Following on from my report in last Roll Tacks of the goings-on at the ISAF Annual Conference in Helsinki, one class that has moved closer to being considered a possible Olympic candidate is the Musto Skiff, which was approved for ISAF Recognised status. This means that the class will now be able to call next year's Gold Cup in Lake Garda a bona fide World Championship. Congratulations also to the RS Feva which successfully applied to upgrade its status from ISAF Recognised to a fully-fledged International class.

A bit like the Olympic classes, though, there is a similar problem in International classes where once you're in the club it seems you're in for life. The end result is more world championships than you can shake a stick at. Well in fact, ISAF figures say there are 86 world championships in sailing - not including men's, women's and youth world championships in a few classes like the Laser and 470, which would take the number close to triple figures. If anyone was to ask me, I'd say that number was a little higher than it should be.

Beyond the Olympic classes and some of the well-established youth classes it's hard to think of many dinghy classes that produce regattas of the quality and breadth of nationalities which deserve the title of World Championship. In the youth category there are some very deserving candidates such as the Optimist, 420, Cadet and a few more besides. How many in the senior classes, though? The 505 and the OK certainly deserve full world championship status, as do some of the former Olympic classes like the Flying Dutchman, Soling and Europe.

After that are a number of classes that operate at the margins of world championship status, such as the International 14, Fireball and Enterprise, and quite a few such as the GP14 that would really struggle to justify their status if they were asked to reapply. Broadly speaking, the criteria for International status are 20 boats actively sailing in at least six nations in at least three continents. The three continents criterion is one that many International classes would struggle to fulfil.

Occasionally some classes are put on notice that their International status is in jeopardy. The Tempest, the former Olympic trapeze keelboat, is just such a class that was put on notice this year, but it is likely that more classes are to be put under the microscope following the formation of a new ISAF working party that is set to look at this whole thorny issue. One possibility being mooted is that International status will no longer mean a class is automatically entitled to call its major international regatta a World Championship. It might be a privilege that existing International classes will have to apply for. This might seem hard line and draconian, and some classes might be tempted to tell ISAF where to stick its International status. I hope not. We can't all be kings of the castle. Every tinpot world championship that exists in the sailing calendar devalues the worth of events that really deserve to be called world championships.


Rule 18

Anyone who competes in a tight one-design fleet understands the risks of approaching a congested weather mark from the port layline. The long line of starboard tack boats presents a near-impenetrable wall, as the starboard tackers hold just about all the cards, whereas the port tacker holds virtually none. So you have to have a very good reason for daring to approach the windward mark from the left. If you see a line of breeze on the port layline - and you think that might carry you in ahead of the pack to your right - then you could end up smelling of roses. But if the breeze wasn't quite as thrilling as it had first seemed, then you might end up having to duck virtually the whole fleet.

I saw this time and again at the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds earlier this summer in Newport, where the fleet was so tight that port-tackers were forced to take the sterns of perhaps 20 boats before they found a gap. There doesn't seem much natural justice in this, but rules are rules and that's just how it is. The port layline is a dangerous place to be, and the risk/reward ratio is high.

In most respects, however, the ISAF Racing Rules work extremely well, and the rule makers have done a great job of simplifying the rule book over the past 10 or 20 years. The presentation of the rules leaves something to be desired, as the book is still dauntingly thick. But most of it is made up of peripheral rules or appendices that really don't affect us very often. For the vast majority of occasions there are just 10 basic rules, Rules 10 to 19, which we need to understand. For even greater simplicity I would prefer to see these rules renumbered as Rules 1 to 10 and placed at the front of the book on different coloured paper, although I take the point that the Fundamental Rules, which cover big issues such as Safety and Fair Sailing, deserve due prominence also.

Anyway, Rules 10 to 19 do a very good job, with the possible exception of Rule 18. This is the Rule which governs ‘Rounding and Passing Marks and Obstructions', and it is so complex and convoluted with its sub-sections and clauses that it occupies almost as much space as the other nine rules put together. ISAF has recognised this problem, and a working party has been working hard to come up with a more simplified version of Rule 18. The added problem that the working party has been given is to simplify the rule without radically altering the nature of the game. From what I heard, none of the proposed changes leapt out as being the big idea that would simplify Rule 18.

However, well-known rules guru Bryan Willis has put forward an alternative and very radical solution to simplifying Rule 18. What his proposal fails to do is keep the game of sailing more or less as it is, but when he'd explained his idea to me, I was instantly sold. It would have a dramatic effect on the tactics we employ in approaching the windward mark, but before I explain it, let's look at the current situation at the leeward mark.

Let's say you've just reached the two-boatlengths circle of a leeward mark, you're on starboard gybe and you're about to round the mark to starboard. Another boat is on collision course with you on port gybe. He calls for water to round the mark, even though he's on port. Who's right? He is, because once you reach the two-boatlengths circle, you have to give sufficient room for the port tack boat to round inside and follow his proper course. The port tack boat is actually still required to keep clear, but he must be given room. I'm sorry if I'm teaching grandmother to suck eggs, but I'm just clarifying a point before we go back up to the windward mark.

Now when you reach the windward mark (this time we're on a traditional port rounding), there is no use coming in on port tack as the inside boat and calling for water on the starboard tack boat. What applied at the leeward mark just now, certainly doesn't apply at the windward mark. So here is what Bryan is proposing. Once boats reach the two-boatlengths zone of any mark, the inside boat must be given room to round the mark. So now, when the port tacker approaches the windward mark, he can call the starboard tacker to give him room to round the mark.

Ooh, no! Heaven forfend! Tis sacrilege upon the holy laws of sailboat racing! I hope that wasn't your reaction. I must admit I haven't given this proposal too much thought yet, but my initial response is that, yes, this would certainly alter the game - but in a very positive way. Let's go back to the Farr 40 Worlds again, and this time the port tacker who was, say, looking at third or fourth place around the windward mark now has a chance of getting round without having to duck the next 20 boats. The starboard tackers will have to build in a bit more space to their final layline approach, overstanding a little so that any port tackers can sneak in. But it's not going all the way of the port tacker. By the time he's completed his tack he's going to be downspeed and being sailed over by a wall of starboard tackers. So it's hardly as though he's made off with the crown jewels, but what he does at least have, is a better chance of keeping a fair position around the mark which was a reasonable reflection of his progress up the previous beat.

So, what do you think? Are you as much of a fan of Bryan Willis's proposed change as I am? As Bryan points out, at this stage he has only put it forward as a proposal, organising and wording it into a workable rule is another matter. Next year there will probably be a choice of two new Rule 18s presented to the ISAF Council; one proposal to simplify somewhat without changing the game too much, and Bryan's, which will be a major simplification but will change the game a lot. As I've already said, I think his idea does change the game a lot, and in a good way. The beauty of his proposal is in its simplicity; if you get to the zone clear ahead of the other boat, or inside if there's an overlap, then you have the right to sail your proper course around the mark, and the other boat must give you room to do so. This applies at any mark - no exceptions - whereas the current Rule 18 has several exceptions, including not applying at all at a windward mark to boats on opposite tacks.  What would you do with Rule 18? Answers on a postcard please, or to rolltacks@yachtsandyachting.com