Masts are up, and the boats are being tuned by the RC officials. All the boats are being set up with the same rake, diamond tension, spreader rake, etc. the competitors are not allowed to tune the boat or change the setup. Pulling strings is all that is allowed.
What ? To my way of thinking that does NOT provide a level playing field - crews of different weights MUST be able to tune the mast rake, spreader rake and diamond wire tension to suit their weight, and should also be able to adjust these parameters for different wind conditions. The concept of all boats being "equal" should never be taken to the point where they are all set up equally, since not all crews are of equal weight and even sailing style will dictate some settings that are preferable to some crews and not others.
It sounds like the way things are being done will result in the boats "sweet spot" will favour one or two crews who happen to fit into the weight category which the settings suit the most, unless the settings favour most mixed crews and then disadvantage the heavier male-male crews. Apologies if I offend here, but this sounds like a Hobie philosophy, which doesn`t work on Hobies either.
I realise the format of the regatta requires boat swopping, but crews should be given half an hour between races to tune the boat to their settings - part of the skill of sailing is the ability to get this aspect right, and taking it away lessens the skill required to win, in my opinion.
