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Weight Update
01-04-2010 posted by Admin
GP 14 and Weight Issue
Members of the International Association Committee debated the issue of construction and sail weight of the GP14 at its recent meeting on the 16th January 2010. David Rowlands, as chair of the Technical & Rules Committee has published a note of the position on the International website. It is reproduced below for your convenience.
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GP14 News & Notices
| No plans to change sailing weight | |
| At its meeting on January 16th, the Association Committee passed some changes to the Rules affecting the control of the weight of the boat. The changes were in order to permit an increased mass of corrector weights and not to change the current minimum sailing weight (which was rounded up from 132.9 kgs, an accurate but too precise conversion of the original 293 lbs, to 133 kgs.). There has been much speculation on the web forum over recent weeks, that the Association was about to make dramatic reductions to the minimum sailing weight, this was never the case but there was indeed a proposal to make a small, incremental reduction at this stage. However, it was decided to leave the current minimum weight rule at 133 kgs and to assure members that there would be no consideration of weight change in the future without prior consultation with the members. The Rule change on corrector weights is in response to developing building techniques for both wooden and epoxy resin moulded hulls. The material weights used in the hull construction are reducing, this is a beneficial feature both in cost and in minimising use of expensive oil based and rare wood raw materials. Without the facility to add more correctors, in a controlled manner and in specified positions, new boats will need to use �unofficial� correctors which could result in new boats having significant weight concentration and sailing performance advantage over the existing boats. At the same meeting where the Committee gave long and careful thought to recent debate and the advice of professional builders, sailmakers and engineers, the opportunity was also taken to approve new rules that will allow laminate mainsails as an option for competitors. Evidence suggests that there is no competitive advantage to laminate sails and it will simply be a matter of personal choice for each boat owner. The Association will publish these Rule changes in the near future, together with guidance for measurers on the application of additional correctors, will confirm the changes at its next meeting in April and then publish an implementation date for the changes, which will be after April 2010. David Rowlands Chairman of Technical & Rules Committee |
