It is sunday morning and a club race will be held in about 3 hours so I got a little time right now.

Here are my comments on the changes, not that many care but I give them anyway. ! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />





950 mm is a really big head for the Taipan mainsail and the superwing mast top. Personally I feel the mast top is not stiff enough to support such a large increase in area there and it will require alot of mainsheet tension to keep it in. Moving the hound fitting up next to this change may be a welcome change in this situation. I personally expect the head on our 16 foot boats to converge to about 800-850 mm over time.

On the other hand the rule is a maximum and its limit is set large big so it is no biggy if it is approved this way. It will not really prevent the sailmakers from finding the optimum headsize.





Obviously this rule is superflucious when a (large) head size is a given. It is therefor not a rule needed to force equality between boats.





I would have done away with this rule altogether and just have ruled on a total mainsail area. The foot length is pretty much a given because of the boom setup and the distance between the beams. The head size is chosen. With a fixed maximum mainsail area in between these two measurements, there is really NOT alot of freedom in chosing the batten lengths. Therefor there is no significant advantage to ruling on these width of the sail at these points. I've this rule is needed for other reasons then I hope that the widths are defined such that.

-1- the old Taipan sails still measures in
-2- the new mainsail measures in as a F16 sail (= max 15 sq. mtr.) and is very close to 15 sq.mtr.
-2- there is sufficient freedom for the sailmaker to tweak the way his leech runs and thus allows them to find an optimal mainsail design.

It appears the first 2 width measurement will disallow old style Taipan sails.





I never believed in this rule, but I understand that it can only be deleted when the total area of the mainsail is limited. Sailmakers will then use this leech length to get their sails to measure in. Additionally it is the place to take area out when your sails over time stretch to much and become too large. Again I would say, just rule on the max area of the mainsail and then delete this rule. You'll end up at less rules and the combo of head size, foot length and luff length will then implicitly limit this leech length to a max distance anyway.





In my perception this is pretty reasonable. Although it might rule out some older style Taipan sails. I would have kept it at the old distance and then, naturally, fix the maximum area of the mainsail. More often then not this foot length will be reduced to not pass this maximum sail area.





Why rule on a detail like this. Ohh I see again because the rules do not limit on the total area allowed so all edges have to be ruled upon in order to prevent sailmakers from putting more sail area in.





That is a good modification. With the new 12:1 cascading systems you can pull alot harder on the luffs and as a result they will come lower when cranked on hard.





Personally I find it weird that a first year member would not using his vote. You are a class member and have a right to vote. There is no reason why a long time class members has more rights to casting his vote then a new class member.


In summary : I think ruling on the max. sailarea allowed will be a better upgrade as that will allow the deletion of several rules and garantee that :

-1- All older Taipan sails will measure in
-2- Compliancy with F16 class is garanteed
-3- The sailmakers have sufficient freedom to find the best mainsail design in the way of handling and speed.

The latter point IS important as the same thing is happening in your competiting classes like the F18's, A-cats and also F16's. But limiting yourself too much you risk fighting these classes with one arm tied to your backs. It is not wise to do that.

With kind regards,

Wouter