This item is hypothetical and NOT subject to any protest. Please let me know if there is any issue. Which rule (if any) makes it illegal to help wing the jib with a boom crutch or other stick, and in this specific situation, does RRS 55.3 apply?
The boat/class in question has a jib boom, so the winging would not need to control the sheets specifically, and could simply push on the boom or the sail itself. The fleet has the following class rule which may or may not be relevant to using a different piece of equipment: image.png15 KB
First check definitions from The Equipment Rules of Sailing
F 1.3 Spar(s)
The main structural part(s) of the rig to which sails are connected. It
includes its fittings and any corrector weights.
F 1.4 (d)(ii) WHISKER POLE
A spar attached to the mastspar and connected to a headsail
clew.
C 6.3 (g) CONNECT
To bring together or into contact so that a real link is established by
which one item affects the function of the other; therefore includes
“attached to” and “sheeted to” the corner of the sail.
A boom crutch may be used as a whisker pole if it connects to the mast and the headsail clew. If it is merely pushing on the jib boom or sail itself, it is not a whisker pole.
The next question would be whether it meets the minimum length.
The last issue is whether the "real link" required to be a connector requires attachment to the mast or sail. I think I would argue that to be a connector, it must be a continuous connector while deployed, by which I mean it can't merely be wedged between the sail clew and the mast, but must stay attached to the clew even if the sail is eased.
I would say if it meets those 4 conditions--length, material, "connects" to mast, "connects" to headsail clue--it is a legal whisker pole.
Niko .. let me get this straight. The class in question has a jib boom (self-tacking setup). What we are asking to do is not attach anything to the sail .. but to attach to the jib-boom at some location along the jib-boom to hold it out down-wind?
I know several boats that do that with a hydraulic piston that they buy at an auto parts store (same piston that holds open your hatchback. The anchor one side of the piston on the centerline of the bow and the other somewhere along the jib-boom. It does a nice job and if sized and installed correctly ... it doesn't put up a fight when tacking or gybing to get the boom across.
Hi Angelo, Thanks for the question. The idea isn't to attach anything, just to hold it out manually with a short stick, maybe a paddle or 2-foot boom crutch. (To be clear, not my idea, but something someone bandied about after racing on a light-wind day.)
For example, the Hereshoff 12-1/2 class specifically allowed that starting in 2019. image.png21.9 KB
To Nikos' H Class example, RRS 86.1 (c) says Class rules may change RRS 55. H Class can make the change, though I would be a lot happier if they noted the change to RRS 55 somewhere. H Class rules are not a great example of precision and clarity in any case. In the H Class usage, however, the boom crutch would not qualify as a whisker pool as cited in the OP class rule above.
55.3 definitely applies, so you can't apply pressure from your device outside the sheerline. If the jib tack is right on the stem that means pretty much anywhere on the boom is going to be prohibited. What you can do depends on the fine detail of the setup. Suggest you post what the actual class is and class rules. On many modern Int Canoes, for instance, the jib boom projects beyond the tack to be used as a vang, and one may also attach lines or shock cord to act as a sort of reverse sheet.
Thanks Jim, I was thinking 55.3 applied but someone said "well it's about being 'sheeted through' not 'pressured by'". Do you have an intelligent response to this I could use if the topic comes up again? Thanks again!
Thank you Rene! This talks all about holding the sheet out. What do you think about if you're pushing on the jib boom or directly on the sail? Is that a valid loophole, or would it be treated the same way?
Hi Niko, I Agree with Jim. "No part of a person’s body is a ‘device’. It is therefore permissible for a competitor to hold a sheet outboard". In fact, the index to the Case Book links Case 4 to both Rule 49 and Rule 55.3 and separately lists Case 97 as addressing another permitted device (a jockey pole attached to a spinnaker guy). This reinforces the jurisprudence's distinction between human action and mechanical devices.
"Bumkin" definition from The Equipment Rules of Sailing
F.1.4(c)(ii) BUMKIN
A hullspar extending aft of the hull to connectrigging.
