Chief Measurer's Ruling on Rudder Gudgeons

As Chief Measurer I was recently asked to rule on a matter in which an owner had substituted the Australian supplied rudder gudgeons with those supplied by the North American Tasar builder, West Coast Sailing.    Rudder gudgeons are a 'Tasar specific' fitting and are supplied by Tasar builders in Australia, North America, Japan and the UK. However, in the vagaries of our One Design Class, each builder's offering is slightly different. The class rules don't permit another Tasar builder's fittings to be used simply because they are perceived to 'be better'.

There is currently a stream of work underway to address this - more on this soon. My response at the time was that under Class Rule C.2.1(a) it was OK to substitute the gudgeon fittings, having regard to the 'circumstances of supply' at that time.

However, it has since been pointed out that the fittings have not been used 'as supplied by the builder'. This is a different matter and breaches Class Rule A.1.2, which prohibits 'any alteration of the form or construction of the hull, equipment, fittings, spars, sails or running rigging, as supplied by the builder'. So in summary, its OK to substitute Tasar specific fittings, one Tasar builder's fittings with another's - given the circumstances of supply, etc but if you use another Tasar builder's fitting, it must be used in its complete form, as supplied by the builder.

Graham Hanna

WTCA Measurer