General – Unify or Divide the Rules

[MattAdministrator]

The current class rules defining an Etchells are split into 2 volumes. There are the “International Etchells Class Rules,” that we card-carrying members of the Etchells class can download from the website. Then there is a mysterious, and secret, set of rules defined in the so-called “ISAF agreed builder’s specification,” a document referenced throughout the International Etchells Class Rules, but apparently only available to select members of a secret brotherhood.

Now, you can debate forever the merits of keeping all the rules in one document, or dividing the class rules into an “operational” volume and a “construction” volume, as the class (apparently) has done. Personally, I like the idea of having an “operational” set of rules that strips out all the requirements that apply only to the building phase and focuses only on the rules that are relevant to the owners, and their representatives during the ownership phase. And that apparently is what the Etchells class rules-makers may have been after. (Although since we don’t know what is contained in the secret “ISAF agreed builder’s specification,” verification of this supposition will have to wait.)

So, assuming the Etchells class wants to continue with this 2-headed organization of the class rules, we should review the International Etchells Class Rules with an eye to stripping out any rules that apply only to the building phase and will never be relevant to the owner, being careful that boat maintenance activities may require some of the build-phase requirements.

My review has identified several rules that apply only to the build-phase division.
(the remainder of this is TBD)

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