(From Boomkin, "little boom," where "boom" comes from "tree" in Dutch)
I can't see that any random stick would qualify as a "hull spar." And by definition, it must be aft of the hull, so it is hard to imagine attaching it to a headsail.
Ok .. it seems to me in this case, the clew of the sail is sheeted to a boom which qualifies under 55.3(c). 55.3(c) is an "exception" to the main text and limits of 55.3's 1st sentence.
Now that 55.3's first sentence doesn't apply ... where in the rules does it say you can't exert a forward force against a boom with a stick .. inside or outside the shear line?
Such a stick is neither a spin nor whisker pole,
Other Spar Types: (i) SPINNAKER POLE A spar attached to the mast spar and connected to a spinnakerguy. (ii) WHISKER POLE A spar attached to the mastspar and connected to a headsail clew.
The device that is exerting the outward pressure on the sail is the 55.3(c)-allowed boom .. not the "stick" in question. The stick in question is exerting a forward pressure on the boom .. not an outward pressure on the sheet or clew.
I can't find a rule which limits the stick as long as the stick is applying pressure only to a 55.3(c)- qualifying boom.
Anyone have an answer to my above question? I've looked and couldn't find a rule.
Rephrased ..
Is there a rule or regulation, outside of class rules, which forbids the use of a hand-held stick/pole to hold a boom forward?
Likewise .. is there any rule that would forbid a "preventer" from being rigged (line and blocking attached to a boom to hold it forward when sailing deep downwind)?
Angelo, I appreciate you re-asking my (in my mind) OP question. I gather from Jim's response that there used to be a rule? Would that explain why the H12 class voted to specifically allow it? Can someone tell me when the "outrigger language" was dropped?
I'm asking all these questions as a potential rule-change writer, potential arbiter, and mostly just to get ahead of stuff so people know what they can and cannot do during racing. We all want to follow the rules luckily.
Jim and Niko .. Such a handheld pole/stick wouldn't qualify as an outrigger either .. from the ERS
(iv) OUTRIGGER A hull spar extending transversely connected to a sheet
Again .. a jib boom (and main boom) are the devices exerting the outward force to the clew (usually via an outhaul). A handheld pole pushing forward on a boom does not qualify as anything defined in the ERS as far as I can tell.
A preventer (not a term defined in the ERS) .. would likely be seen as a "sheet" (trimming the clew forward (via the boom) instead of aft). As such, any rules which limit the number of sheets attached to a sail might limit its use if construed as a "sheet".
makes sense Ang. I will admit that I would much prefer this hand-held pole to be illegal. It's such a PITA to ask your crew to hold a stick up in the air the whole way downwind! Many people can't do it. Some of us race the boat single-handed (not me) and then you couldn't do it.
Anyway, more importantly, I appreciate everyone's help searching for relevant rules. It's truly a blessing to have this group to bounce questions off of. Thank you all!
Niko .. if it were me .. I'd try adding small blocks on each side of the bow at the toe-rail (might need to add small padeyes) and run small dymeema through them attached to the vertical perpendicular spot on the boom and back to the cockpit. Attach the port one to the starboard side of the boom and vise versa (getting you the extra advantage from the boom thickness).
Dyneema wont stretch .. so if you pull that tight and cleat it .. it should hold the boom forward.
PS .. here is an article describing the solution used by the Aeleron 28's. The jib boom extends though the deck into the cabin below. The piston is attached to a collar below decks via a tang on boom collar and the other end secured to the boat. It has an "over center" operation that once you get past the mid-point, the piston extends driving the boom forward on either side.
From the 2017 rules. Think this rule went in 2021.
