Technical Committee Quarterly Report

Since its appointment in February, the Technical Committee has addressed a range of topics involving virtually all the Rules of the Class (except Class Rules, which follow a different path).

In particular, the Sailing Instructions and Notice of Race were updated to bring them in line with the new RRS, the DoGs were checked for compliance with the RoCs and the Constitution, some issues that had been on hold since last year were resolved, such as the definition of the type of tape to be used to mark the stripe on the daggerboard (see the related article at https://snipetonight.org/2025/03/04/daggerboard-limit-mark/) and, most importantly, some proposals to be submitted for new rules were worked out.

Beginning in March, the new rules proposals submitted according to the Decision Making Process were viewed and evaluated, sending advice and suggestions to the Board. The online discussion is still open and when taking the decisions the Board will take care of both the TC suggestions and the opinions of the Snipe community.

One item is particularly under evaluation after that new devices with sophisticated functions are on the market.

Since the Class Rules establish strict limits on the electronics on board, to open a door towards instruments which can help either the competitors and the race committees to manage the regattas, a rule has been proposed by the TC (see https://www.snipe.org/articles-advices-and-education/technical-experts/rules/25-01-class-rules-c-5-1-electronic-compass/ ).

To evaluate the devices and their impact on racing, a number of tests have been authorized under strict control, resulting in positive feedbacks by the competitors. Following the positive tests, the TC gave a favourable opinion on their use in the upcoming North Americans and WE&A Championships.

During last weeks, one topic has particularly caught the attention of the Committee: a number of crews is adopting spreaders of a new shape. Not the standard, straight aluminium profile, but a specially manufactured curved shape. Questions have been submitted to the Committee to understanding if those spreaders and their lower positioned bracket are compliant with the rules. After a careful research, the final result is that the bracket position and the spreaders shape are free since no limits are set in both Class Rules and WS ERS.

Finally, the TC had to amend the Rules of Conduct after that WS modified its Regulations and Policies. In detail,

✔ Regulation 19 has been moved to a specific document, Eligibility Code, whose Section 2 and 3 apply to the WS Classes, including the Snipe;

✔ Regulation 10.4, which set the requirements to award a World Championships, has been moved to Regulation 12. WS Classes shall now request WS to use the name “World Championship” by August 1st of the preceding year. As far as today, no limits are established in the number of continents/nations to award the title.

The amended RoC are published at https://www.snipe.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SCIRA_2025_Rules-of-Conduct-amended.pdf.

The next few months will engage the TC in evaluating requests for possible changes or specifications that come from competitors or measurers, both for short-term and long-term changes. Always keeping in mind that substantial changes to the Class Rules will not be possible before 2028.

In conclusion, I would like to thank all the current TC members for their dedication and support to the Class:

Ricardo Lobato, Vice Chairman

Cesar Travado, Chief Information Officer

Alex Pline

Jan Carlander

Mariano Arrojo

Masakazu Sasai

For any questions, informations or requests of clarification/explanation you can contact [email protected].

Antonio Bari, Chairman