BTR said...

Arhhhh Hills I am pleased to make your acquaintance, hope you get those glasses of yours checked before we get there. I sail a very very rusty and tired Class 88 as per the photo. As do the rest of the team.

A Class 88 huh?

Nah my eyesites fine, you'd probably have to attribute this to pig ignorance as I've not seen a club 88 before.

Well waddya know, there isn't (wasn't) either

hills said...

Has anyone ever fallen out the side around the mark??

They race fast and furious on Lake Walyungup, as the surface is sort of gravelly drag brakes are not effective so most of the Sandgropers have wheel brakes fitted to each wheel and they use these to slide/steer around the markers at high speed. When you race with these guys on their home turf I would be to scared to fall out of my yacht because you know that there will be a huge pack of them following you around the mark sort of like a stampede as they rumble past you!
Promo Girl

The club 88 would fit exactly into the spirit and intention of the Promo. I would even say the club were simply 20 years ahead of the Europeans .. When the materials specs were set for the promos they were made to fit materials available in Europe and to a degree in Sth America. Promo girl and I were asked to represent Australia in comparing the materials available here. Basically we cant get the Aluminium they use or the steel they use. so we worked out a best fit and put that as a recomendation. The PROMO specs went through unchanged. I suspect this may be due to commercial interests in Europe, but I will know more when we meet in Rada Tilly.
I think that if the rest of the world comes to Australia to race promos they will have to fit in with our "best fit" compromise.
You can be assured that we will argue long and hard for yachts like the club 88 andPM and others like it to fit into any rulings by FISLY, but dont hold your breath.
Our own Promo cl 5 yachts dont actually fit the official FISLY specs on 3 points ,from memory. but these are all "materials" issues

Excellent, thanks for that Promo Girl!! Will do!

I was rather proud of my taper, I think it tidies up the front end nicely.