No. 7 regulates the procedure on General Rule 2, first paragraph, the election of members of the Association.
The Racing Rules
There are thirty-two 'sailing rules' under which yacht racing in British waters is conducted. Many of these rules have nothing to do with 'sailing,' but refer to the measurements for rating, entries, sailing committees' work ashore, and cognate matters; the rules and paragraphs of rules connected with any one subject being dotted about in the most bewildering manner, and the whole forming a general hotch-potch, no great credit to the yachting Fathers.
The rules, being numerous and complex, must always be difficult to follow; but this difficulty is increased tenfold by unmethodical arrangement, and by the absence of any code whereby the law-making decisions of the Council can be discovered and kept in view by racing owners, by 'sailing' committees, and by the Council itself.
The rules have been examined and explained with much ability by Mr. Dixon Kemp, in his book on 'Yacht and Boat Sailing,' chapter viii. being devoted to the subject. Every racing owner should possess this book: it is, therefore, unnecessary to repeat the treatment of the rules therein contained. Nor is a criticism of the rules necessary, as this has been done by the present writer in a series of articles published in that excellent paper 'The Yachtsman,' on April 28, and May 5, 12, 19, and 26, 1892; which back numbers can be obtained for a few pence by applying to the publisher, 143 Strand, London. Moreover, a summary of the rules was given in the Almanac for the Solent Racing, published by King & Co., Southampton, in 1893, and will probably be repeated in succeeding years.
An attempt will therefore be made in these pages to treat the Racing Rules in a different manner, by an examination and description of the duties of each important actor in connection with a yacht race.
Duties of a Designer
The principal object and duty of a designer is to build yachts capable of winning prizes fairly. He must, therefore, study every peculiarity and custom of the sport, the average climate during the racing season, and, above all, he must study the rule of rating and measurement (Rule 3), to be examined at the end of this chapter. Other rules must not escape his attention; for instance, the designer of Mr. Carrol's yacht, when building in America for races in British waters, would note that by Rule 9 shifting keels may only be moved by manual power, and, consequently, that if any hydraulic appliance be used, anything in the nature of an accumulator would be contrary to the spirit of the rule, and would be matter for protest. The same remark applies to working and hoisting the sails (Rule 13).
A designer must note that, by Rule 15, yachts over 10-rating must be fitted below deck as yachts, including two wooden transverse bulkheads. Also that, by Rule 16, yachts of 30 to 90-rating must carry on deck a boat not less than 10 feet by 3½ feet, and yachts of 90-rating, or more, a boat not less than 12 feet by 3½ feet.
Designers must also consider Rule 33, which defines 'cruising trim'—especially Clause 2, which prohibits the placing of 'sails or other gear' 'in the main cabin' of yachts which race in this trim; and Clauses 3 and 4, concerning the anchors and chains, and boats.