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2017 - Minutes of the UKMSCA meeting at Brightlingsea Sailing Club

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:18 pm
by paul manning
Minutes of the UKMSCA meeting at Brightlingsea Sailing Club

1. Mast update
Ben read website report of mast agreed updates
Query on track failures - view is that proposed track is more robust than standard track
Testing is ongoing
Any possible new mainsail requires questions putting together for the survey. Questions need to be balanced to ensure we know what the success criteria are. We need to be clear that the sail development is stand-alone / separate from solving the current issues with the mast. The pros & cons / success criteria need to be defined.
The class would then vote on whether they do or do not want the builder to proceed with a prototype.

2. Bowsprit end fitting
Review of the reasons for the change. To be voted on at the survey. Feedback from Andy Tarboton (Ben to speak to Andy)

3. Technical questions
Rudder pin - can it be threaded and not a ring (Paul to speak to Ovington Boats)
Tiller - needs to be epoxied (some are not) (Paul to speak to Ovington Boats)

4. Events and venues
UK Nationals - Castle Cove 2018
East Coast Piers Race 2018 (Dave?)
2019 venue Sunderland, Plymouth, Abersoch? (Paul to write to venues)
Should the class do pre-entry for a seasons series. It helps planning etc?

5. GBR Facebook group
Who will manage? Jason Rickard GBR events coordinator

6. One-off event membership is £15

7. Training budget is not being utilised. Nationals coaching.

8. Class Association to subsidise youth members to the Nationals to try and encourage more to come. Suggestion of discount to half price either part shared with host club or fully absorbed by class? (Action required)

9. The class needs to focus efforts on attracting new members into the fleet through all available channels. Biggest potential source is 29ers / 49ers so we need to try and take the demo boat to the Youth Nationals / Student Nationals and promote demo sails. Tricky finding a young / willing class rep to do this If the class could fund travel expenses (poor student) this could be more appealing? (Action required)

10. AOB
Andy Peake - Thank you to John Mcafee
Andy Peake - propose early start for Sunday and 4 races if we don't get 4 races in tomorrow
George Hand - request that bow and side tie downs are added to the event regulations

Re: 2017 - Minutes of the UKMSCA meeting at Brightlingsea Sailing Club

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 8:41 am
by paul manning
Point 2 report

Report from Andy Tarboton

I have put the new pole end fitting on for testing. Fitting it to the boat is really easy and I think it would work well in general.

I have done some comparison hoists and drops and received the following results:
Current setup 85 sec
New pole end 78 sec
This test was carried out on dry land, standing next to the boat and hoisting and dropping the kite 10 consecutive times to get and average as well as an idea of fatigue factors influencing hoisting and dropping from halyard friction. From this it is my conclusion that the new pole end has about 5% less friction in the system.

I then went sailing with the setup and noted that if the tack of the kite travels all the way to the opening in the pole end, then the tack of the kite is slightly below the top of the pole and gets pinned to one side of the pole. The solution is very simple - leave a 50mm length of tack line from the rack to the pole end when the pole is fully extended and this will allow the tack to just float above the pole end.

The new system is a proven one for preventing wraps around the pole so I don't believe we will have a problem with that if we move to the new fitting as a class.

I am hoping to get some pictures to go with my report back in the next week or 2 but hope this helps with the discussion.

I am always happy to chat ideas over with you with regard to trim etc if I can be helpful in any way.

Re: 2017 - Minutes of the UKMSCA meeting at Brightlingsea Sailing Club

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 8:44 am
by paul manning
Point 3 report

It is possible to have a threaded head rudder pin, although the rudder stock casting would need altering to create a flat where the washer and nut would sit. This is because an angled profile would result in the nut tightening and loosening as the tiller is swung. It is therefore not clear whether this type of pin could be successfully retro-fitted without testing and may require modification to the stock.

Followed up on ensuring tiller is epoxied and riveted.

Re: 2017 - Minutes of the UKMSCA meeting at Brightlingsea Sailing Club

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:07 am
by duchonic
Point 1,2,3 and 9 should not be in this forum section (you ar in "British dedicated forum for local issues")
It's international stuff and everyone should be informed about it.
And how can the national UK class decide about international class rules changes without asking international national representives?

Re: 2017 - Minutes of the UKMSCA meeting at Brightlingsea Sailing Club

Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:29 pm
by paul manning
Hi Nicolas

Thank you for your comments, to avoid confusion

Point 1
This was an update to GBR members not present at the World Championships to advise on the progress agreed by the international class committee and class builder to look into possible solutions to mast track failure.
You can read the report put forward by the international technical committee to the whole fleet here http://www.mustoskiff.com/sub-pages/rig-update.html

Point 2
This was an update to GBR members not present at the World Championships to advise on the prototype bow end fitting which was on show and discussed at the World Championships.
As this will be a matter for voting on in the upcoming international class survey.

Point 3
GBR members asked whether this was possible and to request the technical committee look into this as a proposal to the class going forward.

Point 9
The GBR class members are keen to attract as many new members to the class as possible and discussed how this could best be achieved within the UK.