Once in blue moon it happens that an umpire boat breaks down and the wing boat has to take over. It happened to us yesterday. That in itself is not a problem. You change position and start umpiring. In our case r the umpires managed to get another boat, and they came back to take over again.
Afterwards I started wondering what should be done if in the time the wing boat was umpiring, they had given a penalty, and how that penalty should be handed over?
If the umpire boat puts up a new flag that would technically be a 'new' penalty. See RRS C5.2
(there also should be a sound signal - but in any kind of breeze that might be missed)
And rule C 7.4 (c) is no help either.
After some discussion we decided that transferring the penalty flag from one boat to the other would be the most correct solution.
That, or let the wing keep umpiring.
What do you think?
Afterwards I started wondering what should be done if in the time the wing boat was umpiring, they had given a penalty, and how that penalty should be handed over?
If the umpire boat puts up a new flag that would technically be a 'new' penalty. See RRS C5.2
(there also should be a sound signal - but in any kind of breeze that might be missed)
And rule C 7.4 (c) is no help either.
After some discussion we decided that transferring the penalty flag from one boat to the other would be the most correct solution.
That, or let the wing keep umpiring.
What do you think?
The important thing is informing the competitos of the existing penalties. I'd be practical and if there's a penaly when the wing takes over, they raise a flag, no sound signals, umpire boat takes down the flags. Technically speaking, you transferred umpiring function and penalty signals to another boat. Either this continues till the end or the original umpire pair comes back and the same transfer happens one more time.
ReplyDeleteIt is a matter of solving an ad-hoc problem the best and easiest way. Umpire boat failure is not covered by rules, no special procedure necessary for that, as long as it is clear to the competitors, who the current umpires are (and which is their boat).
C'mon, get real! The wing takes the flag down and the umpires put up their. No risk of misunderstanding!
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