Heading in the wrong direction? IRC
As we hopefully… soon get back to racing again I am sure that many are looking back wistfully at the hustle and bustle on the pon- toons prior to dock-out. One of the most visible activities at the dock on the morning of many high-profile events is the pile of sail bags moving on and off the decks, contemplating what the day and weather ahead offer. Many forget that the IRC default is to use the same sails for the
duration of a series. IRC Rule 21.1.5(d) states: ‘During a regatta run on consecutive days, including any lay days, the sails onboard shall remain the same and be onboard for all races. This rule may be amended by Notice of Race.’ The last sentence is frequently employed where event organisers change the rule to allow sail changes on a daily basis throughout a regatta. There are many valid reasons for this. However, is it now being applied too freely? The purpose of this rule is pretty clear to most of us: turn up to
a regatta with the set of sails that you want to use and keep them onboard throughout the event. This keeps the need for a trailer,
and sailmakers looking a few years ahead, deciding what they want in the sail wardrobe for several seasons with their varying regatta programmes – hence focusing on a relatively small number of events but covering each and every base for each one. This may include building potential designs that have a narrow but effective window of use or testing new options and then selecting a new path of development. All great for us to learn, but also very expensive. But surely such development should only be happening at the
very top, with what is learnt from sponsors’ dollars helping to improve the everyday sailor’s enjoyment of the sport? The interesting thing is that in the case of these top events, be it inshore such as the America’s Cup, or offshore such as the Vendée Globe or The Ocean Race, the sail inventories are reducing in size, not increasing. Over the past 20 years in particular we have seen sail material
and manufacturing processes develop in a way where sails are hold- ing their competitive shape for far longer and, alongside the improve- ments in deck equipment and spar controls, have a far wider range of effective use both in terms of windspeed and direction. These modern sail structures cope far better with varying sea states and general abuse over time. We are all seeing some elements of the trickledown.
Some may recall last century when a new sail was only a new sail for a few weeks’ use at most. After that it was clearly past its best. Today we all see new race sails staying at their prime
for far, far longer. But have we seen the whole trickledown yet? I think not. Back when we developed the VO70 rule I recall sailmaker Grant Spanhake bucking the trend and, instead of suggesting a typical inventory of 14 sails onboard, suggesting that just seven sails were needed. Prior to the 2005-2006 Volvo Race many argued this
was nowhere near enough. When we got to the end of the race the question was not how many more we needed, but if we could reduce it further. Today I find it hard to believe that an America’s Cup
And it’s not even a two-race day. As their 12 Metre sails out the Stars & Stripes tender also heads out to the course during their 1987 America’s Cup Match against Kookaburra. There were no restrictions on sail numbers in the 12s; the same was true of the IACC boats used in later Cups between 1992 and 2007. By 2007 the Cup winners Alinghi were limiting the useful life of their new black headsails to six hours of racing. Today’s offshore racing sails are capable of a full lap of the planet, as seen in recent Volvo races, while the sails on Vendée Imocas are light years from the clumsy and heavy sails of their predecessors. Yet in 2021 there are still generous limits on the size of IRC and ORC onboard inventories and no limits at all on how many ‘spares’ you can take to a regatta
truck or container full of sails, and an inventory for every conceivable sail configuration, away from draining the owner’s bank account. Makes perfect sense. However, the counter argument is that it stops you using sails
that you may already have, that you decided to leave at home. You have to plan for the expected weather of the event, and you may get caught out. All part of the sport? It’s the same for everybody? Another argument is that it forces you to fill up the interior with
sails that you just ‘might’ need, that then end up most of the time in the bilge, getting wet, stamped on and degraded for no reason. Conversely, on the largest yachts and particularly the more
cruising-oriented designs, the argument we most often hear is that the use of a smaller, more restricted wardrobe limits damage to the expensive interiors and allows the yacht’s accommodation to be used as accommodation rather than as a sail locker. Yet I see more and more events taking the approach of allowing
sail changes on a daily basis. This can have a significant effect on the preparations for not only that event, but on a whole campaign. The wealthier owners may be sitting with their sail co-ordinators
40 SEAHORSE
boat can start a race with just one headsail available, or that an Imoca 60 can start the Vendée Globe with fewer sails than the rest of us need to get around the cans in a couple of hours. To me, we need to be embracing what is possible.
Particularly in modern straitened times. Event organisers should do their part to drive us to turn up to any event with small but efficient sail wardrobes. Each sail should have a wide and effective range, and sail choices should be made onboard the boat from the whole inventory, not via emails a week before the event. With both code zeros and outriggers I have seen both
sides of the argument: as individual items they are expensive. But a code zero can cover the range that used
to require two or three spinnakers and a genoa. A code zero doesn’t cost as much as four sails! Similarly an outrigger might be an extra bit of kit to buy, but again offshore it might mean that you don’t even need that code zero at all. Today we know that you don’t need a container full of sail options
to compete in an event that includes windward/leeward racing one day, a coastal course the next. So why are we still seeing a huge range of sails being loaded on and off just before dock-out? Is it making our racing more enjoyable? Let alone more attractive and accessible to new owners? When I was a boy I rode around the neighbourhood on a Raleigh
Chipper, longing to inherit my brother’s bigger Raleigh Chopper. I could go everywhere on it, spend all day on it and always felt it was the ideal bike. Now as an adult I have a summer road bike, a winter training bike, a hardtail mountain bike… and am being told by friends that I really need a gravel bike to fully enjoy my cycling, and should also be upgrading my mountain bike to a full suspension model. I’m sure I enjoyed cycling more when I was a kid. James Dadd, technical and rating consultant
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GILLES MARTIN-RAGET
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