Neil McLure
Hi Euan,
We carry 2 red and 2 orange flares at all times as its the one (the only!) extra safety item we like to carry. These are not in the class rules as you say. It would be interesting if you had a fight with the organisors about it ..
Hi Chris,
I think we should only recommend Sonata Class Rules at all Sonata Class Events. People organising an event will do what they think best but there should be no hesitation that the class endorses its own rules.
Cheers,
Neil
Euan Aitken
Hi Guys
I was going through the Scottish Series NoR and I am struggling to see what to replace my out of date flares with ….
14.2 Subject to 14.4 and 14.5 below yachts in all classes competing
during BDSS 2010 shall comply as a minimum with ISAF Offshore
Special Regulations Category 4 minus lifejacket lights ISAF Reg.
5.01.2 item C and Spotlight ISAF Reg. 4.23.2 item B. It is however
strongly recommended that yachts carry a spotlight for general
safety reasons. All other ISAF safety regulations for ISAF Cat 4 will
be taken as published and valid on the dates on which the series is
running. Copies of the applicable regulations are available from the
ISAF web site.
14.4 Yachts racing in separate One Design and Level Rating Classes
shall comply with the minimum equipment regulations in their class
rules.
I see nothing in our one design rules about flares, but as i read the above our OD rules overule the cat 4 rule. Now my boat is basicly cat4 as i race it day in day out and usualy i sail with 2 hand held red and 2 hand held orange (which need replaced) …. what is everyone else taking or have i misread the above rules.
cheers in advance
Catherine Hartley
HI Euan
I think you are correct in that the One design rules over-ride the Cat 4 in this case.
If you are thinking of going to the Northerns in Whitby, I would recommend you replace with the same – 2 red hand held and two orange smoke as this will be required for the event.
Catherine Hartley
PS for everyone entering Whitby a new NOR will be on-line soon with amended safety requirements (not Cat 4)
Euan Aitken
Thanks for the 2nd opinion Catherine. I will most likley replace what I have like for like then.
I would love to do the Northerns but between holidays, (or lack of) No Trailer, and the impending insurance excess from my mishap at kip weekend I think i will have to skip it this year. but you never know, stuff changes and things sometimes work out so we shall see 
If i do miss it good luck to all.
David Boatman
Hi All, We have only been checked for sonata minimum equipment at Scotish series in the past and this years Notice of race is as previously posted. Cathrine can the association not request to overide whitby and standardise all “Sonata Class Events” to the class min requirement. I am regretably considering not going to whiby, despite it being our local event, if we have to purchase additional equipment for just one event.
Regards
Dave
Chris Bentley
Hi All, We have only been checked for sonata minimum equipment at Scotish series in the past and this years Notice of race is as previously posted. Cathrine can the association not request to overide whitby and standardise all “Sonata Class Events” to the class min requirement. I am regretably considering not going to whiby, despite it being our local event, if we have to purchase additional equipment for just one event.
Regards
Dave
Chris Bentley
Hi all, and particularly Dave Boatman,
Just had a scan down the Cat 4 regs and there is a lot of them! Whilst I am all in favour of safety, some are going to put the majority of Sonata owners to expense and effort to comply, eg lifejackets complete with lights and reflective tape, lifebuoy with light and drogue, flares, bolt cropper,etc. Like Catherine, I sometimes sail at sea and I take what I consider to be a reasonable amount of extra safety kit. I don’t take all that extra clobber when I am racing in company with other Sonatas on a small race circuit. Cat 4 is a comprehensive list designed to include passage races where individual yachts may well be out of sight of land/other yachts, etc and have to cope with fairly extreme conditions on their own.
Let’s try and get this into perspective. Whilst I was at Kip last weekend, I was visited by a guy from the RNLI who proceeded to do an inventory of our safety gear immediately after the last race. We didn’t refuse because, although I could have said we were 100% compliant with our Sonata Class Rules, and it was irrelevant in our case, I have a great respect for the RNLI and I wanted to hear what he had to say about minimum safety gear for small boats. He classed us in the “sportsboat” category – in his terms.
