the PHRF system to establish PHRF Ratings for the
association's member's designs. It should be the association's
intention of selecting a true measurement rating system prior to the
2006 Season.

To move forward the single most important issue is to locate and
register sport boat owners in North America. Without the necessary
membership numbers, of over 100 this initiative will die. These are
just my impressions and look forward to hearing from all of you soon.

Let me attempt to answer some of the early comments.

·      Some have concerns about PHRF, my suggestion is to use this only as
a short term solution. We need time to decide as a national
organization which system works best. I fear us making quick decisions
on a rule before a proper analysis can be made. I want a measurement
rule. Secondly, the PHRF rating will be assigned by our own national SP
committee and will be a national rating. This rating is used solely at
our designated events.
·      Our sailing instructions will allow for boats without lifelines
and/or interior qualifications. Motors still need to be discussed.

written me right out of the game again. A Viper 640 has a keel to disp
ratio of only .25(730/185) Why do you feel compelled to so closely
define what sport boat is acceptable to you.  You are falling into the
same hole you are trying to get out of by starting a sport boat class.
You didn't like the associations not accepting your class of boats as a
valid racing boat.  Stop doing the same thing yourself.
Rate the boats that come to you wanting to race... any boat.  Then let
them race.  Let performance in the races determine who can race and who
will win the class.  You may have a S2 7.9 want to race in a sport boat
race.  So what? If they can beat you at your own game...  Maybe you
need to work harder at the game.   But the truth is that only the boats
that can perform at the sport boat level will stay.  What I'm saying is
do not write rules that throw boat types out... let the competition
sort that out.  Let anybody race.

All designs on the fringe will be securitized, the Viper 640, Thompson
30 and mine the Martin 243. In my opinion the Viper 640 will require
assistance and way create liability problems for event organizers. When
Lightning, Flying Scott and other small boat fleets race the RC must
remain cognizant to safety issues for towing and retrieval of boat in
need. A traditional keel boat fleet RC expects the individual boats to
have the necessary means to return to port w/o assistance. A boat w/o
propulsion requires outside assistance. Self righting and propulsion
are safety concerns that need to still be addresses.

I just received this from Steve Thompson, designer of the Thompson &
Viper 830. These comments will shock many US sport boat owners, in
their designers opinion they do not own a Sport Boat!!!

What is a sport boat?
This is a huge question and difficult to answer for everyone
·      .
I believe a sport boat is a boat that is capable of sailing a course
with no requirement for added assistance like a rescue boat etc as
required by dinghies for safety reasons.
·
The boats should be self righting when in sailing condition rather than
at the dock and this without resorting to people standing on the keel.
·
They should be fun to sail.
·
Crew accommodation below not required but space to store sails etc
below.
The crew should be able to sail in a hiking position even though some
boats may limit hiking.
·
The boats should be trailerable and easy to launch, maybe a beam
restriction to enable this easily
·
Maybe there needs to be a length requirement of between say 5.8 and 8.5
meter,  This is to foster good and closer racing. The other
consideration is to sail the boats in rating bands. There may also need
to be a division for boats that have crew outside the gunwale by the
means of racks or wires as these boats will sail quite differently in
different conditions to ones with crew on the gunwale. My experience
with this rule is limited but we do have a T590 rated and sailing in
Hong Kong, the owner reports good finishing positions when he sails
well and not so good when they don't, the rule works for him.

·      I do not believe that boats such as the T30 and T870 are sport
boats but rather keel boats. The only thing that differentiates them
from other keel boats is that fact that they use asymmetric spinnakers.
Yes they are fast and use asymmetric but so are a maxi does that mean
they are sport boats too? There are a lot of keel boats that use
asymmetric spinnakers, where is the line drawn on this?

On the NZ scene, yes we have a sport boat rule here but it is
completely disregarded by designers and owners. The handicapping system
is a PHRF system so the faster you go the worse your rating. We have a
situation where the guys are all trying to outdo each other with
lighter and faster boats with very little ballast. These boats tend to
be more skiffs like.  The racing at times has been farcical to a point
where some boats are capsizing pre-start and needing crew to stand on
the keel to right the boats. In a recent regatta up north the first day
saw a bunch of boats not able to compete because of capsizes and
breakages with around 25 knots of wind. The next days sailing was
abandoned because the race committee was concerned that they did not
have enough patrol boats etc to pick up and retrieve boats. Most of the
boats that would qualify as sports boats in my description here were
really annoyed that they couldn't go sailing because the skiff types
couldn't handle the conditions.

Guy,

I really appreciate the effort you put into this - about time we get
some good racing going for sportboats.

I do, however, have a real issue with a couple of points:

The ballast to weight ratio - do not exclude boats like the Viper 640
on this requirements - that's crazy.  This kinds of boats may require
that crash boats are available for some venues but then they can be in
a separate division - but they are certainly sportboats through and
through.  Having owned one for 3 years I can vouch for their ability to
be sailed in conditions to over 35 knots of wind and 6-8 feet sea.  I,
for sure, do not se them as being more radical or needing crash boats
any more than a Martin 243.  If a race organizer is not up for letting
this segment race it up to them but I will vote a strong NO to
excluding them from the sportboat class.

PHRF as a handicap rule - it just doesn't work.  And - who is going to
form a handicapping committee?  I do not see any reason that we should
also establish a handicapping body (on top of all the other tasks at
hand) with all that it entails (handicapping, handling unhappy
customers, etc.) when IRC is already available and most likely
functions better than some haphazard PHRF.  In addition the people, who
gat an IRC rating can use it for racing outside the sportboat class
while a "SBPHRF" is not going to be accepted anywhere else.  In
addition you mention that you suggest using PHRF as a short term
solution - why go through all the work just for the short term.

I do, to some degree, appreciate Steve's viewpoints - but just remember
he is in it from a business perspective and promoting the designs he
has been able to market in numbers while the bigger segment (i.e. T30
et al) has proven to be a bit tougher for him to attack in numbers.

You are right about the Viper 640 is a sport boat and this designs
should have represenation within the organization. The event organizer
should determine if a design like this should be allowed. The ballast
ratio, I feel is necessary for true keel boat designs and maybe not for
a dinghy style design like the Viper 640.

I'm all for a measurement rule, but which rule? We are starting to get
invitation for event this spring, should we go ruch out and pick a rule
prematurely?

Let's just use standard IRC.  At least that's my vote.  But maybe we
should take a vote amongst everyone.  I don't see any harm in trying
out IRC as it seems to be the rule that has worked in many places

As soon as we form a group we can vote on the issue.  I agree w/ you
regarding IRC.

"As soon as we form a group we can vote on the issue"

I agree, lets forget about ratings and boats for now.  Its March 3rd,
is there a list of Members yet ?  What is the criteria to be a voting
member of the group? The committee needs to be formed soon to start
making decisions

Sportboat owner              yes
Boat Designer                 yes/ no
RC official at any level?    yes/no
Boat Manufacturer/Dealer yes/no
any other suggestions?  should those with opinions only be voting
members?  There are many out there not in the classification above that
know more that I about this topic yet I am an owner. There should be
some manner for input, maybe this forum before votes occur?