TOPIC:

When I was at the Nationals I had a couple of comments made to me about what hoops we had to go through to get signed off. Unfortunately we have to make sure that the rules are implemented. We only choose one or checks and normally weighing boats is one of the checks.

My personal take is the event went very well and due to Gilly doing the measuring it meant the "sailors" could concentrate on getting ready for the regatta, (BTW thanks Gilly).

So to the crux of this request if you were at Llandudno and you feel we could improve anything or make life easier please respond, if you did not attend maybe you could say why especially if you are a regular NAA Nationals attendee.

BTW no gauntnesses that we can do everything suggested but we will look at all possible options.

I saw no evidence of problems over measuring at the Nationals. We all want a level playing field or I would hope so and within reason should accommodate the 'measures'necessary to achieve this. If anyone has a problem with this then it poses the question why? The answer is surely to be open-minded, flexible and compliant rather than obstructive. Admittedly sometimes these matters can be less than convenient but I would reiterate the thanks already extended to Gilly for her efforts. Well done - it is impossible to please everybody!

Albacore Andy
A7525
Blue Jay

To be honest Andy it can be a bit daunting especially for first timers. Anything we can do to make first timers old timers like you and me (ha ha) is what we need to try and do, whilst still staying true to the class.

Cheers Derek
7176

In my opinion, the measuring achieved very little and largely just irritated people. Weighing boats with centreboards in is pointless. If you want to go to the trouble of measuring, you might as well go the whole hog and do it in line with what the rules say. Many boats which had been measured prior to the event were found to be underweight making people waste time screwing in unnecessary lead - I'd stake my entry fee on the discrepancy being down to the weight of the centreboard.

I am all in favour of scrutineering and making sure that boats comply with the rules. I was put off by the inconsistent and arbitrary way in which the scrutineering was administered.

In future, I would recommend
-communicating the scrutineering procedure ahead of arrival at the venue
-including details of what is to be measured in the entry pack
-making it clear who is carrying out the scrutineering and how to get hold of them
-allowing enough time to ensure that every boat is fully scrutineered
-ensuring that the elements being measured are measured in accordance with the letter of the rules.

Well I think it needs saying that if boats were found to be under weight then they would be in breach of the rules. The whole concept of checks is to deter those who are seeking to gain an unfair advantage by not adhering to the set limits.

I agree entirely that communication of the intention to check weights and measurements is important but I recall seeing just that notification well ahead of the event. It was certainly clear to me that checks might be made.

I do not think that we will easily solve this dilemma but maybe we need as a class to adopt or agree a minimum racing hull weight including centreboard. Alternatively we could determine a minimum race weight of hull and all spars,ropes and essential equipment. It would seem the simplest solution as then there is no possibility of a mis-understanding. After all it works in F1 so surely we could make it work just as well.

I must admit that I am surprised that boats were found to be under weight. Surely they must have their original measurement certificates and have correctors in place that were fitted at the time!! Probably enough said so lets look at the easy options open to us as already suggested. I carry two bailers - do both count?

Yes let's make it easy but not too easy!

Albacore Andy
GBR A7525
Blue Jay

I am ALL FOR weighing boats at nationals.

That said, this year's weighing centerboards installed introduces an uncertainty into the weight. It also seemed that many boats that have been weighed and were with correctors came up light.

The class rules list two requirements with regards to weight: the fitted hull and the all up sailing weight:

The weight of the hull in dry condition 109 kg

The weight of the boat in dry condition 136 kg

NEXT TIME i suggest the following:

1. check for ALL UP weight instead of HULL weight. This will permit a one to one correlation with the letter of the rules.

2. get a scale that has been recently calibrated.

3. have a known weight handy to perform an in-process check to compare with.

See some of you in Toronto - and All of you at Abersoch

-barney

There has been much discussion since the nationals on what is the right thing to do with respect to measurement. It did become very apparent that weighing the boats was a must.

There has been discussion about having a silver fleet, leaving possibly only the gold fleet to go through full measurement, but again this is also difficult to keep everyone happy.

What is the qualifying criteria for the silver fleet? Or gold fleet?

One suggestion has been that to qualify for the gold fleet you have to of finished in the top ten ar previous nationals, or of finished in the top 5 of another fleet.

We also need more definition about hull weights and what is included.

All suggestions welcome.

Phil

Re Gold / Silver fleets:- at Lyme the helms volunteer for their fleet but on the understanding that the Silver fleet cannot win any of the major prizes. If this were adopted at the Champs the Silver fleet could have their own prizes eg bottles of wine and obviously be eligible for the Nita Tapp Trophy (last boat to finish all races)
There would be no point in a hot-shot bandit volunteering for the Silver fleet, and no arguments about allocation between fleets. This has worked well at Lyme - as a back-stop the Sailing Sec has the power to allocate boats to fleets, but there have not been any rows on this point