Messages

Maybe those sail things aren't such a bad idea.

If you look at the bottom of your results sheet there are three boats who entered but did not compete in a race. I think Y&Y have discounted them.

Although I don't want to rain on Dad's Parade. I feel I should let you all know that due to the high number of entries hes had to cancel the original order of 20 mermaids due to a lack of space on the beach given the large number of trollies. The money saved has been invested in extra safety cover.

As we didn't want to disappoint will still be a Mermaid booked, just one of the Essex variety, a less reliable breed, and very parochial. the only issue is they're part human, part fish, and part whale.


Graham

I believe 3130 is still at Bradwell.

I've seen her there a couple of times in the last few years never on the water but normally rigged looking as though the owner has just nipped to the chandler's.

I can't remember where it was but I remember one venue where we finishedthe first race half way (ish) up the beat and then started from about there too. I thought this worked quite well as the gap between races didn't involve sailing or waiting around for too long. Of course this wouldn't sort out the reasons for this years long waits if the wind wasn't steady its very hard to have a fair start (be it line or gate).

I assume the race officer is given target race times and number of laps in his advice, I don't know what these are but my suggestion would be that the winner should finish after about 2 hours on a one race day and just over an hour if there are two (or more) races scheduled.

Format - possibly the most difficult question - in theory the current format should work well if the PRO is given and listens to the right advice - since I have nothing to do with this I can't comment on what actually happens. My one suggestion would be that the PRO is given the discretion to sail the Burton Cup at any point in the week except Sunday. This means if the wind's good early in the week and scheduled to go bad we can get it in, or if its bad on tuesday or whenever he can set another more interesting course then. I don't know if the RRS would allow this, I don't know whether we can amend this in the NOR or SIs.

It was me that suggested we give the race officer some targets for timings too. This was in part to help the social schedule run on time and in part to make sure the week doesn't get to filled with waiting around. I think at Abersoch the information was actually pretty good - the postponements went up on time and were long enough to allow you to get away from the beach if you wanted - We should definately stick with the policy of avoiding one hour postponements. Equally if the decision is made early i.e. before the time boats are scheduled to be released get the flags up then. I'd also suggest that if the PRO can't get a second race in within an hour of the last boat finishing the first race he shouldn't bother - if we're waiting that long we probably don't want to be there any more. I'd also suggest that (if running to schedule) we should be off the water by 4-4:30. I know at Abersoch they had their own deadline of 6 because that was when the safety boat drivers were paid to, and we used all that time.

Although Burton Week is the Championships and so should be focused on Big Fleets, Big Courses, and Big Races it has got to be fun. A lot of people give up a quater of there holiday to be there, and for those with older families (e.g. Iles, Johnsons) it probably one of the few times in the year when the whole family is together - it's nice to be given time to beat up your siblings.

I'm excited about it - It's such a great place I'm thinking about sailing there.

Last time I checked a large proportion  of our open meetings, whether on the sea or inland involved comittee boat starts. So I don't see why this should be used as an excuse for excessive entry fees. Sea Sailing does require extra safety cover so I agree such events should be more expensive.

I've always thought that entry fees tend to reflect the quality of the shoreside facilities as much as the sailing. Whether or not this is true, or the way it should be is slightly academic. I often leave Pevensey feeling its poor value for money.

Since money is tight for me I'll be taking it elsewhere as Yachting offers more sailing for my very few pennies.

Graham
P.S. Will you be allowed to use the winches this year?

Can anyone explain why a soft sail would be better inland than a fully battened one. Surely the effects of having a fully battened main would be the same on the sea and inland?

I'm struggling to see how it relates to the DB debate - its been a very long time since I've seen anyone with their mast pointing the right way up sail their rig into anything. It's much more common to see a centerboard sailed into something.

Meds, can I push you for a slightly longer reply - since it was you who pointed out an existing problem and suggested we solve it. As you've said you wouldn't support the most obvious solution to the problem. What would be your suggestion for a "minor" rig change?

Surely any rule change would immediately mean new mainsails for those at the front of the fleet, because its fairly pointless unless it makes the boats faster, cheaper or longer lasting. In this case the two will probably go hand in hand. Even in the middle of the fleet new sails come every few years and surely fully battened sails would mean these guys buy sails less often too.

Only possible problem is the cost of the sails, do fully battened sails cost more than our current ones? Since a RS200 main is cheaper than a 12 one at the moment I don't see the difference being much.

It's true club sailors probably won't bother but then most can't keep up with the open meeting people anyway, so would it really make any difference?

I'm not sure a change would have much effect on 2nd hand boat prices in the medium term -  the change would take a lot less time to reach second hand boats than allowing double bottoms did. It may even promote growth in the area of the fleet who can't afford new sails with a mass dump of good condition second hand mains around.

If only I had that many thoughts about my degree I'd probably get a much higher mark. Never mind time to carry on. Hey its only brain science...

Yours,
Confused of Cardiff

Fully battened masts?! Mines quite stiff enough as it is, i suppose it is one way of stiffining a floppy mast.
 
Always can rely on Tim to think out the box.

Graham

As the first person to mention battens although it wasn't to suggest changing the rules I thought I'd make a second set of comments.

Re Meds message, as Dad is at Derwent I'll say it first the sails on his boat in the 2004 newsletter were less than a month old when that photo was taken, I think they were measured that weekend. Since the creases Med's describes seem to be a problem pretty much from the first time we pull up the sails does this suggest that we've developed sails that aren't well supported by our current battens. Again I'd like to hear a sailmakers pov on this one

I'm not a big enough anorack to know when we last examined the batten rules but even in relitively short time I've owned a 12 I've noticed that sails have changed shape, so again maybe the batten rules need adjusting.

Whilst thinking about fully battened sails, why do boats with fully battened sails seem to have more batterns anyway? ??)

What happened to the fully battened main that Kevan made in the early/mid 90s?

Finally, it won't just be kids that are less scared about getting into the boat on a windy day.

Right thats it from me, better go do some revision

cheerio
Graham

Sorry Emma, that probably goes more with the fully battened main than the rotating mast. But since I don't really understand this very well maybe the two would go hand in hand?

If they do there's an intermediate stage to be had, we're all for gradual changes it gives people time to save for any new kit they may want.