Dave... two points... The Tornado class had no rule on cloth material.... the loophole was exploited... What made it a fairness and competition issue was that the other teams could not purchase the cuben material until after the games. THIS last fact was the issue.
The protest went to the Class technical committee.... I would not call that a rubber stamp. A rubber stamp would have been the OA or the PC making the decision. Now the fine print may give the original protest an avenue to appeal... At best... you will force the class to write lots of rules to manage the clock.... What's the point with respect to the big picture... It does not sound like the sail cloth is out of bounds price wise and other sailmakers could make their own sails with the cloth for sale to other racers.
Besides there is absolutely no need for the class to be on the bleeding edge so what is this great urgency to use materials that aren’t on the approved list?
Ah.... the guy who bought the sail wants the latest stuff for the event that matters... He will have it for two more years... Buying last year's design / material would burn... (see Nacra 20 sail debate)
I stick with the judgement needed standard!
If the class thought the SOB was cheating and his success was not fairly earned even after the technical committee ruling... they could and should jeer him off the podium.
I like the rules... I respect the judgment needed.
