Monday, 17 August 2009

ISAF Q&A | 034

ISAF Q&A 034 describes what is to be done when one of the gate marks is missing.

I found the second question the more interesting one. Imagine the confusion when boats start to claim mark-room at a - according to this Q&A - non-existing mark!
This illustrates perfectly that every sailor should - if there's any doubt about the application of mark-rules - stick to the basic's and us the ROW-rules of part A!

3 comments:

  1. Interesting!

    I like the suggestion that SIs should include an instruction on what to do if one gate mark is missing. It makes a lot of sense though I don't think I've ever seen such an SI.

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  2. Why isn't the absence of one of the marks of a Gate treated identically to the absence of any other mark of the course? I would propose that the Q&A is a serious mistake, and that the loss of one of the marks of a Gate is equal to loosing the Windward Mark. The RRS cover that case perfectly, and those rule should be applied here as well.

    ISAF makes no case as to why a Gate should be different from a Windward Mark, while giving complex and odd instructions on what to do when effectively half a mark is missing.

    Simplicity is always a virtue, and this Q&A flies directly in the face of that. The race should clearly be abandoned, not sailed with boats free to round the same half-of-a-gate in opposite directions simultaneously. Can you really imagine what this would be like in a large regatta with hundreds of boats trying to round a mark simultaneously without there being a correct side? It could actually be quite dangerous.

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  3. I absolutely agree with Beau's opinion.
    Sen Yamaoka, from a crazy hot city Osaka, japan

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