One interesting point is does bring up is scoring DNC the same as DNF. I have never understood that as surely someone who goes out and sails has done more than someone who just stays on the beach. Easy to work out by just getting someone to count the tallies of those who have not gone afloat.

 

What would be harder is to get the DNFs into some sort of inishing order as they do in F1.

 

My other dislike is short time limits between the 1st boat finishing and the time limit running out. I went to one event where only 10 boats out of 50 finished because of this.

My criticism aside from the obvious design issues of the boat that I've cracked on about over the years and the refusal of the class to accommodate lighter folk with better equalisation or smaller rigs, but the fact they had so many broken masts and one of their own is bleating about the size of the course and number of laps in that wind.

That class really is an eighties dinosaur 'it's technical we're all sailing deities if we master it' bullsh*t marketing  based organisation as are the RS lot with their similar attitude at the one and only Nationals I shall ever attend never mind sponsor until attitudes change.

Expecting folk to travel the distances they do to suffer the inequities of that sort of organised chaos really is a thing of the past and it is hardly surprising the take up is limited.

Plus this...

Doesn't exactly encourage newcomers..

looks good to me

Although the same RS nationals you refer to Graeme, I must concede the RO was gracious to mislay his watch when I was definitely a good 5 minutes or so over it as the last finisher of the last race.  Considering less than half the fleet were out, it was clear to me the RO 'got it' on making sure those of us with the balls to stay out there got a bit of a pat on the back.

EDIT- just read the thread, worryingly some folks seemed to be sailing without the requisite insurances in place??!!??  WTF???????? 

 

As far as the broken masts go they say there were only 3 and one of those was because of someone colliding with a capsized boat. Hardly a fault of the boat.

Er never?

Not when it doesn't have to be that way...

I guess GRF is that way and most of us like him that way.  We are never going to change him?

Which is why you're wrong.

Has your wife never told you?

You're always wrong...

weight equalisation has been tried and tested... it's failed.  It doesn't work.  Laser 'Equalised Performance System'.... no thanks.  

In the main we pick a boat with a weight band that suits us.  Some boat have a broader weight band than others.  You just seem to pick SMODs, but their nature they have narrower weight bands as they don't have flexibility in selecting the rigs- until recently, and even then that's compromised because folks can't cope with accepting that an 8.4 is just as quick (faster imho) than a 10.2 if selected for the conditions right.  

The truth is- you at 70kg and me at 100kg, could actually race against each other in Solos, OKs and probably even Phantoms if you got a flexi-twig and flat cut sail.  Slice out the extreme conditions at both ends of the beaufort we could actually have a good race- IRRESPECTIVE of how much we weigh!

I note they did offer two sizes with thee EPS and I'm supposed to have the small one with the racks right out which would be most uncomfortable most of the time.

well there's a golden nugget of wisdom there Graeme- and you either said it in passing as a result of years with the rig in your hands, or you said it with wry, hidden undertone....

'multiple sail size options'

I totally agree with the concept, what I find abhorrent is the apparent need to regulate such options and to justify performance variables between them. 

I've long since been an advocate of 'choose your weapons', 12/18 ft skiff style.  And to the 'arms race argument'... do one... it's dinghy sailing, it's not cheap and another rag to make the boat more accessible is not going to prevent anyone from joining in.  In fact, given that it opens-up the wind and weight range if free choice is allowed to stand then imho, it makes the 'toy' more usable.  If something's more usable I'd be confident you'd get more people joining in longer term. 

I do wonder how many of those back markers at the MPS Worlds would have happily spent another, what £500 on that skinny "training" mainsail that was previously discussed and kept sailing.  After all the cost of hauling a boat from Spain, Accommodation for 2 weeks + all the other costs... well £500 is not a massive addition.  I'd certainly rather make a 'once in a lifetime opportunity' sailable, rather than feel it's a once in a lifetime 'missed' opportunity!!!!

So, there's no reason that a boat can't do the same then let us not selfish folk who don't take up too much room, consume tons more than our fellows, cost more to transport, not to mention burden the NHS or wear out pavements with our excess weight, get to use wider wings..

for example clothing... why is that whenever there's a sale on, it's only the small (and occasionally) medium t-shirts that are left in it?  Simples... short/skinny folks demand they get treated equally, so shop stock up but then they get left with it.  When in truth everyone knows that http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/Careers/02/02/cb.tall.people/index.html - short people can't afford nice stuff anyway.    

Now you don't need an economics degree to know that a shop selling its smaller sizes at sub-cost at the end of the season needs inflated profit elsewhere to sustain the model... in other words, us regular blokes in L and XL T-Shirts are subbing your sale items at our 'inflated' RRP.

And the irony is.... there's already a special area of the store for you guys. It's called the Children's Section... please go buy your t-shirts there, and don't bleat about the prices... shoes are VAT free for your little feet too.  

I hear even Dakine does a kids range these days and you might get a free lollipop if you shop in the right children's section... you look like you need the calories. 

You waste more space, breath more air, consume more cloth concealing all that blubber and if I ever get into power will be consigned to Fat Camps where they turn all Phantom Sailors into the final http://www.solutionclass.org/ - Solution

You could even install big screens showing Paul McKenna in 'Think Yourself Thin' on permanent loop.

 

Hmm.  For sailing maybe,  but for serious racing?  If you don't work for a sail loft or boat builder but fancy your chances of winning, it is going to get very expensive if you feel obliged to turn up with a quiver of (new?) sails for every championship.   And at the extremes of weather, if you have a free choice of sail size, there will be times when you will be at an advantage, depending on your weight i.e.  (BFT6: Heavy bloke vs. light bloke both using a small sail; BFT0 - 1: light bloke vs heavy bloke both using the biggest sail.)  But I guess over much of the sailable wind range it becomes a more even contest.

 

Showing my ignorance for a moment, how is sail choice currently controlled in classes like the RS300?  Are you allowed to use two sizes of sail in the same race series?  Is the size determied by personal choice or body weight according to class rules?  

They'll all obviously last longer through less use too.

As for the 300... open choice, once per season on the circuit.  They ditch w/eq years ago.