Catalina 22 Class Rules - Hiking

The following rule is probably violated more than any other of the fifteen class rules. The reason being that most of the skippers and hardly any of the crew members even know that this is a part of the rules. However this is a situation that can bring on a protest from another competitor.

The correct position for a crew member while racing with the intent to keep all the weight to the high side is to sit with the back to the cabin with the legs hanging over the side of the boat. This is permissible because the torso is well inside the vertical extension of the sheer. Boats with lifelines do a pretty good job keeping crew members inside the vertical extension of the sheer, but without lifelines there is no restriction to remind the crew that they are hiking beyond the limits of the rule. A good way to remember “is the body of the crew or the skipper in the boat or out of the boat”.

The ANTI-HIKING rule is quoted below.

I. ANTI-HIKING

General - while participating in Catalina 22 Class races no person while on board and while racing may position themselves in any manner, which will extend their torso outside and beyond the vertical extension of the sheer other than temporarily.

While in a position to make sail changes criteria stated in I. above will not apply.

In the example shown below, the boat in the lead is clearly in a position that does not place any of his torso outside and beyond the vertical extension of the sheer of the boat.

However the crew member in the boat behind has a large part of the torso outside of the vertical sheer as indicated by the red lines. In this case there is probably not much advantage based on the crew size. But on the other hand if it were a 275 pound man in this same position, there would be a great advantage toward the righting moment of the boat. In either case it is a violation of the ANTI-HIKING rule.