I refer to the following rule:
"Weight...If necessary to bring weight of boat to its minimum tolerance, extra ballast must be positioned on transom sternpost section OR under the thwart adjacent to the centreboard case, and be visible by inspection... (3.0 kilograms maximum). (Amended by SGM 24/9/2010)"
And my query is: however did this rule (allowing the lead to be at the thwart) get through? What this rule amendment does is make timber boats uncompetitive against a new (and very expensive) plastic boat (same quality skipper).
Timber boats, if built to specification, will weigh the minimum 41 kilos. It's impossible to build them lighter. On the other hand, plastic boats can easily be built 3 kilos lighter. However, when the rule was that the lead had to be on the transom post, there was no point in building them lighter. But the rule amendment changes all that.
Those three kilos that a wooden boat has to carry in its construction can now, in a plastic boat, be carried on the thwart. That means a plastic boat will necessarily be lighter in the ends than a timber boat, and that advantage is huge in terms of boat speed around a course.
What the association has done by allowing this rule amendment to pass is create two classes of Sabre - a timber Sabre with a minimum weight of 41 kilos, and a plastic Sabre with a minimum weight effectively a couple of kilos lighter.
I wonder if someone on the rules committee, or maybe the measurer, could respond to this post. I'd really like to believe I'm wrong about this because the Sabre is a great little boat but this rule has the potential to wreck the one design character of the class.