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Sealed transmissions?

So the gist of this thread is... play by the rules, don't cheat and if you do cheat and don't get caught you're a loser, if you get caught you'll be despicable.
When it's my turn to race in the SHTP I will trust the RC, my competitors, my boat and myself. Everything else is left to chance.
I see the SHTP as a personal goal and I'll be happy to just finish. Is that not the spirit of this race? Maybe I should just cruise to Hawaii if it's not.
 
Well, like many things in this world there is some room for interpretation. That being said the safest approach is for full disclosure to the rating committee.

'My interpretation' which is not the rating committee's interpretation and its worth its weight in sand, is that the main consideration of declaring an outboard is to indicate that you are not dragging a prop or a folding prop through the water while sailing. The weight of the outboard is not considered as a separate entry in the cert submission and their weights could vary significantly (from say 20 lbs to 90 lbs). As such, whether or not you can race without an outboard legally would depend on the displacement submitted on the cert. I would argue that if your cert displacement doesn't include the outboard you can legally race with or without an outboard. If your displacement includes the outboard you should carry the outboard onboard whenever racing.

I could see how this becomes a more sensitive subject for 1-design classes, but 1 design rules tend to be explicit in this subject.

Now, how many of you have 'weighted' your boats. How close are you to the displacement on your cert (you see where this is going). For my boat, the submitted displacement is the spec displacement as I'm sure most of us have. For my boat that doesn't include the weight of an outboard. So I would argue that I'm legally racing with or without an outboard. Unfortunately it is impossible to tell from a cert what is the displacement used, so don't be too quick at passing judgement.

I know we all get sensitive about ratings, and if we are really worried about 20 - 30 lbs of an outboard, it is more likely that the certificates displacements are farther off than the weight of a small outboard, and all boats should be weighted on the measured trim. (hmmm isn't that what Pac Cup is doing now, you can see why).
 
Pac Cup weigh ins are necessary for certain classes. PHRF not so much. You do become ineligible for the overall trophy if you are not in the correct class.
 
For better or worse, since I began sailing in 1971 I've never owned a boat with a diesel engine. Anemic 4s and outboards. And, to top it off the Newport had a pressure alcohol stove! Lucky I'm alive and have eye brows. Yes, gas is stored above deck. Yes, it's handled very carefully. I've sailed thousands of miles with a gas engine and never inhaled fumes below, but I've also sailed on many friends' diesel boats and become sick from the fumes. Ordinarily I don't get seasick, but give me a couple of hours in a closed cabin with diesel fumes and don't get in my way to the rail!

The PacCup began weighing "serious" boats this year. There's a protocol of what is taken off and what remains on board to be weighed. I think the bottom line will be quite a few skippers are going to find that they weigh a lot more than the boat show brochure listed. After all, except for the Express 27s and Moores most boats have been soaking up water for years. It does present a great opportunity to sort through the bottom of the cockpit locker. There may even be a special PacCup Flea Market for skippers getting rid of things they haven't seen nor used in years!

Back in the late 1980s/early '90s there was an attempt to "legitimize" the SSS TransPac so it would be more recognized by a larger racing community than a some local guys with an occasional gal and out-of-towner tossed in. Peter Hogg invited some of his pals, like Steve Fossett, to come along. There was a lot of discussion among the troops as to whether the race should be more than a long club race (Farallones + 2,000 miles) or not. There were couple of races where the "let's make it famous" folks were in charge, but they failed to attract the French boys or anyone else of much note, so Steve Fossett went on to bigger things (taking Peter with him) and things sort of slid back to the more informal level.

Neither of the Hawaii races from San Francisco show up too much on the National/International shorthanded racing radar and that's probably a good thing since without sponsorship worries and pampered skippers they're just plain fun whether you win or not. --Pat
 
"Neither of the Hawaii races from San Francisco show up too much on the National/International shorthanded racing radar and that's probably a good thing since without sponsorship worries and pampered skippers they're just plain fun whether you win or not. --Pat"

Well said! In the end I'll trust the RC. I trust they won't get too elaborate with requirements to the point of being cost prohibitive to even do the race. As is, it's already expensive when you include survey, entry fee, PHRF certificate, tracker and all required safety equipment, not to mention the overall cost of outfitting a boat for passage making that one would normally do even if not in a race.
 
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