From the feedback - 10/04/01

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From Ian Walker
Legalise weight stacking? I agree wholeheartedly with Kevin Sproul's closing comments and Mark Heeley's sentiments. We want to be sure that the best sailors win and not those prepared to cheat the most. As boats have become lighter and less stable it has become more of a problem - the RORC need to respond to this. Had there been an Admiral's Cup we would have lobbied hard for change as nobody likes to lose to cheats and nobody likes to win 'under an air of suspicion'. In short, limit the kit carried by weight, fix as much as possible with tags (life-raft, safety kit, emergency water, tool boxes etc) and allow all the things that you cannot police to be moved below deck (sails, kitbags etc). If nothing else having everything on the 'high side' will keep it dry.

From Paul King
Legalise weight stacking? I am absolutely opposed to legalising weight stacking. This is cheating of the most blatant kind. There are many rules in sailing which rely on the honesty of the skipper and crew. If you permit this on the grounds that it cannot be policed, where do you draw the line? Why not allow motoring during races, or cutting the corner and omitting a mark? Offshore, after dark , nobody else will be able to tell.

From Chris Jamies
Legalise weight stacking? No way. What a great scene; the call to tack, and half the crew scurry around down below, picking up heavy turtles, the saloon table, the floorboards, cans of food, 20l containers of water, chucking them across a bouncing boat, dodging the ones that fall back, lashing them down, sweating in a stuffy heatbox; then five minutes later there's the call to tack back and it all starts again. What happens in IMS to cruiser-racers; do you pick up a Beneteau 40.7's table and chuck that load of teak across? How long will they last? The price to have dinged teak repaired is damn high, and this will reduce resale value because chucking weights around will damage all the furniture. And where, on the rail of a cruiser-racer, is there space for all the sails? Only under the crew, so they'll get damaged by being trodden on, and wet. Talking of sodden gear; if (again on a cruiser-racer) you have a padded cover for the table and similar items as the top cruiser-racers do here in Oz) what's stopping you getting it nice and heavy during the race and chucking it into the windward side? If there's nothing to prevent it, why not make a "padded cover" of 200mm thick foam, with a waterproof zipper, and stuffing the whole thing full with water (Beneteaus and X-Yachts have pressure water so it will be easy) once it's on the windward side? That'll keep the boat stable - an impromptu water tank to windward. A few lead-lined floorboards or sailbags would also help. And if you assume people will stack already, you're assuming you can't prevent such things. If you say stacking increases speed, then sail a really fast boat and stop kidding yourself by pretending a ballasted monohull is fast.

From Dave Pasley
Legalise weight stacking? I have not raced sailboats yet, but I have participated in many types of sports. I feel that weight stacking should be legalised. The rule as written is unenforceable, as stated in your article. Since this is the case in order to level the playing field the rule must be rewritten to make it possible to enforce or removed. No sport can survive without rules that can be followed by all and can be verified by officials.