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What about making the vang rule a maximum measurement from the aft face of the mast to a point on the top edge of the boom? The vang and all boom attachments (or an extension of the line of the vang), when rigged as for sailing, must intersect the top edge of the boom forward of this point. This would cover any type of attachment.
You might want to look at the Equipment Rules of Sailing on the ISAF site (http://www.isaf.org/technical/ERS2005-2008.pdf). Page 15 shows the definition for shroud attachment point. If the hidden Sabre rules (i.e. building notes, that probably no 2nd hand boat has) are different it would be worth considering changing them to reflect the ERS.
So long as the ‘rules’ contain everything that is measured / taken into account in measuring a sabre & determining it to be legal this seems OK. If there are still to be ‘hidden’ rules in the building notes then the proposal doesn’t seem to be any gain over the current position. The building notes should be just that – a set of notes to assist the construction of a boat. The measurement rules must be the final word on whether a boat complies or not. These rules must be freely available to all so newcomers to the class can check potential purchases before buying and race committees and other competitors can determine whether boats are legal sabres should the need arise.
On the Subject of the Building notes…..
If they are to remain part of the measurement rules they MUST be clearly referrred to in the measurement rules & generally available for anyopne interested in the Sabre. This is necessary so that anyone considering purchasing a Sabre has the full infoprmation available to them when examining a boat they are considering purchasing.
With the changes proposed for voting on, now would seem a suitable time to rationalise the sitiation of the building notes & measurement rules so that there is one clear set of rules, rather than the current situation where there is a ‘hidden’ set of rules in the building notes.
Andrew.
The levers I was talking about are the RWO 4550’s (see e.g. http://www.apsltd.com/Tree/d3000/e663.asp). From Philip’s reply it would appear that they are not allowed on the Sabre, even though when used on the forestay they cannot be used to adjust the rigging while racing.
My thoughts on using them were two-fold. First that it is easier to get repeatable tension – particularly as it is the small sailors who require more tension in order to get the mast to bend & they probably have the most trouble applying sufficient tension. Second, it removes the ‘weak’ link of the rope which Steve recognises with his comment about adding a second rope. I have experienced what can happen to such a secondary rope when the main fixing breaks – the secondary one goes too!! As the main fixing will most likely break when under high load this probably isn’t surprising.
Thinking about this matter further another possibility occured to me…
More leverage is available by pulling forward on the halyard as it is attached further up the mast. If ‘tension’ is applied using the halyard then a simple shackle, or fixed (i.e. not lever e.g. http://www.apsltd.com/Tree/d6000/e5511.asp) shroud adjuster could be used to secure the forestay & then the halyard released. I suppose if the rules say there HAS to be a piece of rope in the system then a section could be inserted somewhere at the bottom end, but the necessity of dragging it through the fitting on the bow & the end of the forestay would be removed. A single loop of larger diameter (& hence stronger) rope could be used in lieu of the thinner diameter required in order to be able to pull it through the forestay & bow fitting to obtain purchase.
I would appreciate Mike’s suggestion that ALL the rules be placed on the website. Old Sabres don’t always come with all the documentation, making it difficult for newcomers to the class. There can’t be any reason to hide the rules away. If they are copyright, who owns the copyright? A suggestion might be that whoever has copyright gets a royalty from each new sail number issued, in exchange for making the rules & notes (if they form part of the enforcebale class rules) freely available. It seems ridiculous that someone can get a boat, check it against the class rules & then find it still doesn’t measure. Either the ‘notes’ have to be made available with the rules, or removed from the class. If this isn’t sorted out soon I can see a case arising where someone turns up with a boat purchased second hand, which they have checked according to the published rules, and then being told there is something in the ‘notes’ with which the boat doesn’t comply. Until I asked the question that started this thread I was unaware of these additional notes (there is nothing obvious on the website & they aren’t mentioned in the measurement rules). It seems ridiculous to have a ‘hidden’ set of rules.
Andrew.
(p.s. please don’t take offence at the above rant – it is meant as constructive comment).
