Spinnaker sheet block recess

published 07/24/2024

An owner has asked whether the above spinnaker sheave setup is legal. There was a ruling in June 2020 to say it isn’t. Since then, the class rules have changed (which makes the interpretation less certain) but in any case, boat builders are not doing this anymore. In the meantime, there are many boats with this setup – mostly M11’s but also some boats from other manufacturers. There are several boats that have competed in Worlds without anyone raising any issues about it (eg. both Heritage and M11 boats). This setup doesn’t present any safety issues as the hole doesn’t pierce the watertight compartment, nor does this setup provide any performance advantage. It wouldn’t be a trivial task to fill these holes.

An interpretation was provided on 3 June 2020 ruling this setup to be illegal. Boats which had this setup installed prior to 3 June 2020 are not required to change it. However, it is not permitted to be fitted after 3 June 2020. If a replacement block is required for a boat with this system, the same type of block may be used.