Steve Nicholson - Northampton

Originally posted by Peaky I'm probably going to regret dragging this up, but one thing has been nagging me: Speed have been making tapedrive sails for some time and they have also been making Furball sails for a long time. Is the the first tapedrive FB sail they have made? If so, why has it taken so long to get round to it? One could speculate that they haven't made a tape sail before because they knew it to be against the rules, and the timing is right to experiment now because they may become legal later in the year. You would certainly expect that a major supplier to a class would know the rules (and interpretations) thoroughly. In particular you might expect Speed to be especially aware of the legality of tape sails in a variety of classes given the clear ruling given previously on their Merlin Rocket Tapedrive sails.

I'm probably going to regret dragging this up, but one thing has been nagging me:

Speed have been making tapedrive sails for some time and they have also been making Furball sails for a long time. Is the the first tapedrive FB sail they have made? If so, why has it taken so long to get round to it?

One could speculate that they haven't made a tape sail before because they knew it to be against the rules, and the timing is right to experiment now because they may become legal later in the year. You would certainly expect that a major supplier to a class would know the rules (and interpretations) thoroughly.

In particular you might expect Speed to be especially aware of the legality of tape sails in a variety of classes given the clear ruling given previously on their Merlin Rocket Tapedrive sails.

Originally posted by jeffers Read the entire statement and check the facts. There are other 'tape drive' Fireball sails that have been measured and approved so how they could be considered 'illegal' at the time is not an argument you can claim (measurement notwithstanding of course). The Fireball Class clarification by the UKFA (not Fireball International) was posted after the event in question. It seems to me as if the sailmaker did their homework, they knew about other tape drive sails that were measured (and thus legal). Their only (possible) failing was not getting them measured prior to the event. Were they measured and then the UKFA issued a statement what would we all be saying then? I would guess not a lot.....

If an official measurer has signed a set off they've made an error in afraid.

Edited by Paramedic - 26 Feb 13 at 11:02am

Paul- In my opinion, the sail loft should have got those sails measured before the event- simples.  Even if there was then a retrospective discussion that they weren't indeed legal, well what could anyone say other than 'bad luck fellas', a moral victory.

Edited by pondmonkey - 26 Feb 13 at 10:17am

Originally posted by Paramedic Originally posted by polc1410 Because they are loving every minute of it.    Are they? Back to their statement: "we firmly beleived the sails were in class".   So whoever made the sails hadn't read the class rules properly. Thats really good publicity isnt it? What else have they missed?   If they'd said it was a development that was being tested then that would be differant, but for a professional sail maker to make a basic cock up like that is pretty worrying for a potential customer.   The class rule are very clear, sails shall be single ply construction and there is a limit of the size of secondry reinforcement. The rules are closed so if it doesn't specify you can do something you can't do it, in this case use tape reinforcement on a lightweight cloth. (The same "closed rules" thing is why you can't legally use twin poles - rules say "pole").   It was mentioned in the other thread that one suit of these has been home made and measured. The poster has no reason to lie so assuming it's true i'd suggest a measurer has a bit of explaining to do. Tape reinforcement cannot be legal under current Fireball rules.