[julianekennion4]

@GuestMember wrote:

The quality of plywood available for building seems to have dropped right away.

So i wonder, is it time the class considered allowing amatuers to build from foam/glass . With glass on one side of the foam it has similar characteristics to ply in that it can be bent into shape , stitched together and then inside glassed.

Is this a proven method? I mean, one used elsewhere in other classes? I’ve heard of Fireballs being male molded over foam but they have quite a fair amount of leeway in the weight department.

One of the advantages of the plywood stitch-and-glue method is that it’s stood the test of time in two respects:

* The boats last well – still 50 year old Mirrors floating around.
* They are competitive.

I agree the getting good ply is becoming more difficult. But another way of looking at it is that the ply is probably the cheapest part of the whole boat. When I built my last Mirror I would have spent far more on the glue, resin and paint, than I did on the ply. So from that perspective if you need to purchase 2x ply sheets to get good set of panels, it’s not a large overhead.

[julianekennion4]

I’ll have internet access during the titles and will do my best to post updates during the regatta. I’ll do so in this forum so if anyone has any specific questions during the Championships, please post them here.

Cheers,

Chris
Espresso 1778

[julianekennion4]

@shwell wrote:

Hello all,

Is there any results published from the Teams event at Mordialloc?

Regards,
shwell.

I haven’t see any published results, however I can let you know that Black Rock YC dominated the day with their teams taking 1st and 2nd. Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron was 3rd. Overall there was 10 teams from a mix of clubs.

Cheers,

Chris
Espresso 1778

[julianekennion4]

@Andrew Graham wrote:

It means that the boat used to be sailed at Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron …

Oh! Is that what it means? I’ve grown up all these years thinking it stood for “beginner” because all the boats with “b” on the sail sailed so much slower that boats from the faster clubs, like, say Black Rock Yacht Club.

… sorry Andrew. I could not resist the opportunity to stoke the inter-club rivalry fire

[julianekennion4]

@GuestMember wrote:

… As a comment on the rules it would be good to have the measurers interpretations, as they are made, added to the rules to help clarify things for the sailors.

Changing the class rules every time a question comes up would probably be too much work. The “best practice” is to revise the rules every X years, and issue interpretations on “gray areas” that arise between revisions. The interpretations are then considered when the rules are next redrafted. You can see this process in action for the international classes here:

http://www.sailing.org/10619.php

It’s very important that interpretations are in writing and published to all members – otherwise they’re just hearsay. ISAF produce a lot of guides and manuals to compliment the RRS (e.g. Sailing Instruction Guideline, and the Race Administration Manual), and the same is true for class measurement procedures/policy. Here are a few links:

Measurer’s Manual: http://www.sailing.org/20487.php

Standard Class Rules: http://www.sailing.org/21094.php

Class Admin: http://www.sailing.org/2091.php

It would be interesting to see all recent Sabre class interpretations such as the one we have been talking about here. Where do we find these? Any chance of having them on the website?

Cheers,

Chris

[julianekennion4]

@Mike Simpson wrote:

I have some problem understanding how RRS42 may be overridden by Rule 5.2 (still current) – explain please.

RRS86 allows class rules to modify/change RRS42. Some examples of this in classes similar to the Sabre (e.g. single-handed, one-design dinghies) are:

Finn: They have a “do what you like” (a.k.a. air rowing) rule when code flag O is displayed. [1]

OK Dinghy: At the other end of the scale, the OK Dinghy class rules tell you how to hold the mainsheet – that is, only from the block off the floor (e.g. no pumping directly off the boom). [2]

I agree that it’s a stretch, but I can see how one could argue that language like:

1.12 “Mainsheet shall lead through a block on the keel stiffening timber to the hand;”

and

5.2 “Run between slack rope hawse on thwart, to the boom, then to floor attached block to skipper”

could be interpreted that, like the OK Dinghy, the rules are telling us how to hold our mainsheets! Would pumping directly off the boom mean that your mainsheet is not running from the floor block “to the hand” and hence is being used illegally? Do we need to sail our boats like the OKs? I’m sure this is not what is intended as this Sabre class rule was probably written well before class rules where allowed to change RRS42. It is however worth considering this ambiguity when the rules are next redrafted. In my opinion the rules should focus on the equipment/system rather than things like “hands” or “skippers”.

