I'd like to restate my opposition to the change in the mainsail material. I believe it's not good for the
J/30 Class, and not good for individuals (like me) on a tight budget these days.
A new dacron main from North is $2389, while a kevlar 3DL is $4899. That's more than twice as much. The top level competitive life of either sail is about the same. Purely from a cost/benefit analysis, switching to unrestricted cloth does not make sense.
There are several other large classes that continue to use Dacron as their mainsail material. T10 and J/105 are two that are interesting. Dacron mainsails are not becoming obsolete.
For the
J/30 Class this is a bad choice. Part of what the
J/30 Class association tries to do is to continue racing these boats affordable. Having to buy a main that's twice as expensive as necessary does nothing to keep this affordable. Were I a member of the Tea Party, I'd be asking, "Where's the Beef"?
Should the class change to unrestricted mains, it would be reasonable for local PHRF committees to re-evaluate the rating of
J/30 Class boats. The PHRF rating should change.
Finally, for those that race PHRF, they can do whatever they like. They can use a Kevlar main today without a problem. If they feel that their rating is incorrect, they can take it up with their local PHRF handicapping authority. There's no particular reason that they should be pushing this change on a class association which has been working well for 30 years.
Dennis Bartley
J/30 Planxty
