GRAND PRIX WORKING PARTY QUESTIONNAIRE

The Offshore Racing Council, Royal Ocean Racing Club and US SAILING have joined in partnership to address the current state of grand prix handicap racing.  The three partners have commissioned a grand prix working party to conduct a survey and to formulate recommendations on what actions should be taken.  This survey is being distributed throughout the world to owners, sailors, the marine industry and other interested parties. 

The grand prix working party is chaired by Jean-Louis Fabry of France with members Peter Reichelsdorfer and Stan Honey representing US SAILING, David Lyons (Australia) and Stuart Quarrie for the RORC and Paulo Massarini (Italy) and Manolo Ruiz de Elvira (Spain) for the ORC.  Olin Stephens is an advising member.  Additionally, each of the three partner organizations can provide a technical consultant.  Jim Teeters is the consultant for the US SAILING contingent.

 We can better serve you, our sailing public, with your active participation.  Please read and respond to the following questions.  They cover the range from general to technical and are grouped accordingly.

 The working party will be meeting next in May.  To have your voice heard, please return this questionnaire by Monday, May 5th.

About You

  
1. Name
2. Address
  City
  State/Country   Postal code   

 

e-mail

3.

Participation

 (select all that apply)

 

 Owner
Sailor
Designer
Sailmaker
Other

4.

 In what part of the world do you usually sail?
5. Last Grand Prix event participate in:
Event's name
Date
Type of boat

6.

What other Grand Prix events are you interested in participating in?

7.

   Do you believe a new international Grand Prix rating rule is needed at this time?

  Yes          No
Rule Philosophy
Even if you answered “no” to the question 7 above, if a Grand Prix rule were to be developed, what are your suggestions on the following.

8.

 What kind of Grand Prix racing would you want to do?
Offshore
Inshore
Both

9.

How much design diversity should Grand Prix encourage
Extremely Diverse
Somewhat Diverse
Somewhat Similar
 Extremely Similar
10.

Should a Grand Prix rule have a “open division” to incorporate innovative designs?
Yes
No
11. On which of the following should a Grand Prix rule place limitations?
Crew weight
Crew number
None
Both
12.  Should a Grand Prix rule address maxium costs of:
Construction Yes      No
Ongoing optimization Yes      No

13.

 Update cycle of the rule
One year
Three years
As needed
Other

14.

 Loopholes have inevitably emerged in Previous Grand Prix rules. Should the following be closed immediately?
Major loopholes Yes      No
Minor loopholes Yes      No
15. Should development be encouraged or penalized? Yes      No

16

 Should  optimization be encouraged or penalized? Yes      No

17.

 Do you believe that this Rule should encourage boats that:
Are appropriate for offshore Yes      No
Have functional accommodations for racing  Yes      No
Have a substantial resale value Yes      No
Have a racing life after Grand Prix Yes      No

18.

 Any other comments on other boat characteristics that the rule should encourage or discourage:

19.

 Which of the following scoring options should a Grand Prix rule utilize?  
Level rating
Single number rating
Several single number ratings for varied wind speeds
Several single number ratings for varied course types
Matrix of ratings for variations in both wind speed and course type
Comment

Rule Management and Cost

20.

 Should the Grand Prix rule be managed by paid professional staff, volunteers or owners? Paid staff     Volunteer         Owners

If paid staff, should rating fees alone support the costs?

 Yes     No
If “no”, what revenue sources would you suggest?

21.

 Would you be prepared to contribute to the development cost of a new Grand Prix rule? Yes     No

22.

 Do you see any way of modifying an existing rule to meet the need of Grand Prix competition? Yes     No
If so, which existing rule?
How?

TECHNICALLY RELATED QUESTIONS
23. Allow water ballast Yes     No
24. Allow canting keels Yes     No
25. Include sail limitations Yes     No
26. Include a boat age allowance Yes     No
27. Include Upper and lower boat size limits Yes     No
28. Allow Retracting propellors  Yes     No
29. Include Restriction on number of movable appendages Yes     No
30. Allow wing masts* Yes     No
31. Allow unstayed rigs* Yes     No
 32. Allow rotating, twisting or canting Rigs* Yes     No
33. Allow more than one mast Yes     No
34. Restrictions on materials (e.g. sails, rigging, hull) Yes     No
35. Include Scantling rules Yes     No
36. Include Stability limits for safety within rule Yes     No
37. Include Limits on keel draft to facilitate harbor access? Yes     No
38.

Rule preference(s)
Box rule Yes     No
Simple VPP Yes     No
Based on a formula Yes     No
No preference Yes     No
Rule comments:

  

 * Difficult for existing rules to handicap and may impact resale value

Notes

  • This questionnaire does not address issues of boat measurement. The working party feels that until there is some direction on what kind of rule will be used, it is premature to discuss measurement.

  • For any new Grand Prix rule to be successful, the design community must participate in formulating the new rule and be on board with the final product. The working group invites direct communication from all yacht design offices.