Is that what you were looking for Dave?
It was John, and good on you for having a fairly balanced post.
The bottom line is, it is up to us to file a protest if we feel a competitor is breaking a rule. The RC 30 issue is known by those that are interested and it always taints their accomplishments. As for Dave, same deal.
The protest is fairly easy to write up and submit but clearly nobody wants to be the dick. Five years ago this crap would have driven me up the freaking wall but I've made my peace with handicap racing and have accepted it for what is which is nothing more than a loose approximation of where we finished. Those that have more invested in handicap racing need to pick up the ball and do what they think is necessary. Clearly talking to the offenders face to face is not having the desired results.
As for the RC-30 all sails rating, this is pretty much the same thing as what is done for the big tri's. The idea is you're rated for your biggest sail plan then you can carry anything you want below that. Another point regarding the spin and DPN, there is no size limit for the spin hit, so that may be a soft argument in the protest. Anyone can carry any size head sail for the .96 hit and I suspect the RC30 number was created with this in mind. If the RC isn't taking a hit for the carbon stick, square top and racks (.995 * .995 * .995, which are tiny hits) then you have a case otherwise it may not be a winable protest depending on the opinion of the DPN committee.
Bill and Eric have been flogged on the internet for what 10+ years now. Remember the sh!tstorm on the old 1design.net site? So, a protest needs to be filed or everyone needs accept the situation for what it is.
For the record, I did ask the DPN committee to review ALL the Formula boats, box rule, RC 30 and yes the M20 too. I requested that review be done to bounce the DPN numbers off the other systems in use just to make sure the numbers are in the ballpark. It never went anywhere.
Mark before you jump in here and start beating the drum about switching to a measurement based system please note that nobody has made the effort to file a protest and this has been going on for years! This clearly points out that we have the time to bitch about something but don't have the time or the desire to do something about it.
