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Paramedic View Drop Down
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    Posted: 20 Jul 12 at 7:47am
I cannot understand why this has suddenly become such a big deal. A few years ago we all had dark brown kevlar sails with black numbers on them. You try reading those in bright sunlight or twilight conditions. You can't.
 
Did anyone complain? No, at least not publicly.
 
The other thread that started this concerns a class that i'm a measurer for. I probably measured the sails in question. In the sail loft they are a stark contrast to the rest of the sail and you can read them perfectly. I had no reason to beleive that they would be any harder to read than black numbers, indeed i think they are actually better in most light conditions in spite of what some may say.
 
Bright sunlight on or behind any laminate sail will render the numbers hard to read, be they black, grey or pink with yellow spots. Thats the nature of the cloth, it's not a ploy so that customers get away with being over the line. It's all too easy to assume that someone is trying to cheat, and that someone must be to blame. In realitly it's been done for aesthetics and to make a particular brand of sail stand out, quite the opposite of trying to hide!!
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JimC View Drop Down
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Posts: 6662 		Post Options Post Options   Quote JimC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 12 at 9:24am
Originally posted by Paramedic

dark brown kevlar sails with black numbers on them. ... Did anyone complain? No

Well obviously not, because they were the same standard black numbers everyone used, and it wouldn't occur to anyone that anything other than habit was the reason for the choice.

Whereas a deliberate change is always going to make people pay attention, and if that change is to a lower contrast colour in a fleet that has a reputation for pushing the line, well, then Occam's rasor has something to say...

Ultimately though, no matter what the motivation, the observation has been made in this case that readability is poor, and that means, as p/Ed says, any RO is quite entitled to say "change 'em for black or you're in the protest room tomorrow"

Edited by JimC - 20 Jul 12 at 9:36am
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olly_love View Drop Down
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Posts: 1145 		Post Options Post Options   Quote olly_love Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 12 at 10:02am
our new no.1
black sail with black numbers, but still readable



Edited by olly_love - 20 Jul 12 at 10:06am
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Ruscoe View Drop Down
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Posts: 1514 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Ruscoe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 12 at 10:48am
I would argue that in the sunlight the flourcent numbers are as easy to read as black numbers on the ODL series of black sail cloth.  As i understand it no one has complained about my pals sail numbers as yet, the sails were measured with numbers in place.  If you did get protested out for having something that is legable but different in my mind you have a moral victory over the pedantic morons anyway.

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Posts: 1145 		Post Options Post Options   Quote olly_love Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 12 at 10:53am
from that view they are nice and easy to read but this view



Edited by olly_love - 20 Jul 12 at 10:53am
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JimC View Drop Down
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Posts: 6662 		Post Options Post Options   Quote JimC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 12 at 12:29pm
Originally posted by Ruscoe

  If you did get protested out for having something that is legable but different in my mind you have a moral victory over the pedantic morons anyway.

If we are being pedantic then we should note that as long as your sails are just as legible as all the others then you can't be DSQ just because they are different in colour or font or something like that (class rules permitting).

Edited by JimC - 20 Jul 12 at 2:04pm
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Ruscoe View Drop Down
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Posts: 1514 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Ruscoe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 12 at 12:50pm
That doesn't make any sense Jim?

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Guests View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 12 at 12:57pm
You can have numbers that look different, but the PRO has got to be able to read them.

At Salcombe Week, I believe there was some difficulty reading the numbers of some boats at the busy starts.
If the PRO can't read your number at the start, he may not be able to read it at the finish. Seems a shame to get a DNF just for the sake of trendiness, so possibly better to stick to something that has been demonstrated to be readable.
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Ruscoe View Drop Down
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Posts: 1514 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Ruscoe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 12 at 1:48pm

FWIW i am all for it if you are stupid enough to have a number that’s illegible than its fair play.  However the floursent numbers my pals have on black sails stand out and are pretty easy to read IMO.

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Strawberry View Drop Down
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Posts: 1337 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Strawberry Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 12 at 2:46pm
At the end of the day your opinion doesn't matter, my opinion doesn't matter, no other poster's opinions matter. The opinion that does matter is that of the protest committee. If people are happy to take that risk of having different coloured sail numbers they'll have their chance in front of the committee.
Cherub 2649 "Dangerous Strawberry
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