Indian MR Sel. Trails 2011; Final Day

In very nice conditions with a nice breeze we sailed the semi finals, petit finals and finals today, for the Selection Trails in Match Racing in Mumbai
Of the final four contestants, three were very close in skills, so we almost needed all the races to decide who could be counted winner. At the very last race we did have a request for redress - one of the OCS flags was 3-4 seconds later then the other - but it did not have a serious influence on the outcome of the race. So the PC denied redress and the results stood. The happy winner Ayaz and his crew took a cooling bath to celebrate.

There were of course discussions about our umpire decisions. I am confident we did the best we could and have only one doubt. About a slam-dunk situation. I'll do some checking and will come back to it asap.
For the most part I think everybody was happy to have me here.

I'm back at my lodgings at the RBYC to shower, pack, eat a late dinner and go to the airport. My flight leaves at 01:10 hours.... Hopefully I can get some shutteye on the plane...

I've heard back from the Q&A-Panel. They changed the format so they could answer. I'll also write about that in a different post. It will be a long long Wednesday with four and a half extra hours.....

Indian MR Sel. Trails 2011; Day Two

After day one, follows day two, right?
We had to wait a little longer for the afternoon sea breeze to kick in, and it was a little less windy than yesterday, but the RO did a good job and managed to do seven flights. Which brings our total up to 16 flights of 23

Some close fighting - some not so close, but because everybody was on the water (in a extra spectator boat for crews not sailing) the matches went like clockwork and seemed to enjoy themselves.

In the debrief we discussed some incidents and we did have some heated discussions, but not about rules or issues I need to tell about in this post. Save it to say, I have a question for you. One I had to look up in the rulebook to be sure.

What must happen if - for reasons unknown - one of the comeptitors and his crew does not come out on the water to sail? Now, no cheating, without looking it up, do you know the answer?





Ok, you can have a look in the rulebook.
It's in Appendix C.
If you are quick, your name will be the first commenter to get it right.

ESS 2011: A Q&A from Act 1; Oman, as send to ISAF

Dear Q&A panel,

During the Extreme Sailing Series Act 1 in Muscat, Oman, we encountered an incident for which we think the rules have no answer. I'm sending you attached a Boat Scenario file, a gif-file and some png-file, derived from that program. We discussed the incident with the whole umpire team, but found no solution covered by the rules.

Yellow = Luna Rossa; Red = Alinghi; Blue = The Wave; Three black lines = Breakwater (shore)

In position 1 Luna Rossa asks for room to tack. Alinghi responded in position 3 with “you tack”. In position 5 both Alinghi and the Wave asked for room and protested when contact occurred.

The Wave has to give Alinghi room to pas behind the obstruction (Luna Rossa) (RRS 19.2). Alinghi has to give room to the Wave for the breakwater (also RRS 19.2)

The Wave has right of way, but nowhere in the rules is there a definite solution to who is breaking a rule.

We ended up deciding it this way: Both broke rule 19.2 but Alinghi also broke rule 11; Penalty on Alinghi.

What if Luna Rossa had not completed her tack, never becoming an obstruction until later?

The Wave then does not have to give Alinghi room (there's no obstruction), but Alinghi does have to give room to The Wave for the breakwater and keep clear. The fact that Alinghi has an obligation under rule 20 to give room to Luna Rossa to keep clear, does not make Luna Rossa an obstruction> Before the 2010 RRS change it would have.

The problem seems to arise from the fact that the rules specifically state a boat has to give room if it is able to, from the moment the overlap is established. In our case that was already several boat lengths before. At that moment both were able to give room. But when the boats arrived at the limited space available there was no room for both of them, only for one.

All things being equal, we decided on the water that the keep clear boat should not have gone in there. The right of way boat had no route to escape, but the keep clear boat could perhaps have luffed. In discussion we found no better solution.

For the Umpire Team, Extreme Sailing Series 2011,
Sofia Truchanowicz & Jos Spijkerman

Lets see what comes back. I'll inform you of the answer....

