(pillow)Case of the Week (19) - 97

(This is an installment in a series of blogposts about the ISAF Call book 2009-2012 with amendments for 2010. All calls are official interpretations by the ISAF committees on how the Racing Rules of Sailing should be used or interpreted. The calls are copied from the Call book, only the comments are written by me.)

CASE 97

Rule 50.3, Setting and Sheeting Sails: Use of Outriggers

A jockey pole attached to a spinnaker guy is not an outrigger.

Question
Is a jockey pole (a pole that exerts outward pressure on the line that controls the fore and aft position of a spinnaker pole) an outrigger?
Answer
No. When a spinnaker pole is set, the line that controls the fore and aft position of that pole is a guy, not a sheet. A jockey pole putting outward pressure on a guy is therefore not an outrigger, defined by rule 50.3(a) as a ‘fitting or device’ that exerts ‘outward pressure on a sheet or sail’.

RYA 2000/2



Once upon a time – a long time ago – someone asked the question and the discussion flared up. In the olden days that was done by ‘hand‘ instead of by twitter, facebook or blog. But the answer is proof that the wording of the rules is paramount. You must always use the rules, as they are written. And not as you think they should be written.