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Dear Friends
Many of you may have seen recent forum posts and magazine coverage of comments made by the Patrik brand regarding recent changes to the rules for registering production Slalom equipment for use on the PWA Tour. In order to clarify the situation and avoid any further debate and confusion, we have put together the following account of the decisions that were made and the circumstances leading up to them.
Kind regards
The PWA
Situation surrounding changes to equipment registration rules concerning accessories and other items designed to modify hull shape.
During the Sylt event, several sailors from the Slalom fleet raised complaints with the Protest Committee, that a Patrik rider was using modifications on his board. These modifications were not standard parts of the hull and were designed to alter the hull shape from the standard specification by adjusting the depth and shape of the cut-outs at the tail, and the width of the board under the feet of the rider.
On inspection, the Protest Committee found that the rider had attached plates in the cut-outs and had also attached other items to the foot strap inserts that altered the submitted specification of the board in a way that contravened the rules. Although the rider in question was not seen to use the board with the attached modifications during a race, he asked for a rule clarification and was advised that he should not use the modifications as he would be disqualified if he did.
In this instance some of the modifications made were not even factory produced items or had been further modified from their factory specification, so there was no doubt in the mind of the committee that they breached the rules regarding the modification of production equipment.
Subsequent to this, Patrik approached the PWA to ask for a clarification of the situation suggesting that they felt that the modifications should be allowed as it was no different to changing a fin or foot straps and therefore should be allowed.
As this was an issue that had not been brought to the attention of the PWA previously, it was not clearly specified in the rules and needed further consideration before a clarification could be stated.
The issue was therefore presented to the PWA Management Board for consideration before a ruling was made.
As in all such situations, the matter was presented to the PWA Board anonymously, without the brand in question being identified. This is done to ensure there is no allegation of bias or personal interest in Board decisions.
The discussion on the subject continued for several weeks - please understand that the PWA Board are spread around the globe, in different time zones, and take decisions such as this very seriously, so they do not happen overnight.
Although there were some requests from riders that these types of accessories / modifications should be banned, the Board felt that brands should be permitted to design and create these kinds of accessories as part of their R & D process if they so wished. However, it was essential that the freedom to create and use such items, did not undermine the fundamental principles of using production equipment by creating an open ended opportunity to continually modify and adjust boards throughout the season.
It was therefore decided to allow these types of accessories to be used on the PWA Slalom Tour, but only if their specification was registered in order to ensure that there was not an unlimited opportunity for modification through the year. This decision was unanimously supported by the PWA Board – including all 4 sailor representatives and all three industry representatives.
Although by that time it was quite late to announce a rule change, Patrik had already informed the PWA staff that “we already made all boards and we will have a disadvantage if you change the rule now as our boards are tested with all the plates and wings.” So the PWA staff knew that this would not impact Patrik other than the necessity to measure and register the various accessories that they wished to be able to use, as the plates, wings and the boards in question were already designed.
Additionally, Patrik were given additional time to measure and register their range of accessories as they would not have had time to do so before the registration deadline, so the timing of the publication of the rule additions was also not in any way prohibitive to the brand.
At all times, the PWA Board do their utmost to act in the best interests of the sport, the PWA Tour and the members of the PWA – both sailor and industry. In this case they acted to change the rules to ALLOW Patrik to continue to use the various accessories that they had designed, when the previous rules prohibited their use. No restriction has been placed on Patrik using these accessories, simply that they must register them and submit the specification if they wish to use them.
Since the rule updates were published, nobody from Patrik has approached the PWA to protest about the rules, choosing instead to voice discontent, through largely unfounded and inaccurate accounts of the situation, in forums and to the magazines.
We would therefore like to reassure Patrik and everyone in the sport, that the rule changes announced at the end of last year were designed to allow Patrik (or other brands) to produce and use these kinds of accessories and not to prevent them, which it seems that Patrik feel is the case.
There was no conspiracy by the bigger brands, nor were they even aware of which brands were involved when the decision was made. It was in fact the industry brands of the PWA Board who supported the interests of Patrik in allowing these accessories to be used. No action has been taken by the PWA which prevents Patrik using the accessories or boards they have designed, provided they register such accessories, which in itself is not an unreasonable request.
We hope that this clarification will be the end of the discussion.
La news c'est que Patrik a développé des "ailes", des elargisseurs amovibles au niveau des straps comme il l'avait fait il y a quelques temps sur ses formulas, le reste ça devrait s'arranger

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Fanatic Falcon speed +housse + aileron 100€,dispo La Rochelle
