Minimum Batten Length at the Mainsail Leech

[ROY SCOTT]

In the IOM Class Rules at, G.3.1 (4) “The Mainsail shall have three batten pockets, or battens if there are no batten pockets at the leechâ€

[edmorales]

while sailing in strong winds and waves, my no.1 mylar sail lost one batten because the double adhesive tape got water logged. will this automatically make my sails illegal?

[Chairman]

while sailing in strong winds and waves, my no.1 mylar sail lost one batten because the double adhesive tape got water logged. will this automatically make my sails illegal?

Hi Ed

My attention has been drawn to the RRS:

64.3 Decisions on Measurement Protests
(a) When the protest committee finds that deviations in excess of tolerances specified in the class rules were caused by damage or normal wear and do not improve the performance of the boat, it shall not penalize her. However, the boat shall not race again until the deviations have been corrected, except when the protest committee decides there is or has been no reasonable opportunity to do so.

So your sail, in my unofficial opinion, becomes illegal when it loses its batten, but you shall not be penalised if you've not had a chance to fix it. If your damage was due to an incident such that you could ask for and obtain redress, you have 30 minutes to fix it according to Appendix E:

E5.9 Decision on Redress
Add to rule 64.2: ‘If a boat given redress was damaged, she shall be given reasonable time, but not more than 30 minutes, to effect repairs before her next heat.’

[Chairman]

... no minimum length implies a batten of zero length (non-existent) is acceptable?

Hi Roy

A very nice try! But as you say, a batten of zero length is a non-existent batten, and as we know, the rules do require either a batten or batten pocket...