Sail Measurement

[heymacaulay]

I have just read in the AGM minutes that the class is considering removing the black band from the rule and using the sail measurements as controls.

This position has some pitfalls that need to be considered before this is put to a vote.
1, Sails stretch, if the ONLY control you have is the sail dimensions there will be the inevitable aguments that ‘it measured before that windy race’ etc.
2, Sail measurements are intended to keep sailmakers honest (who would have thought a sailmaker would push the measurements to the limit?) they are not intended as ‘on the water’ controls.
3, The ISAF is trying to standardise measurement procedures, I know we all think of the ISAF as clowns that live in an ivory tower (somewhere in the UK), but they think about this stuff a lot more than you and I combined, chances are they have worked out the best way to do things by now.

In summary, as an old sailmaker, removing the black bands opens a pandora’s box of issues, if anything remove the luff and foot measurements and control these dimensions by the black bands (as per the ISAF recommendation. There needs to be a really good reason to go down this path, please consider carefully….

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