New Mainsail Batten Proposal: Enrique Motta

Past Commodore Enrique Motta comments the new Mainsail Batten Proposal.

(About this topic: New Mainsail Batten Proposal by Steve Stewart, Full Top Batten by Giorgio Brezich, Full Lenght Top Batten by Garth Reynolds).

…

1    Dear Members of the Board, I am a Past Commodore for SCIRA and although no longer sailing Snipes, still very much connected to matters related to Snipe Class in Brazil and around the World mainly due to my extreme love to the boat and SCIRA.
 
2    Today a very hard discussion took place within Brazilian Snipe sailors in relation to the intended modification of the rule on the main sail top batten, as Proposal # 13 approved during the Board Meeting in Rungsted, Denmark at the Royal Danish Yacht Club on August 7, 2011:
 
quote
 
Proposal #13
Submitted by Rules Committee & Jan Persson

To consider altering the length of the battens in the mainsail
The Board passed to increase the top mainsail batten to a full batten and increase the bottom battens.  The Rules Committee will discuss with sailmakers to determine the best lengths before finalizing the draft of the new rule before the summer of 2012.
unquote
 
3    It has been brought to my knowledge that trials of such modification has been going on by some sail makers and it is the firm intention of SCIRA to indeed have the new rule implemented as from January 2012. It was also mentioned that the suggested modification was not throughly discussed within the Snipe Sailors and, that as far as Brazilian Snipe sailors are concerned such rule should be discussed more and not implemented as from January 2013.
 
4    I would respectfully call the attention of the Board Members that according to imput received from Snipe sailors from the different Fleets we have in Brazil,  the following points should be taken into consideration on top of the technical aspects of the proposed modification:
 
(a)    there was not enough time for the discussions of the pro and against of the suggested alteration;
 
(b)    there was not enough discussions with sail makers to see if the alteration will represent an increase on the price of the sails (we are sure that battens will cost more and therefore, we should expect more expensive sails) against the possible benefit of a more durable sail;
 
(c)    if some sail makers in USA and Europe are putting such alteration on trial and others from South America (and other places around the World as seems to be the case) have not been informed on the approval of the new rule (August 2011) SCIRA is permitting an ahead start to said sail makers with a consequential advantage (this is certainly not on the best interest of the Class);
 
5    It seems to be on the best interest of the classe to postpone the enforcement of the new rule to January 2014 after being absolutely sure that all interested parties (sail makers around the world and Snipe sailors) have been fully informed on the same and with sufficient time to not only give to SCIRA a correct feedback on the new sail but also to make sure that even chances were given to all.  Therefore, I would strongly suggest the board to consider the postponment of the enforcement of the rule to January 2014.     
Henrique O. Motta
SCIRA – Past Commodore

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Comments must include your full name and Snipe country. Please be considerate of all opinions and refrain from using any innapropriate language. We reserve the right to remove comments that do not meet our guidelines.”