50.1 Use of Outriggers
(a) No sail shall be sheeted over or through an outrigger, except as permitted in rule 50.3(b) or 50.3(c). An outrigger is any fitting or other device so placed that it could exert outward pressure on a sheet or sail at a point from which, with the boat upright, a vertical line would fall outside the hull or deck. For the purpose of this rule, bulwarks, rails and rubbing strakes are not part of the hull or deck and the following are not outriggers: a bowsprit used to secure the tack of a sail, a bumkin used to sheet the boom of a sail, or a boom of a boomed headsail that requires no adjustment when tacking.
(b) Any sail may be sheeted to or led above a boom that is regularly used for a sail and is permanently attached to the mast from which the head of the sail is set.
(c) A headsail may be sheeted or attached at its clew to a spinnaker pole or whisker pole, provided that a spinnaker is not set.
I found the submission (167-19) that resulted in the change to 50.3/55. The submission is to align the rule with the ERS definition of outrigger. The submission notes that the "definition of ‘outrigger’ in current rule 50.3 is much broader than the definition of ‘outrigger’ that was adopted for the ERS" but doesn't seem to explore what the effects of the narrower definition might be.
I must confess that I hadn't registered that the ERS definition had somewhat changed the game, and in my first post was still thinking of outrigger in terms of the old rule and in general usage.
NIko Which rule (if any) makes it illegal to help wing the jib with a boom crutch or other stick, and in this specific situation, does RRS 55.3 apply?
Yes, it's RRS 55.3.
To wing the sail out by exerting outward pressure on the sheet or clew in accordance with RRS 55.3, you need a whisker pole that is connected to the sail or sheet and attached to the mast. (ERS Definition Whisker Pole. (Side note: According to the ERS, if a Spinnaker Pole is connected to a headsail clew instead of a spinnaker, it becomes a Whisker Pole).
The boat/class in question has a jib boom, so the winging would not need to control the sheets specifically, and could simply push on the boom or the sail itself.
If the sail is connected to a jib boom in accordance with RRS 55.3(c), and there is some device that is pushing the boom out to windward, the outward pressure is being exerted by the boom, not the device pushing the boom and it will not break RRS 55.3. Note also that the device pushing on the jib boom may be wholly inside the sheerline. See Hoyt jib boom.
... [Is] it illegal to help wing the jib with a boom crutch or other stick?
If the outward pressure is being exerted on the sheet or clew of the sail, the spar or stick must be a Whisker Pole, that is it must be connected to the headsail clew and attached to the mast.
Attached means more than connected.
An old fashioned jib stick with a pointed end engaging with a cringle in the jib clew is connected.
I think a notch in the end of the spar (like a boom crutch, or paddle, intended to engage the sheet and contact the clew would be 'connected' (just),
attached to the mast is a far harder test.
I think a workable test would be, 'if no force was exerted on it, would it fall off?'
So if you had a boom crutch like this with a pointy end to engage the clew,
The jaws could clip around the mast and hang on without assistance, so it would be attached.
you could fix the problem with the first example with a cheesy little lanyard to go around the mast.
If you had a class rule that said 'Crew may use a spar such as a boom crutch ... to hold out a jib sheet while sailing downwind' this could change the requirements of RRS 55.3, but the class rules had better include the magic words 'this changes RRS 55.3' to be valid.
John A re: "If the sail is connected to a jib boom in accordance with RRS 55.3(c), and there is some device that is pushing the boom out to windward, the outward pressure is being exerted by the boom, not the device pushing the boom and it will not break RRS 55.3. Note also that the device pushing on the jib boom may be wholly inside the sheerline. See Hoyt jib boom."
John .. want to make sure we are on the same page here.
As long as the jib clew is being held by a 55.3(c) jib-boom, I contend (thus far) that I can find no rule which limits the use of a handheld pole/stick to push/hold the boom forward .. whether or not this stick makes contact with the boom inside/outside the shear line, as long as such a pole is not directly contacting the jib sheet, clew or sail.
As long as the jib clew is being held by a 55.3(c) jib-boom, I contend (thus far) that I can find no rule which limits the use of a handheld pole/stick to push/hold the boom forward .. whether or not this stick makes contact with the boom inside/outside the shear line, as long as such a pole is not directly contacting the jib sheet, clew or sail
I also agree with this point. What about if you're pushing (with a stick) on the sail itself, say 1 foot (20%) forward of the clew?
