The canting keel debate continues

Can IRC deal with canting keels satisfactorily?

Following the last round of correspondence on the canting keels at Cowes debate, more has been pouring in on this issue.

Ian Walker, skipper of the Team Green Irish Volvo Open 70, writes:

I am a fan of IRC and I think it works pretty well in general but single number handicap systems CANNOT and NEVER WILL properly rate boats with very different performance profiles through the wind range. The more similar in type the different classes of boat are, then the more successful the rating system will be. Rating canters against fixed keel boats, or in fact lightweight planing boats (such as a TP52) against heavy displacement boats (like a Swan 65) is as unsatisfactory as handicapping trapeze dinghies against non-trapeze dinghies, foilers against non foilers, multihulls against monohulls or arguably asymmetric spinnaker boats against symmetric. Most people who race in handicap fleets know and understand this and winners should recognise that while having to sail well they will always need a bit of help from the handicap or the conditions and the race course. Over a range of conditions it should hopefully even out and what you must try and do is beat all the boats that are similar to you. Handicap sailing has the fantastic benefit that everyone has an excuse to lose and every boat should get its ideal conditions every now and then. I don’t buy the safety argument as modern keel systems work pretty well and to be honest sailing any big boat in Cowes is scary as hell when you meet the large numbers of smaller keelboats. I also don’t buy any logic in fixing a swing keel in the centre as they are quite simply not designed to be sailed like that. The bottom line is what do the competitors or sponsors want? I love Cowes Week and Stuart and his team do a very tough job well. If he feels that the consensus is to only allow canters to sail by having enough numbers to sail in their own class (6) then that is good enough for me. If it is any consolation to Ger sailing a canter in Skandia Cowes Week wouldn’t be too much fun as you would spend half the race swinging your keel from side to side as you have to tack and gybe so often. Stick to the longer races where canters can stretch their legs and have proved so effective and keep your fingers crossed that the RORC don’t come to the same conclusion as the Skandia Cowes Week organisers when it comes to next years Rolex Fastnet Race!
Good sailing!
Ian Walker
(soon to be a canter!)

From Australia Andrew Macpherson writes:

As someone who has sailed a Cookson 50 in both canting and fixed keel mode, I can say with confidence that the fixed keel mode is in no way a satisfactory mode to race in without making significant modifications to the keel and/or rig. Not only is the sail area too large, but the sails are designed for the apparent wind angles/strengths experienced on a canter. If you alter the righting moment you also have to alter the sails.

So to race a canter as a fixed keel boat (and have a competitive rating) you would need to change:

- Keel (more bulb weight and more lift from keel fin, unless you are going to keep the centreboard…not a good solution)
- Mast (shorter and lighter section)
- 65% of your sails (some may still work OK.. but if you really optimise the mast then none will work)

Not a cheap regatta at that stage…

To me it’s a bit like letting cats enter a regatta but banning them from flying a hull… It just doesn’t work.

IRC seems to be working well here in Australia, what’s the problem in the UK?


Phil Laurence sends this:

Stuart’s ‘horse for courses’ argument is of course spot on and he is doing an absolutely terrific job keeping Cowes Week on course. Also I can only assume Ger was having a really bad day when he fired off his diatribe! But maybe it’s not quite so cut & dried:

Can you imagine the uproar if it had been ISAF that issued a decree that canting keels could not race in certain regattas. The yachting websites would be overflowing with e-mails condemning their position and accusing them of trying to hold back modernisation (yet again!)

Also Stuart's ‘put up or shut’ offer to run a class for the canting keel boys, misses the point that Ger thinks he should able to race in the main IRC game and pot hunt those big trophies.

The real issue is that IRC can’t or currently doesn’t fairly rate canters against the mainstream, as witnessed by the ridiculous margins by which ABN AMRO cleaned out the fleet when she raced at Cowes

Hospital pass back to Mike Urwin in the RORC Rating Office I think!..................

The Rating Office's James Dadd and most of our correspondents from down under seem to think that IRC does fairly rate canting keel boats. ABN AMRO, with her pro-crew fresh from their Volvo Ocean Race cleaned up in the stronger conditions as she jolly well should have!


From Holland Jesper Heikens writes:

Sorry, but does Andrew Johnston know that Cork is NOT in the UK...

I might not be the best person to judge this, being Dutch (UK resident), but I have competed in Cork and delivered the boat there for racing and I am sure I crossed the Celtic Sea area. Also I passed Lands End if I can recollect correctly.

But I do agree with Andrew that Cork Week has better racing than Cowes Week, so much so that we will only partake in the first weekend of Cowes.

See you mid July in Crosshaven.


Ross Nolan agrees:

Can someone mention to Andrew Johnston that Cork is in Ireland, not the UK!

Also, is there any canters expressing an interest in sailing in Cowes week? It seems that CCC want to have a Canter fleet if they can get 6 boats, but there is no interest! Maybe Ger will commit to enter the event if the rule is changed!


Jochem Visser sends this:

IRC's strength has always been her ability to embrace any type of boat. It‘s great to see that boats like TP52s can race against true cruisers like a Swan 65. Canting keel yachts have been exciting newcomers to the IRC fleet and have given the fleet a great insight of things to come. To be honest the canting keel is probably the best investment when it comes to boat speed for your buck and they are truly great to sail with skiff-type performance combined with the versatility of a monohull yacht. Many yacht owners probably dream of owning one after seeing the V70 footage. The recent decision to stop these yachts racing in Cowes week seems strange.

The argument that these boats have a “different” performance curve is not valid as a TP52 is further apart from the Swan 65 in performance curve than the Cookson 50 for instance. The truth is that a specific group put pressure on the organizing committee to exclude them. This is clear when your read the statement carefully “It has therefore been decided that any boat over 14 metres overall with a canting keel will have to fix their keel amidships” Obviously all the arguments about unfair racing against the canting keel yachts disappear as soon as they are shorter then 14m??

The fact is that these boats are accepted and measured under IRC and should be allowed to sail. All parties should understand that IRC is platform to compare a wide variety of boats with a very simple one number rating. It will never be truly fair like any other handicap rule. Cowes Week should embrace as many sailors and yachts as possible in the same way as it accepts a TP52, a pretty extreme boat compared to the majority of the competing IRC fleet. Cowes week should not be used to settle what is basically a rating dispute.

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