Guys,

What is the process for getting a rules change passed in the F18 class? I'm curious for my own edification and because I'd like to look at Rule E.3.2, dagger board construction materials. Currently, there is no real limit in these materials, although the rules are closed and technically using anything besides carbon and glass is banned. I am proposing we allow the use of kevlar in the dagger boards. High modulus, and ultra high modulus carbon as being used in some of the boats is very expensive, price per gram is easily 2x the price of kevlar. Now why do we even care? Yes I'm an exception but we've run aground close to half a dozen times now. The shallow areas in our training site are not marked. We are no longer carrying the stock Infusion boards (~5' 6" long) fully down when in the river, the risk of finding the bottom is too great. Our boards are the longest in the fleet of N20, F16's and A-cats we race against on weeknights. Anyway, touching the bottom isn't good for the boards of course, or the hull trunks. At least in the Mk. 1 infusion boards there isn't much besides carbon and some glass in the trailing edge, and basically pure glass on the bottom. If kevlar were allowed in these areas, you'd have tougher boards for very minor cost increases to the manufacturer. When your trailing edge starts flaking, at least the kevlar strands remain intact and help hold everything together.

Maybe I'm smoking crack, and it is all for not as the best boards are pure UHM carbon along the TE and adding kevlar for impact toughness isn't going to help much. And maybe the manufacturers don't care cause we'll just buy new boards when they get too badly chipped to bother fixing, so it's in their best interest to have the boards chip easily.