Changes at SCHRS

Bob,

What we are trying to do is bring the SCHRS rule up-to-date as much as is possible in a fairly short timescale and have it in a state to re-present to the ISAF in the Autumn.  We can only make so many changes this year.  These will be (we hope) to correct some of the bigger holes in the rule.

We are already looking at "righting moment" and including this in the rule. 

This will help both the 15 (7 foot 4 wide ?) and 18  (7 feet 6 wide), it will also help both as the hiking helmsman will be factored in too.  This should improve both numbers for the 15 and 18. 

Other factors could also be considered for the rule in the future as well.

Perhaps you could have a think about what you think the SCHRS for the 15 / 15 Sport might be and let me know (e-mail address above).

Will you be at Marconi for the ECPR, Maybe we could have a chat then.

Catmandoo, I assume your comments relate to the event a few weeks ago at Mumbles, was this not a light wind (<15kts) affair ?  -  I’d wager if the wind had been 20+ all weekend the results would have been different.  Also what was the “Skill spread” over one and 2 up boats ?

For this revision of the rule (it will be an iterative process over time), we have limited time as the proposal has the be infront of the ISAF in the Autumn (and we all have day jobs too!) and we are trying to address some of the larger problems.  We are adding a “righting moment” to the rule which WILL make things fairer as a first step.  It also takes considerable time to “test the rule”.

We’ve also had diverse comments regarding the ratings of various boats.  Most cry foul that the A class has been running on an unfair handicap for ages (every A class should turn up to events wioth an SCHRS stamped Measurement certificate).  People (a certain Dutchman for one) also claim that the F16 single handed is an A class eater (take at look at that Cat sailing forum…. ), but I also believe that single handers get a bit of a raw deal (I for one “run out of hands” when it’s windy); this should be improved by the “righting moment” component of the rule as the lower weight of a single handed boat (only one crew) will offset by the lower righting moment of only one crew trapping / hiking.

The A class also claims to be sailable / controllable / race-able in loads of wind)anyone send the pictures / film from the worlds a year or so ago in NZ?).  So who does one believe?

As I’ve said, we are working on Macro changes to the rule (Righting moment) for now and then we can look at other changes in the future.  I do not believe we can “fix” the SCHRS rule in one go.  I for one am in for the long run as I believe in SCHRS, I also believe it needs to change and that is why I stepped up and took on the Job.

Please keep the feedback flowing, but if you can also propose solutions to the problems, it will make out jobs easier.

Now back to the day job……

Simon

Yes, I'll be at the East Coast Piers Race.

Cheers

Bob

Simon,

You'll have problems finding a rule that works across all wind strengths, light boats will do well in less wind but wider heavier boats will be powered up later but will stay powered up longer. Here's a starting point for a righting moment factor:-

Boat Weight * 1/2 beam

+ (number of crew * beam + number of trapezes *0.9) * crew weight.

The first part is the righting moment of the boat itself, we should really use the distance between the two waterlines instead of the total beam. To which we add that of the crew, if they sit in then their righting moment is beam times weight, if they have a trapeze then we say their c of g is 0.9 meters further out.

You'll then need a fiddle factor to bring the numbers back into line, F18 are the most common boats under SCHRS and they come out at 735 in the above so we could use that as a fiddle factor to give:-

735 /(WS * B/2 + (NC *B + NT*0.9) *WC)  

This will of course penalise the wide boats doubly in light winds as not only will the rating go up but they tend to under perform their handicap then as they can't unstick the windward hull.

It's only a start

Steve