International 14 Mailing List
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From: Ted Rogers (twrogers@earthlink.net)
Date: Fri 30 Jul 1999 - 03:48:25 BST
Rainer,
If people like Julian Bethwaite are of the opinion that rotating rigs, etc
aren't likely to be faster on skiffs than our current rigs, why should we
bother to prohibit them??
If someone can confound the experts and produce a faster rig, then we all
benefit. If not, nothing happens but that a few people who like
experimenting get to do so.
My comment about better engineering was based mostly on the fact that even
what we would call a well built 14 employs very little of the
aerospace-driven composite engineering that I was exposed to in grad
school. For instance, I'm guessing CST is the only mast builder who does
the math to precisely specify the fiber orientations in mast tubes based on
anticipated loads and desired deflections. And I haven't seen much
evidence of this in hulls at all. I don't mean to say that 14 builders
aren't on the cutting edge of boat building, only that there are a variety
of design techniques that have yet to be brought to bear.
Greg, what is the procedure for proposing rule changes exactly?? I'd be
happy to be involved in the process. At Melbourne we discussed:
1) Ban the bumps and save existing hulls/molds by rounding the rise of
floor to its metric equivalent. (Could we change the pie-pan test to
something more like Martin Blum's suggestion of one continuous surface in
the water as the boat is rolled +/-90 degrees?)
2) Minimum weight to 70 kg.
I'd also like to see:
3) Simplify the rig rules.
4) Measure real sail area?
Ted Rogers
US 1104
At 12:52 PM 7/29/99 -0700, you wrote:
>On Thu, 29 Jul 1999, Ted Rogers wrote:
>
> > masts. As for Julian's comments about high rig loads preventing the use of
> > rotating masts, perhaps he just needs to find a more clever engineer?
>
>Ted, Julian may not be a 14 sailor but he ain't dumb. What he said in his
>post was not that you can't do it. What he said was that you end up with a
>rig that is heavier, larger mast diameter....overall lower performance
>than a thin tube locked down (on an 18 footer). I'm sure technology has
>evolved a bit to the point that maybe rotating rigs are superior on some
>boats now where they weren't feasable before. Maybe some sport keelboats,
>bigger keelers, heck maybe even 14s. As I said before, I'd love to see it
>done and work. Go ahead do it. Maybe you're a better engineer than Julian
>Bethwaite. But there might just be something about the physics of very
>light, very small boats with huge rigs and high rig tension that stacks
>the odds against the engineers. After all supersonic passenger planes can
>be built but aren't exactly catching on....
>
>R!
>
>-- ,--+___.
> ,/ | \
> ___ / | \. Rainer Leuschke
> __ / | \. phone: (w) 206-685-0900 ,
> __ / 14 |\ \ (h) 206-524-7887 |\ __
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