ALAMY RICK TOMLINSON
which one item affects the function of the other; therefore includes “attached to” and “sheeted to” the corner of the sail.’ Tiring reading, please do not ask me what exactly this includes or excludes. A few examples of its use in the ERS: l BOWSPRIT A hull spar extending forward to connect rigging and/or the tack of a headsail, headsails or a spinnaker. l WHISKER POLE A spar attached to the mast spar and connected to a headsail clew. l SPINNAKER POLE A spar attached to the mast spar and connected to a spinnaker guy. l JOCKEY POLE A spar attached to the hull or mast spar, extending transversely and connected to a spinnaker guy. Of course, with the whisker pole’s use broadened (every advan-
tage has a disadvantage), the question popped up whether the potentially improved jib reaching performance should be rated, or alternatively ‘left to the market’, effectively forcing every owner who takes his racing seriously to get not just a whisker pole but also the sail(s) matching this feature to perfection… Damned if you do and damned if you don’t, and so since 2021
IRC requires you to declare carrying a whisker pole (also if a boat already carries spi poles and at times uses a spi pole as a whisker pole). Plus the fact that IRC introduced a ‘rating tax’ for this feature between 0.002 and 0.005 points (the variation mainly related, I guess, to boat size), IRC 21.3.6: ‘A boat shall declare using any spar as a whisker pole to set a headsail or a flying headsail.’ The logic behind this move is clear: the use of an outrigger when
reaching potentially improves the aerodynamic efficiency of a head- sail. But as the outrigger/whisker pole has to be attached to the mast to comply with the ERS, if left unrated, non-overlapping jib con- figurations would have an advantage over overlapping configurations; as well as it being unfair if boats already carrying spi poles are not taxed for using these as whisker poles, while taxing boats not carrying spi poles for taking onboard a whisker pole. To research the aero effects for all possible variations is, however,
quite a bit of work and then how to implement this into the more complicated scoring options another job that the likes of ORC and ORR have so far avoided by, as I observe it from far away, ignoring (ORC) or simply banning (ORR) the use of whisker poles. There was no immediate rush for ORC of course, as it is mainly the bigger boats, if not maxis, racing offshore under IRC that are using this feature. But I guess that won’t last long once a gain is acknowledged! With most racing cancelled last year in hindsight there was no
immediate rush for IRC as well, but who could have foreseen a pan- demic? Whether we will see a rush for whisker poles thus remains to be seen. Below maxi size it could take a while, as to get it right is not that straightforward and certainly if ‘taxed’ many will prefer to wait and see whether those who spend money on this are rewarded. If not, longer term, the ‘tax’ will come down, and vice versa if there is a sudden run on whisker poles the ‘tax’ will go up. Many years from now it will all have balanced out. So far the IRC whisker pole approach triggered hardly any reaction
from European owners, who were, I guess, if at all interested, mainly relieved now to have an excuse not to invest in this feature. But with a little reading I see that this lack of interest in Europe was more than ‘compensated for’ by a good number of Australian owners at a Cruising Yacht Club of Australia meeting voicing their discontent, claiming poling out a jib to windward in a blow to be good seamanship which should not be discouraged by putting a rating tax on this practice. As well as that, rating this practice would potentially disturb the
rating balance between more traditional (heavier) boats still carrying poles and symmetric kites and lighter more modern craft carrying asymmetric kites and headsails on a bowsprit. One may see the mainly Australian concern from the perspective that conditions in Europe are on average more benign, but at the CYCA the ‘pole tax’ frustration got to the point that Carl Crafoord, skipper of the Cookson 12 SailExchange, argued the CYCA should discontinue its relation- ship with IRC and switch to ORCi as its main rating system. I am not a fan of such a debating approach, but it made me
wonder whether anybody checked how ORCi plans to deal with whisker poles from 2022? As a single multiplier system IRC has of course nowhere to hide and is always based on average use and conditions (every dog has its day). Just one trial certificate and you
42 SEAHORSE
Left: RORC’s current commodore is among those at the sharp end of IRC who are testing measurers with experimental reaching wardrobes in this Fastnet year… sailing in perfect balance with a ‘fore-topgallant’ flying out ahead, this looks a blinding set-up if the leg back from Fastnet to Bishop Rock is offwind next month. Right: Simon Le Bon’s Maxi Drum shows what whisker poles used to be about (albeit here using a spinnaker pole) pounding through the Southern Ocean during the 1985-86 Whitbread Race
know exactly the impact of carrying a whisker pole. ORC now has the advantage of watching IRC swimming with the crocodiles from a safe shore before dipping their own toes in the same water and then has a wider range of options to deal with this. But in the end ORC will also have to decide on, and to my opinion can hardly ignore, rating whisker poles used to leeward. I could not resist checking the recent results of SailExchange…
from the 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart results I see no obvious reason for her owner to lob in the ORCi grenade. Quite the opposite, SailEx- change was the 2019 division 3 winner and 16th overall in ORCi as well as second in IRC division 5 and again 16th overall in IRC. Going by this, a well-sailed boat with an owner genuinely annoyed
with a possibly not that well-researched rule change. To me, on my hobby horse, the boat’s 2019 Hobart results prove once more that for high-level international regattas one system is enough, and that either one will do, certainly for offshore racing. But the grenade was not unobserved and on 1 June the IRC Policy
Steering Group attempted to smooth things over by announcing adding IRC rule 21.3.6 to the list of IRC rules that can be amended by race organisers, clearing the way for authorities to modify their NoRs as follows: ‘IRC Rule 21.3.6 does not apply. A whisker pole to set a headsail may be used without IRC declaration.’ So problem solved, but also potentially clearing the path again
for the unrated use of whisker poles for jib reaching with all the inherent unfairness that was the reason to create IRC 21.3.6 in the first place. But Australian Sailing then quickly reacted and on 28 May made
a wise choice by releasing a ‘Prescription to IRC’ that keeps the essence of IRC 21.3.6 alive while allowing unrated use of a whisker pole to windward. Part of its text: ‘Boats are not required to declare a spar or whisker pole used only to set a headsail to windward.’ Going through both the IRC and ORC 2021 rules and underlying
documents I can only be impressed with the amount of work both organisations have done and the amount of detail produced. And, as ever, surprised that these two very different approaches produce such similar regatta results. Looking forward to seeing the effects of the latest Flying Headsail rules – it will bounce around a bit at first but finally the door is open to much better reaching sails. Not for the first time I wonder whether being a native speaker
of the language in which rules are written is a bonus or a disad- vantage? Just having about 1,500 words in a foreign language stored in the brain might be the answer to creating a set of rules that are easier to understand? Mainly joking of course, and I generally admire the endless layers
that most languages and cultures have. But often a simple pasta is preferable to a three-star Michelin eight-course lunch… You live longer and happier. Rob Weiland, Maxi72 and TP52 class manager
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