The boxes he ticked were: VHF handheld, torch,fog horn, radar reflector, (amazingly, we had one of the tube ones on-board), the fact that the boat is equipped to have nav lights fitted (we didn’t have the lights or the battery to power them aboard because we were racing in daylight hours), lifejackets, in date and marked with the boat/owner’s name, lifebouy, also marked with the boat name and he gave us some reflective tape to add to it, and lifeline tension, (had to be a bit tighter in our case).
The boxes he didn’t tick were our flares (out of date) and our fire extinguisher -same problem. He also asked that we mark some upper part of the boat with our identity separate to the hull, ie the hatch can be inscribed with the boat name and held up to, eg a helicopter.
At the end of the inventory, the only things we had to do to comply completely with his (RNLI) inventory were to update our flares – and the combination specified was two red hand-held and two orange. We have done this and the cost was £52.00. And our fire extinguisher will cost about £20.00. The rest of his requirements involved a felt-tipped pen and a bit of tape. For me and my crew, I think that it was a very worthwhile exercise. If the RNLI are happy with our inventory of safety kit then I think our Clubs should be too.
Regards Whitby, unless the organisers have other ideas, I think they ought to follow the example above.
We will be racing in close company, presumably within a few minutes call of a RIB or Committee Boat launch, and, if the forecast is too bad, then they presumably won’t race.
I think a reasonable response would be to ask Whitby what they see as the major safety issues of the Champs, ie to do a Risk Assessment, and strongly recommend that we carry certain extra safety equipment. Ie, if fog is a likely issue then, flares to alert position, a foghorn, a working VHF and a GPS to steer us home.
That way they can be seen, in the light of any incident, to have taken a pro-active role and anticipated a problem that could arise due to their local conditions.
The position, as I see it, their response to down-sizing the Cat 4 requirement as a whole to just a recommendation is that, regardless of the responsibility issue, it places the Race Officer in a much more difficult position because he will always be thinking that there maybe boats in the fleet that won’t have any extra gear and be extra cautious about setting a race if conditions may become difficult. Far better that they set a level of ‘extra’ safety gear to be carried aboard – either the same as my RNLI recommendations above, or the addition of certain stuff such as flares and a foghorn if that’s what conditions may warrent, and be confident to send us racing even if conditions are adverse.
As a Committee, we could endorse their list and emphasize that responsible owners should comply.
What do you think?
Chris Bentley
Catherine Hartley
Hi everyone
Please see the post on the Northerns with an amended Notice of Race.
The only additional expense for some people would be purchase of flares, which is not alot to ask.
Please don’t let this put you off going to Whitby,they are a new fleet which we all should be supporting and Whitby is a pretty place to stay for the weekend, good beaches and fun for the family, so bring them along as well! 
I hope that you all have a good weekend at Tarbert and hope to see you all soon.
Catherine Hartley
A Sharp Exit
David Boatman
Hi All,
With the previousl raised issues now out of the way, I fully support Catherine’s comments. If you havent been to Whitby you should have. A great venue for all the family. Not to far from Scotland or the Lakes.
Regards
Dave
Euan Aitken
Below was extracted from the NoR for Kip Regatta, Looks to me like you were checked WAY over what you had to carry for the event but its allways nice to know that you are up to spec if you have to do any passage race.
6.4 Dayboats, Sportsboats and One-Design classes unable to meet Offshore Special Regulations Category 4 and / or having an IRC certificate endorsed D must as a minimum conform to IRC Rule 2009 paras:
29.3 A Dayboat shall be self righting at 60 degrees heel.
29.4 As amended, the following items shall be carried by these boats when racing:
29.4.1 A bilge pump & bucket.
29.4.2 An engine or two paddles or two oars.
29.5.3 One anchor and suitable warp.
29.4.4 A compass.
29.4.5 One lifejacket and whistle for each crew member.
29.4.6 Two red hand flares.
With the exception of the flares i think our own OD rules cover the rest.
Going forward I as an owner would prefer to see the above format adopted rather than a move to cat 4, Although as i said before i think my boat would pass a cat 4 inspection with the excpetion of radar reflector, flares, and spotlight, but then as skipper that is my choice to carry that gear.