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On the Grand Prix Rule

Following on from our article about the split between the stakeholders in the Grand Prix Rule

From Russell Greenbottom:

I've grown up sailing one design dinghies. I've come into yacht racing and done this and that - Cowes Week here, Spring Series there, Tour Voile and Admirals Cup. By far the best sailing I've done was the Tour a Voile. By far some of the worst was Cowes Week. Both events provided great courses. Both provided lots of boats. The difference was that winning a race in the Tour Voile meant you were one of the best. Winning a race in an event like Cowes Week, or Cork Week, and so on, means that you have either bought the latest boat, or you have spent half of the Isle of Wight's GDP on boat design. Both types of sailing have their benefits. Both types of sailing have their learning points. And both types of sailing provide winners. The question the Grand Prix Rule development team have the ask themselves is - who is the best sailor from these two types of events, and how does the new rule produce this best sailor from a multitude of different types of boats....

From Jim Teeters and John Winder:

Just as a clarification, the US members of the rule working party were never in favor of an IMS type approach to a new grand prix rule. Indeed, none of the RWP members wanted that. We did review the successes and failures of existing rules including IMS, IRM, IOR, took the best features of those rules and put them together into a workable rule concept, targeted towards grand prix.

The Offshore Racing Club of America (ORCA) is pursuing much the same concept but, at the same time, recognizing that emerging grand prix racing in the US must be part of our overall picture. Specifically, the Transpac 52s are a growing class, in this case a box rule, of high-performance boats that are arguably grand prix. The class was started by the Transpac Yacht Club and is almost entirely owner-driven (figuratively and literally). ORCA is pushing ahead with developing or supporting more initiatives and taking care to consult our constituency: yacht clubs, race organizations, owners and sailors, and industry professionals. Part of this process is to review all the forms of handicap racing that our sailors are currently using.

Paul Reeve writes:

Sirs,

Regarding the inability of the three parties involved to agree on a new Grand Prix rule, must yet again have the production boat builders rubbing their hands in glee. Since the demise of IOR in the late 1980s, International Grand Prix racing has almost ceased to exist, the one design fleets have jumped into fill this void, providing close racing in exciting boats.

IOR failed because the rule produced boats that were in some instances ugly but they were all basically slow through the water, despite the fact that the hulls were made of leading edge materials by the best builders, top quality sails, and fantastic attention to detail. The one designs that sprung up in the 1990s all used the lessons learnt from IOR, but used them in hulls shaped to go fast, and give owners and crews an exciting affordable ride.

This is the problem facing any new Grand Prix rule, it has to come up with boats that are even more exciting than the one designs, provide close racing, but can be sailed all over the world, and allow development. All of sailing is at odds when most other sports, it is always trying to protect existing boats from being beaten by newer ones. Laudable concept but all it does is slow development to a trickle, but increase optimisation out of all proportion. In all other aspects of the World, progress is expected, but not in sailing.

I find it ironic that since the demise of any International rule, there has been the greatest proliferation of "fast" boats with innovations in rigs, keels/foils, hull shape. If IOR was still in place would any of this have happened or would everyone still be dragging tortured lead mines around the course, waiting for their aluminium rig to come tumbling down.

Has anybody questioned as to why an International rule is needed. Offshore sailing at the moment (and the future) is very polarised. There is a good circuit in the Med, but in the rest of the world it is all locally handicap boats racing in their own patch of water. How often are those owners going to travel?

It appears that it is only 50ft and above where owners like to travel. There are a number of 50ft + boats around the world which just look fabulous when they are sailing ( Wild Oats, Farr 52s, Aera etc let alone maxZ86s). I sometimes think that it is only the RORC remembering the Admiral's Cup of 15+ years ago that has held onto the belief that an International Rule is required.

Perhaps the Americans realised this, and that is why they pulled out of the Rule Working Party.

What are your views on this? Is an International rule needed? How 'Grand Prix' should a grand prix rule be? Should an IMS-measurement system be used? Email us here