Rise Of The Ok etc

Originally posted by Medway Maniac Would I be right in thinking that you really want to restrict your Box Rule Racing to one-designs, KW? In which case you just need an homologation process to render boats eligible, like Group A in rallying and touring car racing.  Specify that, say 25 (or more) boats of a type have to have been built to qualify a class to race.  Builders to certify. It's unlikely anyone would start a new class just to win your box-rule racing unless it really took off, in which case you grandfather existing classes and up the qualifying number to 100 or more...

No more the merrier- Fred in his shed, RS fan boy, new import from China, discerning Devoti customers... All welcome.

Originally posted by Rupert So if you take your one design out of class (I dunno, maybe by putting a bigger rig on it), you couldn't then race it in the box ruleunless 24 other people did the same? So you couldn't update your uncompetitive boat in any way to make it keep up without making it ineligible to race. And if you allow that, where does update end and new design begin?

Originally posted by kneewrecker Originally posted by Medway Maniac Would I be right in thinking that you really want to restrict your Box Rule Racing to one-designs, KW? In which case you just need an homologation process to render boats eligible, like Group A in rallying and touring car racing.  Specify that, say 25 (or more) boats of a type have to have been built to qualify a class to race.  Builders to certify. It's unlikely anyone would start a new class just to win your box-rule racing unless it really took off, in which case you grandfather existing classes and up the qualifying number to 100 or more... No more the merrier- Fred in his shed, RS fan boy, new import from China, discerning Devoti customers... All welcome.

Now lets think ... anyone know any 'Box Rule' classes ?  There are a few.  If it is literally just a 'box' you have no minimum weight for a start, no restictions on materials that can be exploited and so on....  so you then add extra rules and see what happens .. and you get a few 'ringers' developed and they look a bit tough for regular punters, possibly fragile and definately more expensive .. so you add a few more rules ... yes the road to repeated additonal limitation and restriction .. arguments and oh yes so many disagreements  ... all the way to 'hell on water' ! 

The nearest I know to producing a reasonable class at reasonable price with a good performance  is the NS14 .... but is that a pure box rule class ?  No.

Trying to force 'standard' SMODs into an abstract set of box rules - will kill most of them stone dead in a season .. with the emerging dominant one looking a bit sick a year later as somebody looks at the rules very carefully, develops a 'better' example and decides to sacrifice anything that does not produce a speed advantage in the hands of the best..   Sounds all too like the self-destructing board 'box' rules that produced boom ... and bust (or 'Honey I've shrunk the sport .... er somehow'. 

Shared meetings and organisation for several classes with broadly similar characteristics is about as close as you are ever likely to get and even then you will need to seperate them from a points perspective.   

Mike L.

Back on the OK topic, and having done a bit of research (there are a couple of cheap ones on apolloduck) it seems their yardstick has also been prejudiced of late, another group as unhappy with the PYAG as my good self and once again at the heart of it the ubiquitous Laser.

Discussion here

They also have a fair idea, given most classes know their respective boat inside and out, a better suggestion be that the class rather than the incompetent gerrymanderers set the handicap.

It also looks like they've been discussing some 'roadmap' to better organising themselves for the future so whatever they're up to must be working if they are indeed on the rise.

Edited by iGRF - 04 Oct 14 at 7:49pm