:: I beleive that the helmsman does not contribute to the
:: righting moment of the boat in any significant way. We
:: sit facing inboard and may not hike past the sheerline
:: of the boat.
::
:: If you calculate the torque generated by an object at
:: the center of mass of the helsman facing inboard at the
:: narrowest part of the boat and compare it to the torque
:: generated by an object located at the center of mass of
:: a crew member facing ourward at the widest part of the
:: boat, the helmsman is half as efficient at righting the
:: boat (counteracting the heal) than the crew. Therefore
:: he/she should only count as half in computing the total
:: weight limit for the boat.
::
:: crew+crew+crew+crew+skipper/2

Seems reasonable, but the logic would lead to not allowing ANY helm changes during a race. Not unreasonable for buoys, but potentially problematic for longer stuff.

The second you can take that skipper off the helm at all, you have a potential significant advantage, with no way for monitoring.

Just thinking out loud ....

Bob Harvey