Q1. Who are the Technical Committee for the U.K. ? I’m sure Angus would know - but he is temporarily off line at the moment.
Q2. What is the official way of asking for rule changes. I notice there is an American attempt to change the battery and rig rules at the moment, but is declared as being unofficial.
There seem to be general mutterings about rigs and batteries all the time. The battery one in particular has been trundling on since a Tomohawk thread in January 2006.
Cheers,
firstfooty
(Q1)
There are no individual country tech teams,Only one International one.
My understanding is that the chairman is Bill Hagerup (USA) and the members are Roger Stollery (GBR) and Earl Boebert (USA)
(Q2) my understanding is that you approach Bill in the first instance.
I am told that there has been rule changes asked for re batteries by some class members last year,not sure if anything was ever decided or what become of that really.
No attempt on my part to change the rig rule or the battery rule, though both have been a subject of discussion among Footy sailors, both in the US and elsewhere. In an unofficial attempt to establish what the concensus is on these matters, I have set up a poll on the Yahoo Footy Site. The location of the poll is becauseit is easy to set up on Yahoo, and because the group having 500 members might cover a fair cross-section of Footy sailors The intent of the poll is to gauge opinion. If there were enough of a ground swell of opinion to sway the matter one way or the other, I hope it would be of interest to the technical committee, though I am very much aware that model sailboat classes do not necessarily hold to democratic principles! But don’t be too concerned, we probably won’t be sending Footy gunboats over to Liverpool to harry the unwitting Brit Footy sailors, and incidentally the two biggest rabble-rousers over here are expat Brits.
Could you post the URL of the Yahoo Poll and can we put our two cents in without joining Yahoo?
The last time I tried to do anything with Yahoo it insisted that I become a member. If that is still the case then the poll is of limited value since it automatically excludes people who don’t want to jump through those particular hoops.
It is one thing to join a forum, it is quite another to have to join something like Yahoo or Google or something else that seems a lot less private than a forum.
Pete
I agree with Pete, and Yahoo kept quitting out of Safari when I finally decided to try and join the group. So I don’t think that you will get more than small sampling of “Yahoos” weighing in, probably not enough to sway the tech committee anyway.
For the record, my preference would be to register two or three rigs at the beginning of the regatta, with no limitation on rig height.
Also, my preference is to eliminate the AA battery rule altogether. But, I would consider a minimum battery weight restriction of 50 grams or thereabouts as some have suggested to me as a compromise. This would be less weight than the Lithium AAs that are the battery choice of many racers under the current rule but still hefty enough to reign in the top builders who might incorporate watch batteries or Lithium patches used in super light indoor planes, the turn of events that seem to have Footiers very frightened.
Gentlemen, I appreciate your coments. let me investigate whether we can organise a parallel survey on RC sailing so no one feels left out. Let me reiterate, however, that I am in no way trying to ‘leverage’ the membership, though the fact remains that some Footy sailors seek a rule revision.
Brett,
Thanks for that. I had misinterpreted the second bullet point of the Charter para 3. , see below, as meaning there would be a technical team in each country as well as a registrar. Its always worth asking . . . .
Cheers,
firstfooty
As I understand it, the tech team has some provisional recommendations but has put these on ice until after Liverpool (which still looks as if it 3will bring together a decent fleet of tate of tye art boats) and tyhe four yearly changes n the (ISAF rules which may have knock-on effects. The view with which I horoughjly agree is that we are beter bundling all the chaanges hat need to be done into a single package rather than doing them 9ihn dribs and draBS.
If anyone disagrees, let me know nd I will draw tye tech team’s attention to the matter. Please do not ask to talk to them directly. Part of the intention of the last rule changes 18 months ago was to aqvoid people who may ultimately have to be judges (in rule interptetations) having to stand up and express opinions on public platforms utside the formal p0rocess.l If you want to shout at anyone, try the national regisrars: it’s whaat tuey’re for (ducks quickily).