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DangerBoy wrote:If the boat offered nothing to adjust what would be the ideal stature of the helm in 6 knots of wind.... 65 or 95 kg

You can always twist the argument

whats your point?

The standard multi-hole adjuster on the inners should not be supplied with the boat. Something should be supplied that can be adjusted more accurately (e.g. sta-masters, rigging screw, etc.). I personally I am not a big fan of sta-masters as they are expensive (for what they are) and tend to corrode/rust slightly after a few months, making them more difficult to adjust. Saying that they do an adequate job and as I rarely adjust them it doesn't bother me too much. Bluewave ones look like a nice engineering solution, but I don't fancy shelling out that much to do the same as what I can do with something half the price (at least on land). Maybe some of our richer European neighbours can donate some of these fancy adjusters to those living in the land of the devaluing Pound ...

The boats should be kept simple, so that you can spend more time sailing and less time doing boat work (or tuning) before each race. I agree with Tim that adjusting them on the water should be banned, but how to practically implement this is tricky. If we take the rules as they are to the extreme, someone can currently spend huge amounts on a set of custom "turnbuckle" lowers that have built-in strain gauges and automatically adjust to set tensions at the touch of a button (as long as they are only changed outside of racing). Maybe there should be a standard Ovis supplied set of adjusters and they can only be replaced by ones similar in design and functionality?

Hi Nicolas,

Just noticed your signature is advertising Anabolic Steroids (amongst other banned substances). Has your account been hacked?
https://www.wada-ama.org/en/prohibited-list/prohibited-at-all-times/anabolic-agents

If this is an area of the boat that the class wish to restrict, or it is seen as an undesirable development within the fleet, it is possible to mandate in the class rules that nothing is adjusted whilst afloat (rather than just whilst racing). Look at some other classes PFD rules as an example.

Spirit of the class is all very commendable but isn’t enforceable in my experience and you will always find someone who works to the letter of the law. Better to be specific if this is believed to be an area the class wish to restrict.

The class rules could be amended as follows to clarify that rigging shall not be adjusted at anytime when afloat, not just whilst racing:
C.9.3 STANDING RIGGING
(a) MODIFICATION, MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR
(1) Standing rigging shall not be adjusted while afloat.

Cheers,
Rob.

I think we are discussing two separate things:

1) Should we allow standing rigging to be adjusted on the water?
2) What should be standard equipment and the rule for lowers?

On the first point I'm against this; realistically how many times does the wind strength change significantly enough for this to be necessary? and it is just as likely to moderate as it is to build so I don't see any one group disadvantaged

On the second point I think that the bluewave adjusters look the best quality solution and would add little to the cost of a new boat and so a new boat should come with these. I think the rule should be tightened to allow bluewave, sta-masters and multi-hole plates only

These issues can be researched and voted on in this years on-line survey.

Just a bit of background clarification to Bruce's point on corrosion of Sta-master fittings.

Stainless steel contains elements that cause corossion. To stop stainless steel corroding it goes through a process of brightening, which in its simplest terms, seals the surface.

If you break that surface, you expose a layer of untreated material and therefore it corrodes. The biggest drawback with the Sta-master design is that the two threaded cheek plates are the only points of contact with the nut and if turned under load you are damaging the contact surfaces.

I'm not sure what the Bluewave turnbuckles are made from, but I expect the stud is stainless steel and the adjuster thread is a form of coated bronze (or similar). There are two reasons for this

1. You reduce the likelihood of the two similar stainless steel surfaces from wearing and therefore corroding.
2. Stainless against stainless is notorious for seizing and should never form part of a regularly adjusted component.

Thanks for the explanation Paul.

Rick, good summary. All sounds sensible to me.

I agree with Bruce's comments and the second part of Rick's.

I remind everyone that the Class Rules have always allowed the use of adjusters like the Bluewave ones, and allowed adjustment on the water.

Further, people have been using Bluewave adjusters for over 3 years. Nevertheless we have not seen any collisions while people are adjusting them, nor have we seen a mass rush of owners buying Bluewave. Also, people using them do not seem to have a significant advantage; Bruce (who does not use them) is just as fast as the leading Germans who use them.

The reality is that most people have decided not to actively adjust on the water, and will not in future. However, we have allowed this in the past and none of the arguments advanced so far give me any reason to believe that we need to change the rule, particularly given that people have already paid for and installed them. Certain limited controls are allowed to be adjusted and this should remain one of them. It is up to the sailors to decide whether to use them or not.

Those are my thoughts for what they are worth

David Rickard

Djric wrote:I agree with Bruce's comments

Bruce said ...

Bruce wrote:I agree with Tim that adjusting them on the water should be banned

OK?

Seems to me that the boat can be 1-design with, or without, adjustable lowers.
Would seem slightly odd to allow easily adjustable devices but ban actually using them one the water (between races).
Cost will be subjective.
Good topic to put to the membership in the annual survey.
Least cost option for the fleet overall is probably now to allow Bluewave type adjusters, else those who have bought them will have to go back to something else.
Personally I'm not convinced this is a slippery slope where we'll see adjustable shrounds next. While the Bluewave type may be considered expensive by some it's clearly just a small step from having lowers that can be adjusted ashore with a spanner and pair of pliers.

John

My personal opinion is to allow adjustment of the rig on the water, and although I don’t currently adjust my lowers on the water, my plan is to develop my rig settings to that point as I believe this adds a technical element to the boat, which I like. I have sailed many races where the wind has significantly changed and therefore rig adjustment was desireable. But having said all this, this is my personal opinion and I agree with Dave that we don’t need to change the class rules in this regard.