All good points. So far NSW has been pretty good - enshrined RRS between yachts racing under an aquatic licence, and even better streamlined the Aquatic licence process.
There was an owners association in 2008 and the owners felt that the cost of IRC was too high, especially when only 3 of the boats ever got a place. We looked at ORCc which started at $75 per boat but increased to $150 per boat and then GRS finished the idea off by increasing the fee to $300 per boat. As a consequence of price gouging the owners decided to dump it and association voted to explore AMS. GRS has never forgiven me for my role in this, but it really was an own goal. To date, AMS has consistently outperformed IRC despite the puritans calling it a mickey mouse rule. Last summer the 2 handed series had a 3 way tie for first place, boats being a Farr 1020, Hobie 33 and a Young 88. What else do you want from a $70 rule? The Corinthian spirit of the AMS people has had an enormous effect in growing Club racing fleets. They have reinvested their earnings into supporting local events. The BYC has had an AMS championship with sponsorship provided by YRSA. They made a calibrated loadcell available gratis anytime we wanted it. They turn over certificates overnight, so that the slackers who need to get their paperwork in place to race get to do so. During CoVid, when it really mattered, YRSA wavered all fees despite being in lockdown themselves. They kept the lights on so the rest of us could go racing. Dunno how a rule that costs more, and doubtful it will perform better will increase participation. AS should be licking their chops noting that the legwork was being done by volunteers, so that they could pick off the lucrative bit by flogging International Rules to the rich end of town, and no doubt the Naval Architects love the consultancy work. As an aside as ORCc is transparent, can anyone get a line diagram for an offset file? Be good to know that the hull offset file you've been given can be checked. I guess I can pay a consultant to run a few trials and see which file works best for me and my modified keel and my mate who added a scoop would be interested too. I really can't see anything positive for growing the sport at a local level. The Victorians had the right idea, run the rules together and dump the dud.
Well, one suggestion would be to run a pirate AMS pennant in parallel with the sanctioned ones. Sail under club sanctioned PHS as per usual, but keep renewing the AMS certificates (cost of a snap shackle), start up a website or Facebook page, and using the elapsed times, score interested boats by AMS. Have an unofficial, unsanctioned prize night at Shippies.
That's the attitude to take when you are thankfull for AS driving club racing and growing it, because of their leadership. You dont want to appear ungreatful for their hard effort and don't want to upset the applecart by suggesting AMS is more suitable.
We formed the Qld offshore owners association a few years back. But 4 of the original 12 (including me, livia and shaggy) just threw our hands in the air and walked away from the sport. We were fucked over so completely by the system that there is no coming back.
Shut up on take my money?
Our club manages quite well to hold successful races (often 60+ boats in the twilights) without the benefit of SA's help...
Funnily enough I have the renewal for that Association on my desk at the moment.
But I'd win.
AMS is a Mickey Mouse rule. The only reason owners use it is because it is cheap. When you take the total cost of campaining a boat in a Club 's series over summer, the cost of AMS is piddling as is the cost of ORCc. AMS is Victorian based and has failed to get a decent foothold in other States. Very presumptuous of Victoria to call it Australian Measurement System, a bit like AFL. Bite the bullet and get an ORCc certificate and encourage others to do so as well and you will have some great racing.
Yet at its heart it very similar to IRC
Are you going to Wynnum and need protection?
