'It went that way'

It takes someone as informed and as universally respected as Olin Stephens to say it before those in a position of any authority will finally acknowledge it. And sadly the words have found the forum at least three years too late. "Simplify IMS".

Everyone, aside it would seem, from those managing the rule were aware of the blindingly obvious.  The 1998 Rolex Commodores’ Cup was one of a handful of ‘above-club level’ IMS events brave enough to run with single figure IMS scoring. But it worked well there as it did elsewhere. Dual number scoring, recently advocated by Olin Stephens would have been a practical and even better solution. Yet the purists objected to any solution that failed to exploit the IMS VPP to its fullest, most fluid ‘potential’. Scientific ego run amok.

See Seahorse March 2001 for this article in full

To Green Cape and beyond

Of the many new regulations that followed the 1998 Sydney-Hobart tragedy, the Green Cape Rule is among the best.

The risk coefficient in the Hobart race escalates significantly when the fleet clears mainland Australia to cross the Bass Strait. ‘Green Cape’ simply requires each yacht’s skipper, in consultation with his or her crew, to re-affirm their readiness for the crossing ahead, at the very time they are leaving the sight of land.

See Seahorse March 2001 for this article in full

Out there in the traffic

The Atlantic has been a busy ocean recently, with a radical selection of sailing boats charging in all directions. It must have been enough to confuse even the best-read mermaids, as Vendée Globe Open 60s returning from the Southern Ocean crossed tracks with the back of the Race fleet on their way south.

See Seahorse March 2001 for this article in full