Proposed IRC Rule changes

If you carry a conventional pole its length is related to J and will carry a penalty if it goes beyond an increase of around 8%. But if you put a bow sprit on and then fly a monster of an A sail the ratio of penalty is not perceived by the rule in the same way and the increase in your rating is proportionally much less.

A conventional pole requires another crew member with a degree of experience but it does mean that everyone has a job to do rather than just sitting on the side getting cold and wet.

Looking at the way racing rules are developing which encourage symetrical sails the spinnaker pole will be joining the IOR rule and the Dodo as a historical memory.

Queue the following argument!

its in here,

Your argument doesnt stand up at all!  By restricting boats from carrying both a pole and a sprit they make it cheaper for the majority of boats which only have one or the other.  As for making gybing easier yes you do need to rig some kind of tack line if you a gybing A sails with a pole but you dont need a sprit for this, we simply tack our kites down to the jib tack ring at the base of the forestay which has a block on it for this purpose.  That works just fine, but gybing the A sail is a pig anyway in any breeze and gybing an S is much simpler in all winds, so why would you bother with the A sails with a beginner crew?

What is the boat out of interest? Did it always have A sails or just S sails to begin with? 

Originally posted by mole The cost argument doesn't add up in our case. We fitted a sprit and a brand new assymetric for less than £1000 on a 37ft boat. As for racing for in-experienced crew, this is exactly what the IRC rules preclude, owners willing to take less experienced crews and train them for competitive IRC racing. At what point does IRC ratings allow for that? So owners who can find away to introduce crews to spinnaker handling in a series of steps has to be good. the ALL or NOTHING argument just discourages participation.  But all this will be academic when there are so few IRC certificates that the rule disappears. Dinghy clubs adjust the Portsmouth Yardstick to suit local conditions and in some cases clubs introduce 'personal' handicap systems to encourage the less experienced sailor to compete against championship winning crews.  IRC will only remain successful if it encourages participation, AT ALL LEVELS, not just a select few with deep wallets.

The cost argument doesn't add up in our case. We fitted a sprit and a brand new assymetric for less than £1000 on a 37ft boat.