I fully agree with Jim, we have a few guys who are trying to get to grips with their RS800, but still have a Buzz, which they use when they are likely to spend all day upside down in the 800. We would rather have them on the water rather
than in the clubhouse watching everyone else sail. We’ve adopted this for many years now and I’ve seen no evidence of people using it to ensure they dominate series.
···
“yho@devboats.co.uk [sailwave]” sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:
I appreciate that some clubs seem to ‘score by helm’: at my local club that has conciously been avoided to
prevent those with money buying results by choosing the right boat for the prevailing conditions.
Every club has to make its own decisions. We take the position that everything which encourages people to compete in series is a good thing. We have a fair few members who sail a two hander when they can and a singlehander when they have to. There’s also
at least one who bails out of his RS400 to borrow a club RS200 in stronger winds because his young son is not yet strong enough to manage the bigger kite. Over 70s using a small rig in breeze is another. These are all things that encourage people to get out
and means we all have more fun.
In practice we’ve found very few instances of people sailing different boats for competitive advantage, and none that have significantly affected series results. My personal opinion is that should it become a problem it probably ought to be a matter for
the handicapper since the handicap for a multiple rig boat would logically be less than that for a boat that uses the same rig all the time.
Jim C