Why does Wold Sailing forbid wider pulpits?

[thinwater]

I can see the reason near the beam; folks would hang rail meat out there. They'd bang on docks. But it seems like it would be safer most of the time.



But the rule is clear:



No jibe impingment.



Yes, you would need to do something to prevent stepping through and a toe rail would be nice.


But I'm confused. Please explain.


(World Sailing--I can't edit a misspelled title)

[psk125]

The clarity of the rule? As I read it, the BASES must be vertical for 2" and within a certain distance of the "working deck". The stanchions or tubes leading from them can at most be angled 10º. That is not the same as saying the pulpits must be within the deck plan.

The idea is to keep crew on board the boat. People sit and lean on pulpits while working at the bow. An extreme overhanging pulpit would put a crew, depending upon it for support, halfway off the boat. The bow dives in (especially with his or her weight up there) and the water hits them on the boat's way down, washing them up and off the foredeck. Hope they're hooked on. With the stanchions and pulpit all within or close to the deck plan, if the bow dives in, the wave goes up outside of where the crew is. Water might come over the bow if the boat submarines into a wave, or a crest comes down on it, but the crew then gets washed aft, not up and off the boat. I've been kneeling forward, working jib hanks, when the bow has plowed into a wave with green water over my waist. I was glad to be working on deck and not out over the water.

[thinwater]

^^ A thin flange would solve the problem you describe.



Clear? "Pulpit...nor further outboard than the edge of the working deck."



But overall, I'm not sure I'm with you, particularly if the lower portion were filled in with netting.



I understand the jackline and tether thing very well. I've been through a few waves.


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I just wonder if anyone knows the official reasoning, not our guesses.

[psk125]

Originally Posted by thinwater

^^



Clear? "Pulpit...nor further outboard than the edge of the working deck."



B

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I just wonder if anyone knows the official reasoning, not our guesses.

The wording is obviously not clear. The sections referred to seem to be addressing the stanchion or pulpit BASES - not the pulpit itself. Many pulpits - mine included- extend outboard beyond the edge of the working deck.