RTIR 12 - Cancelled Classes

Originally posted by olly_love Quarter tonners are. A cat 3 boat, it's to do with down flooding points RMs and guardrails amongst many other things, The rcd category for the j80 is a strict guideline, if it is a cat c and it's used outside of its recommended catorgy then the insurance is void and if an accident happens then the skipper would be liable, regardless of the seaworthyness and ability of the crew

I've owned a sports boat and read my insurance policy - which is a contract in law. There were no specific references to RCD criteria.

The "D" in RCD is Directive which broadly means that EU governments are required to enact national legislation to implement it i.e. it is not of itself directly "law" in the sense of binding individuals or businesses. In Britain that enactment is the Recreational Craft Regulations 2004 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/1464/introduction/made. This is a consumer protection law which regulates how new and second-hand craft can be marketed. It does not relate to how they are operated.

Your statement that quarter tonners are category 3 boats isn't quite correct. Category 3/4 etc relates to ISAF Offshore Regulations i.e. what were previously ORC Regulations. In the UK typical category 3 races are cross-channel whereas round-the-cans are category 4. The principal differences between the two as regards regulations are equipment related and in particular, category 3 requires a liferaft to be carried. Betcha most of the quarter tonners in the RTIR were not carrying liferafts. Nobody does unless you need to because they are big, heavy and expensive. The vast majority of quarter tonners these days never do category 3 races and won't take the steps required for category 3 compliance.


Edited by blueboy - 10 Jul 12 at 4:25am

i think if you went out and used a cat c boat in the wrong conditions and an accident happened then you would be liable,

and yes by orc cat 3 i mean the equiptment a stability criteria that have to be reached, and anyboat can do that,
we did it in the corby and thats 35ft

Originally posted by olly_love Quarter tonners are. A cat 3 boat, it's to do with down flooding points RMs and guardrails amongst many other things, The rcd category for the j80 is a strict guideline, if it is a cat c and it's used outside of its recommended catorgy then the insurance is void and if an accident happens then the skipper would be liable, regardless of the seaworthyness and ability of the crew

But more stable than most 40 footers! No chance of broaching it, we didn't even come close! 

I completely understand! It gets surprisingly tedious going that fast for so long. Not boring, but mentally tiring. We had a guest with us who had to take a leak twice, which wasnt easy when it means kneeling in the cockpit and just going while the water "self flushes". No going over the back because there is nothing to hold on to!