I ask because one of the classes I race on has a half wish-boom. It's only available to push on when you're on Starboard. Again, I'm not looking to find loopholes, but others may be, and everyone I've talked to is fine with following the agreed-upon rules and skipping the protest room.
That's what I see as well John Allen. Thank you all for your efforts and advice. This has helped us better understand our applicable rules, and will help us sail more fairly in future light winds.
F 1.3 Spar(s)
F 1.4 (d)(ii) WHISKER POLE
C 6.3 (g) CONNECT
A boom crutch may be used as a whisker pole if it connects to the mast and the headsail clew. If it is merely pushing on the jib boom or sail itself, it is not a whisker pole.
The next question would be whether it meets the minimum length.
The last issue is whether the "real link" required to be a connector requires attachment to the mast or sail. I think I would argue that to be a connector, it must be a continuous connector while deployed, by which I mean it can't merely be wedged between the sail clew and the mast, but must stay attached to the clew even if the sail is eased.
I would say if it meets those 4 conditions--length, material, "connects" to mast, "connects" to headsail clue--it is a legal whisker pole.
I know several boats that do that with a hydraulic piston that they buy at an auto parts store (same piston that holds open your hatchback. The anchor one side of the piston on the centerline of the bow and the other somewhere along the jib-boom. It does a nice job and if sized and installed correctly ... it doesn't put up a fight when tacking or gybing to get the boom across.
Thanks for the question. The idea isn't to attach anything, just to hold it out manually with a short stick, maybe a paddle or 2-foot boom crutch. (To be clear, not my idea, but something someone bandied about after racing on a light-wind day.)
For example, the Hereshoff 12-1/2 class specifically allowed that starting in 2019.
In the H Class usage, however, the boom crutch would not qualify as a whisker pool as cited in the OP class rule above.
I was thinking 55.3 applied but someone said "well it's about being 'sheeted through' not 'pressured by'".
Do you have an intelligent response to this I could use if the topic comes up again? Thanks again!
Sydney to Hobart Protest - Rule 55.3 Explained
This talks all about holding the sheet out. What do you think about if you're pushing on the jib boom or directly on the sail? Is that a valid loophole, or would it be treated the same way?
In fact, the index to the Case Book links Case 4 to both Rule 49 and Rule 55.3 and separately lists Case 97 as addressing another permitted device (a jockey pole attached to a spinnaker guy). This reinforces the jurisprudence's distinction between human action and mechanical devices.
F.1.4(c)(ii) BUMKIN
(From Boomkin, "little boom," where "boom" comes from "tree" in Dutch)
I can't see that any random stick would qualify as a "hull spar." And by definition, it must be aft of the hull, so it is hard to imagine attaching it to a headsail.
Now that 55.3's first sentence doesn't apply ... where in the rules does it say you can't exert a forward force against a boom with a stick .. inside or outside the shear line?
Such a stick is neither a spin nor whisker pole,
The device that is exerting the outward pressure on the sail is the 55.3(c)-allowed boom .. not the "stick" in question. The stick in question is exerting a forward pressure on the boom .. not an outward pressure on the sheet or clew.
I can't find a rule which limits the stick as long as the stick is applying pressure only to a 55.3(c)- qualifying boom.
Rephrased ..
Is there a rule or regulation, outside of class rules, which forbids the use of a hand-held stick/pole to hold a boom forward?
Likewise .. is there any rule that would forbid a "preventer" from being rigged (line and blocking attached to a boom to hold it forward when sailing deep downwind)?
I'm asking all these questions as a potential rule-change writer, potential arbiter, and mostly just to get ahead of stuff so people know what they can and cannot do during racing. We all want to follow the rules luckily.
