-MS
Proposal for change in the rules of the International
14 Class
From UK Class Association – June 2012
Background
In Weymouth for the 2011 World Championship
we didn’t race on 7 days due to strong winds. While some of the days
were above the strength that almost any boat would put to sea in there was a
strong feeling that it was a weakness of the class that we couldn’t sail safely
in stronger winds. In particular while some boats from the front of the fleet
would have got round one race was abandoned after all the rescue boats were
used up before the start rescuing crews. In this situation the only sensible
option for the PRO was to abandon the race.
Our current maximum practical wind speed in
the low 20s does not put us massively out of line with some other modern dinghy
classes such as the 49er or some of the more traditional designs (or even
larger boats – the Maxi Worlds cancelled a race due to 26 knot ‘mistral
winds’). However it is still frustrating and as a development class we have the
chance to solve the problem and steal an advantage by being able to sail in a
greater wind range.
Aim
of any changes
The aim of any changes is to increase the
maximum wind speed that a fleet of International 14s can race in while
increasing the cost of the boat by as little as possible and not impacting the
lighter air performance of the boats.
Overview
After considerable discussion, an informal
poll of the UK fleet, a rules sub-committee and experiments over the UK winter
with smaller sails it is proposed that two changes are made to the rules
1. Add an upper wind limit
for races.
By setting an upper limit
for races we make a statement that the fleet will race in windier conditions
than we currently do. This will encourage development of boats, sails and
techniques to deal with these conditions as people will practice and race in
these conditions.
Initially there may be
some races where there are few finishers but over time boats will get
reinforced, sailors will learn and new solutions will be developed
2. Allow 2 mainsails at major
championships.
While there are as yet
unknown developments that may make our boats easier to sail in breeze, we need
an immediate change that allows us to sail in more breeze, without impacting
lighter air performance. A second smaller mainsail has proved the most
effective way of doing this. While it is an additional expense for the new
buyer, the option to recut old sails, or use heavier lower tech cloth and the
longer life the “lighter weather” sail gets makes it economical.
Reefing the mainsail was
also considered (and is not prohibited either before or after the proposed
change) but proved harder to do with many sails that have uneven luff curve up
their height.
Full proposal
·
Change 17, e,i from
Sails. Each boat, irrespective of owner, shall have
for use not more than one (1) mainsail, two (2) headsails and one (1)
spinnaker for use during any one regatta.
to
Sails. Each boat, irrespective of owner, shall have
for use not more than two (2) mainsails, two (2) headsails and one (1)
spinnaker for use during any one regatta.
·
Add an Event Rules
section at the end of the rules with
22 WIND CONDITIONS
Races will start, unless:
a) The average windspeed on the
course area exceeds 26 knots
b) Wind gusts exceed 30 knots for any
duration
c) The race committee considers
conditions are unsafe for sailing.
d) The race committee considers the
wind is insufficient to manoeuvre the boats or too unstable to hold a fair race
