FOOTY Class R/C Sailboat
Official Class Association of IFCA


Latest News

May 02, 2009
2009 Postal Classic announced
Brett McCormack (New Zealand) has announced the 2009 Postal Classic. In this race skippers from around the world race for the best times around a standard course. You can race any time in the month of July but be sure to email your results to Brett by July 31st! For complete details, see the Racing tab which has a link to his announcement.
March 17, 2009
Recent Footy rules ballot results
Thanks, AMYA Footy skippers, for your participation in the recent Footy rules ballot. The results were 83 in favor of the change, with 2 against. That means AMYA is back in sync with the international rules, and will remain in sync unless we decide to have an exception.

The new rules take effect immediately. They can be found here on this website.

I'll get the AMYA Footy webpage updated to reflect the change as soon as possible. Thanks to everyone for the great response and for your help.

Bill Hagerup

January 25, 2009
New Rules published
The results of last year's voting have been incorporated into a new set of rules for the Footy class. You can find them here.

December 17, 2008
Voting results for proposed rule changes
Adopted by the International Committee as having been properly conducted. (To see the seven page ballot, click here).
PART 1 Proposal About YES NO
pass 1 rudder exception 86 5
pass 2 wind indicator 88 2
pass 3a set of rigs 72 17
pass 3b change of sail area 64 25
pass 4 radio control 90 1
pass 5 ballast density 87 3
PART 2
pass 6 batteries 47 44
pass 7a rudder proposal 55 34
pass 7b multiple rudder 29 9
fail 8a 3 set of rigs 31 58
fail 8b 3 set with limits 12 19
pass 8c 2 rigs no 305 mm limit 27 15
fail 8d unrestricted choice 15 20

November 14, 2008
Ballot for proposed rule changes
Registered Footy skippers should be getting email from their national registrars concerning proposed changes to rules defining the Footy class. A seven page PDF file describes the various proposals in detail. Skippers should reply to their registrar's email with a simple text message with the ballot item numbers and a "yes"/"no" vote beside each. Responses must be received by Dec. 7th, so if you don't hear from your registrar soon, go ahead and email him with your votes anyway. The email addresses of the registrars are on the Register page of this website.

October 11, 2008
2008 Chris Dicks Design Competition
The rules for the 2008 Chris Dicks Design Competition have been released. Click here to see their announcement as a PDF file. Although primarily a UK event, the results are always interesting and we usually get some pictures.

August 26, 2008
Position of current rule update requests
The Tech Committee has now been seized of these requests for almost 12 months. One member of the committee is actually suggesting that we defer any decision until after the 2009-2012 updates to the ISAF rules have been published. Many may consider it quite laughable that anyone should believe that changes in the ERS might have any effect on the measurement of Footys, particularly since the only bits of ERS that are used are low-level (and therefore presumptively stable) definitions. One is left with a nasty suspicion that, come 2009, it might seem a good idea to put consideration of changes back to Preston Guild.

This is getting silly. Attempts have been made to nudge the process along, but I must confess that they have not been very energetic: waiting until after Birkenhead/Liverpool, which marked a step forward in Footys as a world class, was over and done with did seem like a good idea – and did provide some valuable insights. Since there is now quite serious (and justifiable) unrest among active Footy sailors, I have taken the bull by the horns and written to Bill Hagerup as chairman of the Tech Committee as follows:

I am instructed by my Committee to write to you as follows. You have had about 12 months to discuss the pros and cons of the proposed rule changes. It is not the function of your team to change the rule - that is the job of the members.

We are therefore instructing you to come up with either a clear recommendation where you have a degree of unanimity or else a brief reasoned case in favour of each of the available options. We expect to have the results of your deliberations by 7 September 2008. I would remind you that motions of the tech team are by a simple majority of votes. Angus Richardson Footy Class International Committee

Bill has signified that this deadline will be met.

I must confess that I had forgotten that the matter of ‘racing trim’ has actually been properly dealt with 18 months ago (a long time in Footy terms). See Clarifications . Nonetheless, I have requested the Tech Committee to draft a clarification on the position of the height of the hull in the box. I think this is implicitly defined, but it could be made clearer. In general terms, I would commend Keven Jackson’s very lucid explanation. It is not official, and I have not read it with a lawyer’s eye, but it seems to be a good commonsense guide.

THE SECOND POINT.

I would be the first to agree that the committee (which controls, hires and fires the tech committee and is therefore ultimately been responsible for its doings) has been remiss in not prosecuting these matters more diligently. There are always excuses (some of them quite good ones) but the fact remains that performance has not been up to scratch. The committee is appointed by members in each country, so if you want to fire the committee, do it through your own local class organisation. But remember that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and you will need a replacement who will do the job better.

However, I will do my best to ensure that matters are processed much more quickly. The last changes to the technical and administrative rules were made in response to some perfectly fair (if very bluntly put) complaints by John "Waboats" and were made very quickly. We were accused in some quarters of acting out of panic – and there may be a grain of truth in this: John is a fearsome opponent when roused – but there was a sincere desire that the management of the class be transparent and visibly efficient. http://www.rcsailing.net/forum1/showthread.php?p=38979#post38979

That desire remains. If you have questions or want changes, talk initially to your national registrar, who is your representative on the International Committee. Note that in the USA this is John Amoroso, NOT Bill Hagerup. Anything that is urgent for any reason will be dealt with urgently and be subject to an official interpretation. Please do not expect ‘it would be nice if’ suggestions for changes (as opposed to clarifications) to be dealt with at the drop of a hat. No matter how dear your idea may be to you (and no matter how good it is), there are other considerations such as rule stability and how often members want to be balloted that must be borne in mind.

FINALLY

Many if not all of the more heated debates in this forum and in RCSailing have been driven by outsiders who do not have and probably never intend having a Footy but who enjoy a little sea-lawyering. I entirely appreciate that the protagonists in this debate are all active and committed Footy owners. You may be trying to twist the rule to your advantage (a perfectly legitimate desire), but it is a genuine debate which I promise you will receive the proper attention it deserves.

OK. So how do I do as a stand in for Tony Blair or Bill Clinton?? ;-)

Cheers,

Angus Richardson

July 21, 2008
AMYA magazine features Footys!
Issue No. 152 (Summer 2008) of the official AMYA magazine "Model Yachting" has been released here in the USA. This issue is devoted exclusively to Footys. From the list of articles below you can see the rich content of this issue:

Non AMYA-members can order copies through the AMYA Ship's Store. Cost is $7 US plus shipping. This is a great resource and all non-AMYA Footy skippers should get a hold of a copy!

June 10, 2008
Euro GP in Liverpool is ON!
Anug Richardson (back from hospital!) reports: "The Euro GP in Liverpool is going ahead as planned and last minute entries are pouring in. We have entries from the USA, Sweden, South Africa and Italy and may end up with as many as 30 entries. Bill Hagerup (US Class secretary) is coming. He and I are taking the Monday off to look at narrow gauge steam trains." Their Notice of Race has details.

June 09, 2008
Site Seeing: Burton Model Boat Club
The Burton Model Boat Club in the UK has a good looking website. Check it out at www.burtonmodelboatclub.org.uk. Under the "Footy Racing Reports" tab they've got a nice-looking page on their various Footy races. They just held their May Footy open, with another scheduled for June 28th at Branston. Send me your link if you have a nice club website!


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