@Mike Simpson wrote:

I’ll remind Ashley about getting them updated on the site!

That’s great and was the objective of my post. It’s important that we’re all racing under the same rules, and all members have access to the same information.

@Mike Simpson wrote:

My comments on this subject are my personal opinion – I am not empowered to make official interpretations

That may be so, but if I’d recently outlaid a lot of money for a fancy digital compass (as a few sailors have done), I’d be a little concerned with a statement like this coming from someone who has recently been involved in redrafting the rules. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.

Cheers,
Chris

References:

[1] Finn class rules: http://www.sailing.org/1784.php
[2] OK Dinghy class rules: http://www.sailing.org/1823.php

[julianekennion4]

Hi Mike,

I can’t find any references to rules 1.11.2(k) and 1.11.3(n) in the “Complete Sabre Measurements in PDF (as at 30/6/07)” available on the associated website at as of the 17th of March, 2008:

https://www.sabre.org.au/rules_measurement.html

Maybe we have all been racing under the wrong set of out-dated rules?

Also can you qualify the statement “seemingly prohibited by inference”? Is this a personal opinion, or an official interpretation in line with the procedure followed by other classes ( http://www.sailing.org/10619.php )?

[julianekennion4]

Hi David,

Before doing anything “out of the norm”, I’d suggest you consider:

Sabre Class Rule 1.10 – e.g. if it’s not explicitly allowed, then it’s a NO
Sabre Class Rule 1.1 “Any type of solid or wire mainsheet track;” – this would preclude any “loveday loop” arrangement.

I agreed that rule 5.2 is a little open ended and not really clearly worded. For example:
* Does the leading noun, “Method” refer to the method of obtaining the purchase, the method of attachment(s), or all of the above?
* Is “slack rope hawse” intended to duplicate the prohibition in 1.11? Or is it there to tell us that we should not pull it tight? What is the definition of slack?
* Is “floor attached block to the skipper” intended to override RRS42. If so, as per rule RRS86, should it not explicitly state this?
* “Where rope hawse is used” in the 2nd paragraph seems to imply that it’s optional, while the proceeding sentence uses the word “must”? Which one takes precedence?
* There is an obscure exempli gratia reference in 1.12 that uses language not used elsewhere in the rules. What’s going on here?

Anyway, I can’t be too critical as I know the measuring committee have been secretly working on a new set of rules and these were adopted without discussion at the national AGM this year. The “public” is yet to see these changes, but I’m sure they have cleaned up these ambiguities, and this, in conjunction with the addition of Mylar sails, will be warmly welcomed by all Sabre sailors

If you’re about to try something different, it might be worth requesting an interpretation before outlaying any time/money.

Cheers,

Chris

Numbers above reference the “latest” class rules posted on the association website at: https://www.sabre.org.au/documents/SABRE_Rules_Measurement_300607.pdf

PS: I question if the diagonal brace, or longer extension offers any “improvement to the angle of the mainsheet lead”. Is the brace just there to stop the block from falling over? I’m sure you’d find others that would argue that a shorter strop is better as it increases the wrap angle around the ratchet block. The other classes you referred to (Fireball and Javelin) have Jibs and hence tend to benefit from centered sheeted booms. The same is not true for the single sailed Sabre.

[julianekennion4]

@Richard Jackson 1660 wrote:

“… user enters the start line into the device by setting reference points near the committee boat and pin.”

Therefore it does save waypoints, but only for the start line.

I haven’t used this feature yet. Not much use in a dinghy.

Sounds like a cool feature though! Just what some members of the fleet at the Vic States needed . It seems like the Black Flag is not enough of a disincentive any more so maybe we could wire up a such a system to a set of electrodes …

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