Racing a coded boat regulations

[andy-6693]

Hi, i'm doing a course at college that have a sigma 38 that is coded. We want to do the sigma 38 nationals this year but wondered what the regulations were for racing coded boats so that we are competitive and not carrying excessive weight etc. If someone could link me to what the regulations are on the mca website that would be great as the skipper wants to see evidence of the regulations before attempting to prepare for the event.

Thanks in advance

Andy

 

[DavidMcMullan]

Andy,

Normally to compete in a Nationals, you have to meet the class rules for the boat. You should be able to see these on the Sigma 38 website, under Technical.
The MCA coding aspect for a boat has to do with her being a vessel used commercially. Being coded may make your boat a bit heavier than the out and out racers in the class.

David.

 

[andy-6693]

Andy,

Normally to compete in a Nationals, you have to meet the class rules for the boat. You should be able to see these on the Sigma 38 website, under Technical.
The MCA coding aspect for a boat has to do with her being a vessel used commercially. Being coded may make your boat a bit heavier than the out and out racers in the class.

David.

thanks for that, so what you're essentially saying is that the regulations for a coded boat will not change with what the boat is being used for whether it be commercially (owned by the college) or raced not commercially; a coded boat is a coded boat and therefore must comply at all times?

 

[Pete R]

The MCA coding Dept are very helpful, well they have been to me.

Give them a ring on 023808396400

 

[Neil_Y]

mca are very helpful or have a read through section 28 of this.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/mcga-mnotice.htm?textobjid=C423704CA95E9786

 

[andy-6693]

thanks for your help

 

[Quandary]

I owned a Sigma 38 for about twelve years and maintained her in class for one design racing.
You will find that the class rules are not dissimilar from the requirements for coding. Two anchors of specified weights, safety gear locations, tools, batteries etc. all in defined locations so in performance terms the additional requirement for coding this boat will not really make a significant difference to performance. It would be different if she was an Elan or a J or Xyacht. The area where you may be disadvantaged is in the age and condition of sails, if these are good then it is all down to having a really sharp crew who can perform hoists gybes etc, faster than everyone else.
Our experience of one design racing in Sigma 33s and 38s was that about one third of the fleet were never competitive and did not want to get too involved in the argy bargy, another third sometimes were lucky but the winner almost always came from among the same half dozen or so. You need to be able to bully your competitors and that requires confidence (and competence) It is no good just practising but you need to do plenty, if you want to make the best start to get clear air to sail in, you need to go racing so you get used to out manouvreing your competitors in tight spaces under pressure, you will be over the line early in one of about every seven starts but you must start at the front so you have to put up with that and find out how to get back and away without too much loss. You can practice in handicap racing but try to enter a competitive class, racing only with cruisers will give you false confidence and a shock when you have to mix it.
Read the class rules and see if there is anything you can take off the boat, we would hire a van to put spare gear in that we only needed for the passage there and home, we always used running backstays for racing but with hi-tech sails allowed these days they are no longer so important. You will find that while you have to have the anchor in the locker forward you will not need to have all the chain there, if the life raft is on the pushpit consider shifting it, do not have anything in the ends of the boat that does not need to be there. Experiment with crew position, in all but extreme conditions you will find you do not want too many in or near the cockpit to get the best speed. Fit a double ended vang tackle so that it can be played and dumped from up on either weather rail when reaching in a blow, add a fine tackle to the mainsheet if you do not have one already and make sure your traveller come off quickly and runs nice and smoothly. When you go to the event be reticent and do not show your hand until the 5 min. gun, the hot guys know each other and will be concentrating on their perceived rivals, once you beat them it will be tougher.
Good luck, I wish I was going to be there.