Tunnettu venesuunnittelija Alexander Simonis on eräässä haastattelussa antanut selvän tukensa ORCi-säännön viimeaikaiselle kehittämiselle, ja ennakoi sen vahvistuvan merkittävästi jatkossa. Hän myös kritisoi IRC-säännön salaista ilmettä. Simonis&Voogd on arvostettu venesuunnittelutoimisto, joka on panostanut erityiseti IRC-veneiden suunnitteluun.
Kysymys:
I understand that you use a lot of modern tools like CAD, FEA and CFD analysis when analyzing the designs. How do you connect those analyses to the different rules like IRC and ORCi?
Simonis:
"CAD and FEA are really drafting and constructing tools; their rating input is pretty much limited to the weight and Cg’s it produces.CFD touches much more on the whole core of yacht research as it can be viewed as a "virtual test tank”.
IRC as a close rule brings it’s own difficulties where a lot of data analyses of comparative and successful IRC designs is important. The way the rule is sort of secret and the way it deals with certain undisclosed factors (like the hull factor for example). Leave a lot to be desired as the lack of transparency simply cannot get rid of the uncomfortable feeling many designers and owners have that it is subjective.
This is ultimately going to be the downfall of IRC, it can’t operate as a grand prix rule if it doesn’t deal with this to everybody’s satisfaction.
ORC on the other hand has been pro-active to turn the IRC tide and is gaining a deserved momentum again. For ORC the key is going to be to see that their VPP’s are getting more and more accurate by constant research and keeping on top of what is happening in order to more quickly react or even anticipate where yacht design is heading to so that they can deal with it fairly.
Next to that, they need to keep working on simplifying the rating system which is applied during races striking a balance between accuracy and simplicity. It has come a long way from the wind average scoring system, which needed an average Einstein with a PC and constant inputs onboard if you wanted to know what was happening on handicap during a race.
Lue nettikeskustelu tästä
Viimeisessä Seahorse lehdessä on myös mielenkiintoinen kommentti Commodores letters:issa:
"There is even a chink of light at the end of the tunnel that is the impasse between different international rating systems. More of that later this year, I hope…"
Voisimmeko pian nähdä yhden yhteisen säännön…..