Fairly clear thanks for your post Rob. As I read the rules. $300 royalty and
$75 fee. But I believe this fee is to cover the ISAF fee charged to the class
for administration (any remainder for other class overhead such as reporting to
ISAF, filing your rule change requests etc.). ISAF is the international body
that governs our sport, sets the racing rules of sailing, overlooks and
validates the class as an entity. The ISAF fee would be payable on any boat
wishing to enter the class. It is the onus of the class to collect that due. It
is payable only once, on initial registration of the hull. Any commercial
builder will of course pass on all costs to the buyer anyway so lets not split
hairs and nickel and dime everyone at time of sale (an American pastime,
couldn't resist the dig!).
Pay for a brand new boat from a Certified Commercial Builder and expect to get
proof of new built hull, a Swift Logo, a Hull and Sail number and an official
registration certificate.
Lets keep it simple and it should be uniformly accepted and dealt with. In
terms of Certified Commercial Builders our course seems fairly obvious. Since
we seem to be worried mainly about second or additional hulls that could be
built "sans fees" impacting the health of the class, and since the commercial
builder has the biggest stake in continuation of the class and therefore his
revenue, it makes sense that she would ensure the payment of the fee and just
collect it from the buyer at point of sale. If you are contemplating building a
series of skiffs then I would encourage you to seek out certification from the
class so that you can sell a "value added endorsed product" with the Class'
endorsement of your quality and integrity. The Class should actively work to
promote and support its partner certified builders and parts suppliers. This
should be a reciprocal relationship.
The ISSA web site will make it abundantly clear what a Registered Swift is,
making it unlikely for a "bootleg" builder to ever sell a Swift without a
registration certificate. I never seriously expect our obviously highly ethical
certified builders would ever do this but it could be tempting to a
flybynighter and we need to guard against it by some means. Buyers of second
hand boats should expect to get at least a registration certificate and would
be wise to get a measurement certificate too. The measurer cannot issue a
measurement certificate without evidence of a valid registration certificate.
The class may authorize a re-registration fee for second hand boats if it wants
but the point of the re-registration requirements are to keep us all in
communication so I hope the fee, if any, is not in the least prohibitive.
Membership, and having your say in the class governance by the ISSA ,is
restricted to boat owners (i.e. those with a valid rego certificate) and it
will be worth your while not to miss out on the great email newsletters that I
have heard planned and other goodies, support and info racing and rigging tips
that will come up from time to time to benefit the members.
So I propose let the fees structure rules stand as is, For the first boat $375
in Royalty and ISAF fees payable at plan purchase plus $200 for the printing
and administration of the actual plans and glossy builders booklets (one great
one is yet to come) and access to 16/7 technical help, OR on the second and
subsequent hulls, $375 before closing the clamshell with Proof that the closure
date is after the Registration certificate date so that the boat cannot be
sailed in any races without fees being paid. This puts the onus on the builder
to document,ante up a small amount of cash, and register the hull. The
registration certificate issued assures subsequent buyers that the proper fees
have been paid on that hull and they are getting a genuine article. If you lend
your sections to a buddy he will have to pay the same registation and ISAF fees
as you did but only gets the benefit of a tired old set of builders
instructions.
If, as a builder, you make your decision to close the clamshell without
registration fees being paid you are not building a Swift no matter how close a
copy and likely the hull will be fairly worthless. The class will ignore any
pleas to register the boat under any circumstances. If you sell such hulls as
Swifts you may be liable fraud and to infringement of copyright laws and the
destruction of your reputation.
I guarantee I will have a handy dandy Bilge Cam ready for you all before the
next championships to CATCH ALL THOSE CHEATERS. They will be available to
official measurers for $100 or close to. The video stream can be recorded on
your standard videocam. Bilge Cam Plans will be posted on the new NYCSkiffs.org
site so that you can construct and/or improve the design if you so wish.
Sawdust is not a food group but is very good for making satisfying boogers.
Greg Ryan Ph.D.
A little known factoid
Japan-based Fuji Spinning company has developed the sartorial equivalent of an
orange: A vitamin C enriched t-shirt called V-Up. The shirt is made from fibers
that contain a chemical called Pro-Vitamin that leaches into the skin, giving
the wearer the equivalent of two lemons worth of vitamins. The company is in
the process of designing shirts loaded with other vitamins, and working on a
design for enriched underwear.
Swift Solo - Rose
----- Original Message -----
From: Rob DesMarais, D.C.
To: BDally6107@xxxxxxx ; swiftsolo@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 11:49 AM
Subject: RE: CLASS RULES
Hi Bram,
To clarify building multiple boats: On page 7 of the manual you state, "You
can build as many strip built boats off of your plans and template patterns as
you want as long as you pay the $300 fee and $75 registration for each boat."
You are just changing that language a tad to make sure you have pictures prior
to laminating the deck to the hull at which time the registration fee must be
paid as opposed to after it is finished and ready to sail? Sounds clear to me.
What about the $75.00? Is the $300 a licensing fee and the $75 is an
additional registering fee? With our initial $575.00 these fees are all
covered, but we need to take some pictures before bonding. Additionally, the
$75 would be charged again should I sell this boat and the new owner wants to
register it in the class in his name? And the $200 was for the plans?
If I build ten boats after this first one, I pay $300 as a licensing fee for
each? The people buying them can then register them for $75? Fair enough to
me.
Rob
"One of the biggest tragedies of human civilization is the precedents of
chemical therapy over nutrition. It's a substitution of artificial therapy
over natural, of poisons over food, in which we are feeding people poison in
trying to correct the reactions of starvation."
Dr. Royal Lee
January 12, 1951
-----Original Message-----
From: BDally6107@xxxxxxx [mailto:BDally6107@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 10:01 AM
To: swiftsolo@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Fwd: CLASS RULES
Eldon,
I will make this brief and to the point. You have already (yesterday)
privately been provided with the names of those involved in the conversation
and reasoning. Because you are forcing the issue I've attached that private
email.
The first statement out of my mouth at the beginning of your call was "this
will have to be short because it is painful to talk". My wife had talked to
you earlier and told you that I was very ill. Your insistence on arguing every
point with an individual in this condition was a bit over the top from my
perspective.
If you somehow understood that the $300 license fee was interchanged with
some other $200 fee I apologize (I have no knowledge of any $200 fee). The
rules for building subsequent boats has been posted on the website for nearly a
year. The license agreement requirement was discussed with you in the
beginning and has also been posted on the website.
Indeed the rules have been an evolutionary process, however, the class
objectives have been stated from the beginning. The rules belong to the
class--not me. It may be that when we call for the question everyone will vote
"no" and we will start over. If you have a problem with the rules put your
proposed amendment on the server and we will vote on it. My suspicion is that
most of the members want to keep the hulls and decks pretty standardized in
order to keep theirs from becoming obsolete. It is my belief that people who
put this amount of work into a hull and deck need to be protected above almost
everything else.
To make sure that we are on the same page: a "bootlegged" boat is one which
has been built without paying the $300 license fee prior to bonding the hull
and deck.
I hope this clears this matter up as there is much to be done and a lot of
good news to be posted. Today will be spent putting yesterdays language into
rules form and posted for the vote--amendments notwithstanding. Please feel
free to suggest amendments.
Best regards,
Bram
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