Advertising via sail numbers? 55

As to the boat-bashing, I agree completely.

Thanks Mark.

The ownership thing was always a red herring and seemed pretty unlikely to me so I'm glad that's cleared up.

On Sail numbers: well the Sailuice series has no real authority to authorise sail number changes, and I continue to consider its a pity that Speed Sails have chosen to abuse the normal process of informally permitting sail number changes as a convenience to competitors. It remains a breach of the RYA prescriptions/RRS, if not anything that anyone's going to lose much sleep over.

On illegal sails: a response that answers few questions. I wonder when the Fireball Association first clarified that tape drive sails were illegal. I fear it doesn't change the basic facts. It would be good to be assured that the competitors did not know the sails were illegal when they entered, or alternatively that the RC were made aware of the problem.

Dear all 

I’ve had a couple of chats with Mike Pickering at Gul and Tony Lincoln at sailboats.co.uk about this thread trying to clear things up.

Mike on his Osprey entry: 

I originally entered the SailJuice Series under my own sail number, but when Tony Lincoln came up with the idea of sail numbers I changed mine to the 55. I then wrote a letter to the RO ahead of the Draycote Dash to ask permission for the change of number which was accepted. After this I then called Simon Lovesey at Sailracer to confirm the change of number for the Sailjuice Series (the number was changed to 552 to avoid confusion with the other team members), which Simon did and all was confirmed. I’ve also confirmed my 552 sail number for the Perisher Pursuit at Hayling this weekend.

Tony confirmed on ownership and the race team: 

Tony and Antony Lincoln own sailboats.co.uk (formerly Northampton Sailboats) and have done so since 1982. The team is the sailboats.co.uk Gul Race Team powered by Speed Sails and the 55 series of sail numbers have been cleared for the Sailjuice Series with the suggestion of an extra number to avoid confusion. We firmly believed the Tape Drive Fireball mainsail was legal and other measured Tape Drive Fireball sails were racing at the Tiger Trophy not made by Speed Sails.

These are long-established companies that have been supporting the industry for many years and this thread and some of the insinuations on it have deeply hurt many people within the industry and the sport. I believe there has been quite a bit of confusion on the Tape Drive issue, and it certainly doesn’t seem to be just Speed Sails who thought that they were fine, as demonstrated by other Fireballs using them at the Tiger Trophy. 

This forum can be such a fantastic place when helpful advice is asked for and given out, but when speculation builds upon speculation, a thread can soon end up with people making statements that are plain wrong. I’ve no problem with real debate and discussion on topics and, believe me, I’ve learnt my lesson on moderation from a while back – being told I’d joined China in banning free speech when a thread was going out of control hurt.

What I’d like to see on this forum is polite, real discussion and comments that are based on facts, not speculation. It would also be great to lose the boat bashing just because it isn’t the boat that you like or sail – if you haven’t got positive input to add to a thread then don’t add it.

As I said on 24^th November 2009 in a thread, ‘This forum is what you make of it’. Please let’s try and make it a good place. Mags & I work damn hard on this site to try and make it a useful resource for sailors and I'd really like to keep it that way.

Best Regards 

Mark

Dear Sheetpuller,

Edited by transient - 14 Feb 13 at 2:15pm