Sean,

I know what you're saying, and I'd thought of that.
It's obvious that an unwetted beak changes nothing.

It might be in the way that we each interpret the question.

Would I not be correct if both boats were produced from
the same mold and shorter one was built using as 2-1/2"
dam at the transom?

9 Lives

Yes Mark.

The disadvantage of not being long enough to meet the spec class minimum length.

Whether there is an advantage or not, if boats are under the minimum length, then they are not to be allowed to run. Period.

I always thought SKATER Cats had this issue in the past prior to the OSS organization...

in that case yes, but if they moved everything to keep the cg correct (steps, cockpit, engines), then, no... just damning the mold probably would make a ill handling and riding boat.... but if you were to add length (especially just inches) to a cat, the sponson would be the easiest and best place to do so.... but the rules say you can't have hull extensions to meet length requirements either, so it should be interesting to see how this is resolved.

and the 388 skater has a transom notch, so adding 2.5" to the transom might not increase running surface anyway... as long as the boat was rebalanced....

Wouldn't it just be much easier to have all of the owners vote to have the minimum length reduced to 37' 6" and open up the racing to a much wider range of boats?

I was assuming for both boats to be balanced correctly and
agree that the importance of correct balancing to be immense.

Now that you mentioned it, I didn't see any thing in the OSSC rules
regarding notches and wonder if they'll allow Tony to add the required
amount to the transom above the running surface as in a small notch.
Of course, re-balancing of the boat would be required for this,
unlike a simple sponson extension at the front. (Beak)

As to Nick's response. I thought that your 0.5% calculation was
in reduced wetted surface and do agree that 0.5% of added lift
would show little, if any, performance increase.

Got it. Sorry for the confusion.

I'm sure it would, Tim. I'm with you. I'm also sure that if it were put to a vote, the outcome would have been different. After all, who in the world would go out of their way to eliminate a fellow year-long racer over 2.5" - that wouldn't be in the spirit of competition.

Hey you all are veering into a discussion of actual events, be careful or posts will start to disappear and alter egos will show up

Right back at ya, Round Shady

Rules are rules; not recommendations.

Shark, I agree with Uncle Teddy, let's not veer off to actual events.

So far I've seen a lot of good info, but no conclusive evidence.

I know in stock class, the longer boats are forced to carry more weight as thier able to pack more air under the tunnel. That's the main reason I ask the initial question.