If it aint broke
I’ve started up a discussion on the Australian Moth message board
about sail
measurement, since it seems the new rules are unfair for people
building new sails (that’s me!).
The story goes (roughly) as follows:
KA Sails went through some
very fast development from their MSL6 to MSL9, with the MSL 8 and 9
exploiting the unmeasured area of the leach offset method.
People not exploiting the area cracked the shits.
A rule was drafted that actual area be measured via
triangulation, and that area be the same as the max from the offset
method (8.0m2).
Various arguments were had by various people.
The rule was adopted at a meeting along the way, with the
proviso that existing sails (measured before 1st January 2005) were
grandfathered.
All fine-and-dandy there… except…
World Champ Rohan takes a
new 8.0 MSL10 with the latest and greatest advances to Italy for
the 2005 Europeans and gets thoroughly thrashed by the Brits using
MSL9s. Rohan later admits he thinks the new sails are a minute
slower around the course.
Other contenders at the top of the fleet - Rohan, Simon Payne, Adam
May, Mark Robinson - most of which are on the IMCA World Exec - buy
spare MSL9s prior to Jan 05 (based on conversations with Rohan).
Despite all buying completely new boats in 2005, all continue to
use oversize MSL9s.
There is no chance to make rule changes prior to the Australian
Championships or 2006 World Championships.
So essentially, in a effort to stop (why?) the KA from exploiting
unmeasured area, the class has gone and given existing sails a
potentially large advantage for the forseeable future.
Now wasn’t that a stroke of rule-making genius!
Rohan now declares he’ll continue to use the MSL9 in major events
unless the class increases sail area. Amac contends there’s only a
0.192m2 difference between an MSL9 and MSL10.
In an ideal World, all the top contenders would out of
decency/sportsmanship etc drop their oversize sails and race with
regular 8.0 sails. Since the top bunch is finishing well over 5
minutes ahead of the rest its not exactly going to affect
them.
But when a new boat + World’s campaign pushes costs over $20k AUD,
who on earth puts that high a price on spirit and intent of the
rules!
…. and that’s not even scratching the surface a what an effective
reduction in sail area is doing to the competitive weight of
sailors in the class.
