A_S_Y_2015_04_05

ISAF RRS 55 Trash Disposal,

“A competitor shall not

intentionally put trash in

the water.”

NSW EPA Laws prohibit the

disposal of litter into public

spaces including waterways.

DISPOSAL of rubbish into the sea has been a hot topic

at many international regattas over the past two years.

This follows Key West Race Week 2013 amending its

sailing instructions just a month before the regatta. The

amendments made it clear that under rule 55, the disposal

of spinnaker wool bands (sail stops) into the sea would

be considered trash. Any boat disposing of this “trash”

would be subject to disqualification. Key West Race

Week like most Australian regatta’s had written into their

sailing instructions that disposal of bio-degradable wools

for setting of sails was allowed. It reversed its decision

after public pressure mounted. Since then many other

international, regional, and club regattas around the world

have followed suit.

Many clubs and sailors have long thought that the rule

only prohibited non-biodegradable trash in the water.

However the rule makes no distinction. In NSW at least,

the environment protection laws also make no distinction.

A number of regattas are still changing rule 55 to allow

the use of biodegradable sail stops for setting of sails. This

practice may be illegal in some Australian states, and

certainly in marine parks and world heritage listed areas

such as the Great Barrier Reef.

The common practice on boats over 40 feet is to tie

woollen bands around a rolled spinnaker as sail stops for

the first half from the head, and also along the tack of

asymmetric gennakers. This aids the crew in hoisting the sail

because there is little to no pressure on the halyard, tack line

or sheet until the sail is sheeted on and the sail stops break.

Doing this enables smooth, efficient hoists, and is almost

essential in yachts over 50 feet due to the size of the sail.

When ISAF released the current wording of the rule in

the 2013-16 edition of the Racing Rules of Sailing, it was

quickly asked about the setting of spinnakers, outlined

the intention of the rule to “support a development of

sailing in a direction towards a higher level of environmental

responsibility, Event organisers and officials should also

comply with the basic principle in the rulebook about

environmental responsibility. Simply deleting rule 55 is the

opposite of that” : N 003 Q&A 2013-029 (published August

5, 2013, revised August 27, 2013)

US Sailing also issued a similar opinion, stating

“The broken sail stops that fall into the water, although

biodegradable, are trash that the competitor intentionally put

in the water, there Boat A has broken rule 55”

The ramifications of this rule go far beyond just

wooling of spinnakers to help get them set. Cigarette

butts, food scraps, and the old sailors favourite “home

for a fish” empty beer can must all be stowed on board

and disposed of ashore correctly. The only exception to

this is in races which take the yacht into international

waters where the Marpol regulations apply. Marpol is the

international convention for the prevention of pollution

from ships. It governs everything from discharge of waste

water, to food scraps. Races such as the Transpac often

draw attention to Marpol, which allows for the limited

disposal of bio-degradable rubbish once outside a certain

range from the coast.

Given that it is almost certain now that the disposal of

any material into the sea is disallowed going forward, sail

makers have been quick to develop some very innovative

solutions to enable big sails to be set without woollen bands.

North Sails have been developing a number of solutions

with lofts in Australia, North America and Europe

all working together. The group has now narrowed

their development down to three very simple solutions

depending on sail size and weight.

For smaller, inshore yachts a it has developed a Velcro

tab on a retractable shock cord that is sewn into the luff

tape. This provides a familiar "wool like" solution. The

Velcro tab is pulled out and wrapped around the sail just

like a wool band would be at around three to six foot

intervals. When the sail is sheeted on the Velcro releases,

the shock cord retracts the tab back into the luff tape to

give a clean sail. In most cases North Sails believes this

method is actually faster than tying wool bands.

Alby Pratt, sales manager at North Sails Australia says

“The system is working very well on the smaller boats up

OPPOSITE PAGE:

For Grand Prix

racers, including

TP52s, the velcro

patches are too

small and the zipper

system is prefered.

LEFT: Some

MC38s use the

zipper system.

29

TRASH TALK

ANDREA FRANCOLINI