Further development for the HP30 Class

by HP30 Class 4 Nov 2017 10:41 GMT 4 November 2017

The HP30 Class will soon be re-established, with a new constitution, class association and race programme.

A Class Constitution has been drafted by RORC Rating Office and has been posted on the HP30 Class website. RORC Rating has kindly pulled this together and it is a combination of the standard World Sailing class contract that has been reduced to UK Only. It is recommended that this is not accepted at face value, but legally ratified before deployment.

Class Limits

RORC Rating has spent some time working on the Class limits and proposes the following for discussion by the Class Association and approval:

• Min LH: 8.5m Max LH: 9.6m (existing boats) - new boats Max LH: to follow
• Min TCC: 1.055 Max TCC: 1.150 (may be slightly higher)
• Max Draft: 2.45m
• Max IRC DLR: 125 per certificate
• Min Speed Ratio: 0.119 – The minimum TCC^2/LH ratio is less length sensitive and kinder to some of the existing boats allowing them to achieve the Class Limits, without having to make massive changes to their configurations.

Clarification over definitions for Existing Boat, Build Date and Series Dates to be advised in the RORC Rating Class Limits document and Class Rule which will be supplied in the future.

Broadly speaking, the following boats fit into the class: FarEast28R/Farr280s/Farr30s/Henderson30/Soto30/C&C30/BR31/Cape31/FarEast31R and Pauger30. There is plenty of choice for varying sizes of budget and there are other boats which could be optimised to fit the rule with minor changes.

Class Association Committee

The class is looking for a number of owner's to get involved, to help take the HP30s on to the next level. Technically, the constitution requires two committees to run the Class; one for the Association and a technical committee appointed by the class association to look after the rule although in the immediate future a smaller working group will be formed to put things in place for 2018. RORC Rating have offered to sit on the technical committee and the details of this arrangement will be sorted in due course.

The committee will meet as per the Class Association Constitution (now on the website). Joe Hall has offered to assume the role of Class Manager. Dates and details of the first meeting will be posted in due course. For those with time to support the HP30s please email secretary@hp30class.com

Outline schedule of events

The following events will provide the HP30 Class starts or extracted results in mixed fleets, depending on numbers available:

• RORC Easter Challenge 29, Mar - 01, Apr, 2018
• Royal Southern May Regatta 12, May - 13, May, 2018
• Vice Admirals Cup 18, May - 20, May, 2018
• Poole Regatta 2018 26, May - 28, May, 2018 - possible HP30 Nationals?
• Royal Southern June Regatta 23, Jun - 24, Jun, 2018
• Round the Island Race 1st July
• Royal Southern July Regatta 14, Jul - 15, Jul, 2018
• Lendy Cowes Week 2018 04, Aug - 11, Aug, 2018
• Dartmouth Regatta 30, Aug - 01, Sep, 2018
• Royal Southern Sept Regatta 08, Sep - 09, Sep, 2018

It has been suggested by RORC Rating and welcomed by Poole International Regatta that the HP30 Class treat their regatta as a UK Nationals. The Combined Clubs who organise the event in Poole are eager to support the Class and will help as much as they can with logistics, launching and retrieving boats, accommodation lists and of course providing excellent racing and social. It sounds like it could be a great event.

Summary

The current fleet comprises six boats, including a FarEast28, three Farr280s and two Farr30s and there is considerable interest from more owners and teams looking to get involved. It is however, vital that more boats are encouraged to join, so the season can start with at least ten boats.

For the mid-summer events, the fleet will be boosted by overseas boats, including more FE28s and F280s and a Pauger 30 from Sweden, increasing numbers to the mid-teens.

The next steps are to agree the class limits, get the working party together and keep the momentum up on the events and teams wanting to come racing. The class needs as much help as possible and is looking for support for the programme to encourage as many owners and crew to join in.