Lasers & Radials at your club ...

At Hunts we allow free swapping between the rigs. We feel that although some of the better guys may change down in big winds and go flying the less experienced can do the same and get and experience the big winds with having to worry so much about death rolls and the like.

If it is a handicap series again rig swapping is allowed but you will always get the fastes handciap that you sail (i.e if a full rig changes down to a radial they will still be scored as a big rig and vice versa).

I will point out we do not have any regular radial rigs sailors though so the perception of fairness does not really come in to it. We do have a lad in 4.7 who regularly wins when it is blowing, he is just making the change up to a radial.

Paul

Originally posted by Blobby Originally posted by Guest#260 Question is what do you do with the few who chop & change? Rick Protest them under Rule 2 - they will soon get the message! A boat and her owner shall compete in compliance with recognized principles of sportsmanship and fair play.

Bit extreme for club racing ...

We are just trying to best accomodate the different flavours of Lasers that all race off the same start. ...

Seems to me that people need to opt to sail the Laser or the Radial for the series and the people who switch rigs will have a set of results in each series.

I can see our recorders wanting to time the Lasers and then calculate the results.

Rick

 

Originally posted by Doug.H Surely as the big boys can change to radials in the big wind, the lighter guys can move up to big rigs in the lighter winds...?  Over a series if both the big guys and small guys chop and change, results should even out.

...assuming everyone can afford multiple rigs....

From memory im pretty sure at oxford lasers with all rigs share a startline in their own 'laser' fleet but results are split into radials and fullrigs on handicap. Im not sure where the 4.7 fits in but it seems to work well there.

Rig swapping is allowed but you then have to swap to the handicap (and therefore results sheet) for that rig so if you do it often stringing together a decent series in one fleet is impossible.

Originally posted by Guest#260 20mph means that a full rig is not a sensible option for someone that small. Rick

Yeah but think how good they'll be in big winds when they jump back to the radial . 

At my club there is a laser class start, and the radials are let off on the 1 minute gun, and their finishing positions taken over the water. I think the laser/laser radial handicap allows for approx~ 1min30secs a hour difference. Giving the radials a 1min headstart is fairly arbitory. Radials rarely win, but that is largely down to the standard of the full rig sailors being higher, good radial sailors have done well in the past.

It makes finishing easier as the race officer writes the results in a first past the post style.