ISAF Offshore Category 5 (ie Inshore) question.

[Capn Mud]

The ISAF Category 5 safety regs say (in part)

3.09.2 cockpits must be essentially watertight, that is, all
openings to the hull must be capable of being strongly
and rigidly secured

3.09.6 In cockpits opening aft to the sea structural
openings aft shall be not less in area than 50%
maximum cockpit depth x maximum cockpit width

My question relates to whether boats like Corsair tris (Sprint, C28, etc), open cockpit sports boats etc comply with this or not. (Pics show open rear cockpits)

My understanding of the what 3.09 says would indicate that in fact they dont but I am aware that they compete in lots of inshore (ie Category 5) and indeed some offshore regattas so perhaps I am misinterpreting things?

Can anyone shed some light for me?

Cheers,
Andrew

[RHough]

The ISAF Category 5 safety regs say (in part)

3.09.2 cockpits must be essentially watertight, that is, all
openings to the hull must be capable of being strongly
and rigidly secured

3.09.6 In cockpits opening aft to the sea structural
openings aft shall be not less in area than 50%
maximum cockpit depth x maximum cockpit width

My question relates to whether boats like Corsair tris (Sprint, C28, etc), open cockpit sports boats etc comply with this or not. (Pics show open rear cockpits)

My understanding of the what 3.09 says would indicate that in fact they dont but I am aware that they compete in lots of inshore (ie Category 5) and indeed some offshore regattas so perhaps I am misinterpreting things?

Can anyone shed some light for me?

Cheers,
Andrew

IIRC the opening *is* greater than 50% of the area (It is on a Sprint 750). So there is no problem. I suppose if you consider the top of the combings as the max width and measure max depth from there the opening might not be 50%, but it sure is close to 100% of the area between the seats and the cockpit sole.

[Capn Mud]

Thanks....

That makes sense - I was actually reading it the wrong way - ie that the opening could be no more than 50%......


And I think the reason why is because of 3.09.2 requiring cockpits to be essentially water tight.....

How do the examples fulfil that requirement? Or am I again misunderstanding?

Cheers,
Andrew

[RHough]

Thanks....

That makes sense - I was actually reading it the wrong way - ie that the opening could be no more than 50%......


And I think the reason why is because of 3.09.2 requiring cockpits to be essentially water tight.....

How do the examples fulfil that requirement? Or am I again misunderstanding?

Cheers,
Andrew

IIRC it is water tight to the interior of the boat. No open holes for crew to stand in while trimming. This was a feature of 12 Meter boats for the AC. The idea is if the cockpit gets swamped, the water goes back to the sea, not into the bilge.

[Capn Mud]

Excuse my ignorance - what does IIRC mean?