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Canting Keels at Cowes - the debate continues...

Posted 9 months, 7 days ago

Canting Keels at Cowes - the debate continues...
There's some pretty heavyweight discussion going on beyond the scenes following Ger O'Rourke's selfish tirade and subsequent faux-bullying of the powers that be which largely has been rejected by the majority. There are a lot of emails flying back and forth regarding the issue and this one caught my eye from Peter Morton, a man who is probably one of the best qualified sailors in Britain to talk on the subject: Stuart   Well said, any business or organisation has to protect the majority of it's customers and those that support it year on year. There can't be anybody left in the World who thinks that you can race a swing keeler against a fixed keeler using a single figure system and get a fair result. It does not work now and never has.   I would make a few other points. If swing keelers are so great why aren't there hundreds of them. It is not as though swing keelers are new, they have been around for years  and I was taught that" The market is always right". Are owners like Charles Dunstone, Peter Ogden, and Colm Barrington really so stupid that they have not "seen the light".    I believe that Chieftan is on the market and I am told by a reliable source that the replacement will be a 68 ish ft JV boat and the decision on the keel swinging or not is yet to be made.   The decisions made by the Cowes Week Sailing Committee are after careful consideration and as a result of feedback from many competitors.That Committee is made up of people from all aspects of sailing including me. I don't drink "pink gin" and prefer a pint of 6X in the Pier View, but I have competed in 9 British Admirals Cup Teams, 7 Commodores Cup Teams, more Ton Cups than I care to remember, done 15 Fastnet Races and won it twice, won  World Championships and won the Tour Voile. I feel qualified to make a decision not to allow swing keelers to spoil the racing for the majority and that it is the right one. As you say if there are enough of them then it is not an issue anyway. Photo: Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi Full Story »

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