Saksan Purjehtijaliiton lausuma

DEUTSCHER SEGLER-VERBAND:

IMS IS PRINCIPLE HANDICAP RULE IN GERMANY AND THE BALTIC SEA Hamburg, Germany

The discussion about handicap rules for offshore racing now also seems to have reached Germany. The German Offshore Racing Committee has discussed the future of the German offshore racing during its meeting on October 23rd. It was unanimously agreed that IMS will remain the principle handicap rule used in Germany. This was also strongly supported by the representatives of the Owners Association RVS and by the Race Organisers Conference SVV.

While not ignoring the problems associated with IMS, it is fact that IMS has provided good racing over the last decade on several levels. There is no other rating system available which can compete with the flexibility and accuracy of IMS. Most of the Baltic states are using IMS as their principle handicap rule and a move to a different rating system would only make sense, if the whole Baltic area would do so, but such a change seems most unlikely in the next future.

Since ORC Club has been introduced the Offshore Racing Congress provides a measurement and handicap system for a broad level of competition and the growing ORC Club fleet in the Baltic area, the North Sea and on inland lakes confirms that this is the right way to proceed.

The success of the sportsboat class in Central Europe, which uses ORC Club as their handicap rule, does show the strength of the system: Fairly handicapping trapezes, hiking and canting keels as well on inland lakes and coastal waters.

IMS is in Germany and the Baltic area still considered to be the "state of the art" handicap system. Changing to a less scientific system would mean loosing years of development and experience, paid by the offshore community. Further on it would threaten the existing active fleet of racing yachts built and adjusted to IMS. A change would be hard to explain to the young generation of offshore sailors in Germany as well as to the owners of existing IMS-yachts . Even if IMS is not perfect and improvement is required, it is felt that it makes more sense to improve the existing rating system on the currently achieved high level than to start from scratch with a different rule on a much lower basis.

The DSV-Offshore Racing Committee, the German offshore sailors and race organisers would like to see the Offshore Racing Congress stronger and more active in promoting, marketing and defending IMS and ORC Club which are the most sophisticated and proofed rating systems in the sailing world.