Advertising via sail numbers? 55

Originally posted by pondmonkey

Originally posted by pondmonkey

i'm being facetious, I actually think its a good idea from the RYA

Is it really?

I think not. Measuring will quite quickly become a dying art in classes that adopt self certification. With no outside control there is scope for incorrect interpretation or - heaven forbid - outright cheating to go undetected. 

It is obviously not generally in a sailmakers interest to produce sails that do not measure, indeed often they know more about the rules than the measurers do themselves, but this thread highlights exactly why outside certification is necessery. 

Lets face it misundertadings already happen. Once the sails have a signature on them they are "in" as far as the competitor is concerned and what do you do if they are later found to not measure? How will you find out? How many pages would that topic run to?

If/when self certification is commonplace i'm pretty sure qualified RYA and class measurers will become scarce. This will mean a wealth of knowledge will initially be unused, but more worryingly could die out altogether as there will be no real incentive to become a measurer. I can't help thinking this will be a really bad thing, especially for development classes where an intimate knowledge of the rules is necessary throughout the class as they are just as big a part of racing as what goes on out on the water.

Look at it this way: To become a measurer you have to do the RYA course (£50ish, every three years.), fuel to get there (Nearly all are at the coast so for me minimum £50, and then join the RYA (£30). You then have to get the labels in (£30 for 10 from the RYA, don't even start me on that!!) and you can't measure sails without them.

Therefore in your first year measuring your minimum outlay is £160. I look to make £5 on each sail i measure which does raise eyebrows with some people but it's not charity work! You need to measure 32 sails to break even - quite a  task without self certification, i would venture to say it will be impossible to break even once it is. I'm certainly not expecting to make a living out of measuring sails, but i don't expect it to cost me money either, so if need for the service disappears i won't renew my qualification.

So, lets hope that there remains at least some requirement for outside control of sail and boat measurement after self certifcation becomes the norm. 