International 14 Mailing List
Re: Another thought on rules

14

From: Philip Lever (philiplever@email.msn.com)
Date: Thu 11 Nov 1999 - 15:53:34 GMT

This is a Global comment on the discussions so far;

1 We all have a reason for racing I14's, these are many and varied. Mine
are:- FUN, more FUN and a bit of desire to bimble. Changes will only add
expense to an already expensive boat which I already particularly enjoy
sailing.

2 It's not a perfect boat, and it never will be.

3 The current debate is trying to focus on 2 separate issues which should
really be split apart (as I see it)

    i) The TACTICAL issue of where we want to drive the rule, and boats,
over the next couple of years. This seems to come under the
heading of "tidying up the rules" or "tweaking"

    ii) The STRATEGIC issue of where we all want the rules to go long term.
How do we want our boats perform in ten years time?, and how
do we get there?

4 The clean sheet approach to the rules looks a little dodgy for the short
term. A lot of our little rules foibles were put in place for various
historic reasons. Some of them, I'm sure, to plug loopholes which the likes
of Mr Bieker/Morrison etc spend their long winters evening beavering away to
try to find other ways around. The principle of simplification will surely
just lead to more unforeseen problems down the line.

<p>If you want to keep the boat both popular and leading edge, some form of
compromise is inevitable. Why not live with the current baggage and go for
a "Big Change" at a predetermined time? i.e. 4/5/6/7 years down the line
depending upon concensus from around the fleets.

<p>Feel free to argue back, if you wish to be viscous mail me privately

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