Sails and that

[Benny Butcher]

hi guys.

It seems i have created some healthy and opinionated passionate discussion. Great.

Perhaps i misunderstood the process and for this AGM it should be discussed under general business with a potential for there to be further action by postal ballot.
I do understand this is a big change and one that does need serious thought and working through to come up with a solution that will work moving forward. (sorry there John)

Firstly Gavin, you were saying i have made changes in the rules to the rig? This was never my intention and i cant see where you are referring to.

My intention is to open up the sail shape and become more aligned with the modern skiffs. ( 12foot, 18foot, I14, Devoti D1, Moth... etc)

My only real thought in not having any girth measurements was to speed up the measurement process, to me it seems like a long tedious process to go through every nationals. maybe there should be a girth measurement at say 50% and 75% up the rig? A sailmaker or other knowledgeable person may be able to come up with a good measurement process if we are to change.

Basically my intention was to have a sail that:

is not allowed above the bottom of the top band on the mast
not past the inner edge of the band on the boom.
Complies with a 50% and 75% to be discussed girth measurement

In fairness we can sit on our computers and speculate about what the extra sail area will do for different abilities and weights in different windstrengths so Andrew Clarke is building one that should be available to anyone who wants to test it out at nationals (after a days racing or whatever...)

From where i stand there are a couple of key points

Square tops look sexy.
More power = on the wire earlier = more fun
More appeal for new people in the class

Now this last one is a moot point, but you put a sexy square-top on a cool single handed fast skiff and by doing so open up the weight range by 10? kilos... That has to help.
As with Andrew Brown, i would be interested to see how cheaply and effectively one could be retrofitted onto an existing main.

Someone said a finn...
We all sail 3.7s... We know how exciting and fun they can be. Are you telling me that because I am on the upper limit of competitiveness weight wise in a 3.7, I should sail a finn, a boat that is seriously hard work to sail, has a minimum presence in NZ other than at Olympic level, and because of that carries a price tag for a competitive boat at around 4 times the value of my car?

This is a great class. One that as i near the end of my weekends being filled with Squadron Youth Programme i want to become more involved in

Cheers
Benny

[Benny Butcher]