Again .. a jib boom (and main boom) are the devices exerting the outward force to the clew (usually via an outhaul). A handheld pole pushing forward on a boom does not qualify as anything defined in the ERS as far as I can tell.
A preventer (not a term defined in the ERS) .. would likely be seen as a "sheet" (trimming the clew forward (via the boom) instead of aft). As such, any rules which limit the number of sheets attached to a sail might limit its use if construed as a "sheet".
I will admit that I would much prefer this hand-held pole to be illegal. It's such a PITA to ask your crew to hold a stick up in the air the whole way downwind! Many people can't do it. Some of us race the boat single-handed (not me) and then you couldn't do it.
Anyway, more importantly, I appreciate everyone's help searching for relevant rules. It's truly a blessing to have this group to bounce questions off of. Thank you all!
Dyneema wont stretch .. so if you pull that tight and cleat it .. it should hold the boom forward.
50.1 Use of Outriggers
(a) No sail shall be sheeted over or through an outrigger, except as permitted in rule 50.3(b) or 50.3(c). An outrigger is any fitting or other device so placed that it could exert outward pressure on a sheet or sail at a point from which, with the boat upright, a vertical line would fall outside the hull or deck. For the purpose of this rule, bulwarks, rails and rubbing strakes are not part of the hull or deck and the following are not outriggers: a bowsprit used to secure the tack of a sail, a bumkin used to sheet the boom of a sail, or a boom of a boomed headsail that requires no adjustment when tacking.
(b) Any sail may be sheeted to or led above a boom that is regularly used for a sail and is permanently attached to the mast from which the head of the sail is set.
(c) A headsail may be sheeted or attached at its clew to a spinnaker pole or whisker pole, provided that a spinnaker is not set.
I must confess that I hadn't registered that the ERS definition had somewhat changed the game, and in my first post was still thinking of outrigger in terms of the old rule and in general usage.
If the outward pressure is being exerted on the sheet or clew of the sail, the spar or stick must be a Whisker Pole, that is it must be connected to the headsail clew and attached to the mast.
Attached means more than connected.
An old fashioned jib stick with a pointed end engaging with a cringle in the jib clew is connected.
I think a notch in the end of the spar (like a boom crutch, or paddle, intended to engage the sheet and contact the clew would be 'connected' (just),
attached to the mast is a far harder test.
So if you had a boom crutch like this with a pointy end to engage the clew,
The jaws could fit around the mast, but without the sail pushing back on the jaws, the stick would fall off the mast, so it would not be attached.
If you had a boom crutch like this
The jaws could clip around the mast and hang on without assistance, so it would be attached.
you could fix the problem with the first example with a cheesy little lanyard to go around the mast.
If you had a class rule that said 'Crew may use a spar such as a boom crutch ... to hold out a jib sheet while sailing downwind' this could change the requirements of RRS 55.3, but the class rules had better include the magic words 'this changes RRS 55.3' to be valid.
John .. want to make sure we are on the same page here.
As long as the jib clew is being held by a 55.3(c) jib-boom, I contend (thus far) that I can find no rule which limits the use of a handheld pole/stick to push/hold the boom forward .. whether or not this stick makes contact with the boom inside/outside the shear line, as long as such a pole is not directly contacting the jib sheet, clew or sail.
Do we agree on that singular point?
Yes that is my understanding.
What about if you're pushing (with a stick) on the sail itself, say 1 foot (20%) forward of the clew?
I ask because one of the classes I race on has a half wish-boom. It's only available to push on when you're on Starboard. Again, I'm not looking to find loopholes, but others may be, and everyone I've talked to is fine with following the agreed-upon rules and skipping the protest room.
RRS 55 talks about the clew and the sheet. It doesn't say anything about exerting pressure on the sail itself.
Just had a look at the ERS. Apparently the drafters have forgotten about quadrilateral headsails.
Thank you all for your efforts and advice. This has helped us better understand our applicable rules, and will help us sail more fairly in future light winds.
Should work with any Hoyt Jib Boom.
Are you sailing a Liberty?