Is OSR stifling dayboat handicap racing?
05/04/14 12:35
Nowadays yacht clubs in their Notices of Race usually ask for OSR Category 4 compliance, even for inshore events in the middle of the season. It may be in line with RYA recommendations but in an era of encouraging more participation it is too tough for some boats, particularly dayboats and some classics.
The result is that potential entrants will be excluded while others may be reluctant to ask for dispensations. If permission to race without guardwires or a self draining cockpit is given to one boat then why not all. Race committees will say it puts the club at risk if disaster occurs but there is little logic to this when on the same day and on the same patch of water a one-design fleet of dayboats is happily and safely racing with no more than lifejackets, a bucket and first aid kit on board.
Twenty-five years ago when Cockleshell, my now 87-year old dayboat, first arrived in the Hamble the CHS system was revolutionising racing for all-comers. The dayboat section of the rules dictated what safety kit was needed, the NOR’s said ‘it’s your responsibility’ and everyone had heaps of fun. Unfortunately in these risk-averse days the pendulum has swung too far the other way.
It’s pleasing that this message, not just from me, has arrived on the desk of the RYA Offshore Racing Group, and that this year’s IRC Small Boat Regatta will relax its requirements to be more inclusive.
The result is that potential entrants will be excluded while others may be reluctant to ask for dispensations. If permission to race without guardwires or a self draining cockpit is given to one boat then why not all. Race committees will say it puts the club at risk if disaster occurs but there is little logic to this when on the same day and on the same patch of water a one-design fleet of dayboats is happily and safely racing with no more than lifejackets, a bucket and first aid kit on board.
Twenty-five years ago when Cockleshell, my now 87-year old dayboat, first arrived in the Hamble the CHS system was revolutionising racing for all-comers. The dayboat section of the rules dictated what safety kit was needed, the NOR’s said ‘it’s your responsibility’ and everyone had heaps of fun. Unfortunately in these risk-averse days the pendulum has swung too far the other way.
It’s pleasing that this message, not just from me, has arrived on the desk of the RYA Offshore Racing Group, and that this year’s IRC Small Boat Regatta will relax its requirements to be more inclusive.