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To: |
Christian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx |
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Subject: |
Re: an ammendment to the class rules |
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From: |
BDally6107@xxxxxxx |
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Date: |
Wed, 15 Jun 2005 09:50:37 EDT |
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Full-name: |
BDally6107 |
Christian,
Good to hear from you
Once a few 7 foot long 6" wide boards have been made by Swift owners I
personally will fight like hell to convince the class that they should never
be
banned. It is unjust to those who go through the trouble and expense of doing
the R&D to change the rules in the middle of the game when it can be avoided
with simple planning. I currently have a boat with a cut down 49er blade
and one with a 53" blade and can tell you with certainty that when landing or
starting from a beach, the longer 53" blade is significantly more difficult to
deal with alone. Add a couple of feet and only those of us who are lucky
enough to sail several times a week will get good enough to beech the boat
without breaking vang arms and tearing the cheeks out of mainsails when the
wind
is up.
It could be argued that the difficulty of using the longer blade will be
self limiting, however, I fear that you may have no choice if you expect to
have
a chance to win in light to medium air.
The "faster, easier, cheaper" principle was intended to be taken in context.
I could have designed the Swift in the beginning to be significantly faster
if we were willing to give up "easier" Honoring the principle means that we
should strive, whenever possible, to accomplish all three simultaneously.
With the extreme blades we will significantly reduce the number of people who
can sail the boat competitively.
This proposed rule change should not discourage people from experimenting
with blade planforms or sections. It is, I believe, in keeping with the
spirit
of the class there remains a lot of other potential worthwhile experiments
within the 55" limitation. Even open development classes have limitations and
it is often those restrictions that lead to real innovation. It has been an
eye opener to see the latest I-14's become as fast as well sailed 49ers that
are 2 1/2 feet longer and 2 1/2 feet wider. I'm more convinced than ever
that the Swift is the fastest single handed trapeze skiff to date and the
longer blades will likely add 1/20th of a knot of boat speed in light to
medium
winds (this amounts to 50 yards for every half hour of racing).
If the class rejects such a rules change, I am the first to admit that I
will begin development of a seven foot board. I will redevelop my mainsail to
eliminate the cheeks and move the vang back to the top of the boom to
facilitate hoisting the blade 30 inches in heavy air (the very latest I-14s
are doing
this). Since I mostly sail from a dock in very deep water, it is not a
problem for me or others here in Seattle. We do need to decide if this is in
the
best interest of the class.
Best regards,
Bram
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