News EMERGENCY CLASS RULE CHANGE

EMERGENCY CLASS RULE CHANGE

The new CR 3.5.5.4, as amended by the AGM in July 2008 and effective since January 2009, restricted the length of the outhaul rope to 1m. The IODA Technical Committee have verified that for some standard manufactured booms, a rope of this length results in a very small amount of rope available for a sailor to trim the outhaul.  This raises concerns of possible capsize when reaching out to trim.  This could potentially be resolved by moving the boom cleat back but on the many thousands of booms already in use or manufactured but as yet unsold, moving the cleat would probably compromise the structural integrity of the boom.

On request of the Executive Committe the ISAF have approved the following Emergency Class Rule change:

Class Rule 3.5.5.4

Amendment: Delete the first sentence and replace with the following wording:

“The outhaul shall be made of a rope not more than 1200 mm long."

This amendment will keep all existing standard production booms ‘in class’ while also keeping the rope short enough to prevent loops of rope hanging below the boom as a potential noose, which on safety grounds, was why the class rule was originally amended.

Read the complete Class Rules here.