Comet Trio – Proposed new class rules – covering letter

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Dear Comet Trio Owner,

COMET TRIO – PROPOSED NEW CLASS RULES
Since the introduction of the new rig for the Comet Trio there has been considerable debate within the membership about the way the class is moving forward. The new rig has now been sailed at 3 National Championships and it is time to settle on a set of Class Rules that are clear and work for everyone.
Your committee has been working hard to achieve this aim. We held a meeting to discuss the issues at last year’s Nationals at Brixham. It was clear at that meeting that there were several Comet Trio owners who wanted to continue to be able to buy sails to the original pattern. Subsequent to this meeting your committee has tried to persuade Peak Dinghies to offer a mainsail and spinnaker to the original pattern either through Rowsell or North or another designated sailmaker.
Peak Dinghies & North Sails have subsequently introduced a “Code Zero” spinnaker, intended to replicate the original Trio spinnaker as closely as possible. This is a radial cut spinnaker of similar dimensions which should retain its shape over a longer period of time as opposed to the original five panel spinnaker.
Peak Dinghies have not agreed to offer a mainsail to the original pattern and a letter explaining the reason is attached to this letter.
Consequently, we have drafted a set of rules which reflect the current situation, please see attached.
Some points of note:
1.The rules reflect the status quo for the last 20 years in that they will require Trio owners to buy items of major equipment from the Licensed Builder (currently Peak Dinghies).
2.The CCCA Committee will always encourage all Trio owners to comply with the current class rules.
3.Whilst the responsibility for enforcing the class rules lies with the CCCA Committee, the CCCA Constitution only allows the CCCA to recommend changes to the class rules to the licensed builder.
4.Unfortunately, Comet Dinghies and Peak Dinghies never marked Rowsell Sails to show that they were bought through the builder. North Sails have only ever been available through Peak Dinghies.
5.The CCCA committee has never been able to determine through whom Rowsell made Trio sails have been bought and this aspect of the rules is not enforceable.
6.In order to close this loophole in the CCCA committee propose to mark all existing Rowsell sails during 2020 at the request of the owner. After 2020 Trios sailing at events where they are required to comply with the class rules will only be able to use Rowsell sails that carry a CCCA mark.
7.It is the intention of the CCCA Committee to continue to provide Inland and National Championships for the Trio and the Trio Mk2 for as long as there is support amongst the membership for such events.
8.Constructive amendments to these new draft rules are welcome and should be addressed to Bob Horlock robert.horlock@sky.com by 11th Jan 2020.
9.The CCCA Committee would like to ratify these new rules at the CCCA AGM at Llangorse in early May. A ratification process involving the whole registered membership is envisaged and everyone’s help in ensuring that all Trio ownership is registered is requested.
Adrian Padro CCCA Chairman
Statement from Peak Dinghies:-
I am pleased to announce that the new flatter cut spinnaker is now ready for people to try out. This is an addition to the other sails that North already produce for us. So, going forward there will be a choice of the following; Dacron Main, Laminate Main, Dacron Jib, Flat Cut Spinnaker and Full Cut Spinnaker.
The flatter spinnaker has been developed following feedback from sailors who liked the higher pointing capabilities of the original spinnaker. Both we and North recognised the merit of this argument and so we were happy to produce something that filled the gap. The new spinnaker is also radial cut and I am sure it will be a great success.
We were asked if we would consider an alternative main sail too, but both we and North feel that the current cut of main is the best possible one for the Trio. As a result, any different cut of main would be suboptimal and we would not want to supply something that we did not feel was the best we can offer.
This new sail sees an end to the changes to the rig that were requested by Trio sailors and voted for by the class association membership. No class can stand still
but change is never easy and with that in mind we have tried to make the transition as painless as possible. As the original rig had been unchanged for twenty years we wanted to ensure that the new rig was as up to date as possible.
Doing this makes the Trio a more attractive option for those looking for a new boat in that class, it improves the boats handling for existing Trio owners and it ensures that there will not be a drip feed of further changes in a few years’ time.
All the new parts of the rig are compatible with the old rig and items are individually priced so that anyone wishing to upgrade, an item at a time, pays no more than anyone who changes everything at once.
As a Single Manufacturer One Design (SMOD) boat we realise that, as the sole builder, there is a responsibility on us to supply everything from a complete boat
down. The SMOD status of the Trio helps us here as both we and our suppliers can manage stocks of parts with more certainty.
Sailors of a SMOD class also benefit in the knowledge that parts will remain available. This is often not the case in small non SMOD fleets where suppliers cherry pick what they offer and the truly one-off items are not available. Another benefit for the sailor, no measuring of boats or sails.
We are just about to start the fit out of Trio 506 and 507, 508 and 509 are in the order book. We just need to work on ways to spread the word about just how good the Trio is.
If you would like to try out the new flatter cut spinnaker, please e-mail me or contact Adrian Padro.
Glyn Rawson Peak Dinghies

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