Since there are sailors who race in other boats but occasionally race the Wave, or might race a Wave in the future, or who have a kid who might step into Wave racing, I'm putting this here as well as the Wave forum. There is a proposal to allow the installation of a clew plate on the Wave main to give some adjustment to the factory supplied single grommet. The factory says this is an IHCA decision and they will go on installing single grommets. Fair enough, a clew plate installation is probably about $30. The full discussion is down in the Hobie Wave forum labelled "Clew Plates".
If you think you might race a Wave in the future with a blown out sail and would want to flatten it a bit, or have a sail you think is too flat and needs extra power since you might have put on a few pounds by then, or you want to flatten the sail out to make it more controllable for your daughter, or you want to power it up to sail through the power boat chop from the jet skis, .... well you get the idea.
The deadline for you to weigh in for or against the clew plate is 1 August 2013. Only members of the class association get to vote. This is what I sent to
[email protected] I am in favour of the inclusion of rule 3.3 allowing a clew plate on the Wave sail. The change would allow for increased control of sail shape to adjust for slight variances in sail construction and to make adjustments as a sail ages. And to give the sail more fullness to make adjustment as the skipper ages and possibly adds a few pounds. There is no implication that Hobie Cat should start installing clew plates on new boats. A very few, too few, boats are ever raced and of those very few will feel the need to modify their sail. For the very, very few who feel that need this rule allows that to happen. Thank you for attention to this matter. Have a Hobie day!
Charles Smith
NAHCA #14220
Hobie Fleet 298