Indian MR Sel. Trails 2011; Day One

YAI Website

After a good night sleep in the RBYC, I left the city center to the venue and arrived at 09:30. No breeze.
Well, lets first do the skippers briefing and see how it looks like then.

Ten teams finally registered, so the format the OA decided on, was to go for a full round robin. 45 matches in 23 flights; that would take 2,5 days, more or less. Then we could do the semifinals and finals in 1,5 day.
The wind did come and developed into a nice steady breeze around 8 to 10 knots, a little later than expected, but we started racing around noon.

The four J24's were made as equal as possible, although some had winch problems and one broke its tiller-extension after one race. No matter, on set would operate without winch handles and one set without the tiller extensions.

A clear pattern emerged pretty soon. There are three or four skippers and crew who have worked hard on their skills and are doing some pretty close racing. But the others are not there yet. To much boat handling problems, too much spinnaker issues and - like beginners - making unexpected and sometimes not logical moves.

It looks like we will have some close races later in the event deciding the winner. For now all are having a good time. Only one rule 14 issue and half a point deduction. Which is pretty good for this event, Pat assured me. With nine flights on the books we are right on schedule, despite the late start.

I'm back at the club and will have some diner in a short while.

The OA does have a bit of an issue with what is actually the "Prize" that one or more teams can win. A question from the morning briefing. What will the selected 'get'? Like always - the budget will decide that in a great part - I suspect.

If I remember I'll take some pictures of Mumbai's skyline tomorrow. And of the MR-action, of course. I have no special rules situations or calls from today. Perhaps later this week.

Indian MR National Selection Trails 2011 – Practice Day

After a long flight from Amsterdam – Zurich – Mumbai I’ve arrived in India for the Indian Match Race Selection Trails 2011. I’m currently in the office of Cmdr. A. Patankar (Pat for short) for a couple of meetings in a short time. The YAI invited me to be the CU for this event in which a couple of teams will be selected to be supported by the National Authority in their Match Race career.

At the moment it is not yet sure how many teams will participate, so we don’t know the exact format. In the meetings we’ll go over the relevant documents (SI & NOR, etc) to get the last crinkles out. The event is run from a military training facility slash Military Yacht Club. Pat has been briefing me on the preparations and seems to have everything well in hand. With military efficiency – so to speak.

Break…

We’ve had our meetings. The main issue seems to be the number of skippers that will participate. We are on 11 at the moment. Probably too many to go for a full round robin. That would mean 28 flights, and an average of nine per day is already three days. Since the event only lasts four days, that would be cutting it close

If we stay with 11 we will have to go to two groups and let the best six or four (three or two in each group) go through for the finals. We’ll wait and see how many are going to turn up. We are going to have some lunch.

Break….

Back in my hotel room at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club. It’s now past three. I’ll catch up on some mails and then take a stroll trough this “megapool” city of 12 million people and visit the gateway to India – only two blocks down.

I’ll report back tomorrow – if I can find the time.

Ooh, do not open your eyes when sitting in a taxi trough the streets of old ‘Mumbai’, unless you are a physicists who want to experience chaos theory, first hand. (and you’d better keep your hands covering your ears, as well). Phew…, to stick to umpire wording: “nobody is keeping clear, although manages to avoid contact”

Fact Finding Friday Animation; Vol 11.4

A day (and then some) late for Fact Finding Friday Animation, but here is instalment 4 at last.
You'll have to deal with Lasers this time. Yellow and Blue are approaching a windward mark to be left to starboard.

Please write down the Facts Found, a Conclusion (with rules applicable) and your Decision. You need to consider RRS 18.3 since one of them is subject to rule 13 in the zone....
Good luck.

As always I'll refrain from publishing your comments until the next one, so everybody has the same information.
Ooh, and also, the goal is not to have a 'right' answer, but to write facts that are supported by the animation, conclusions that are supported by the facts and a correct decision based on those conclusions.
J.

Flog the Blog Day (40)

As usual you can comment on the blogs general appearance or style, on type of posts or anything.

I’m a little “handicapped” because I’ve had to have some stitches in my right hand because of a fall. Nothing dramatic, just very annoying. It’s hard to type  and write - for instance.

Anyway I’m more concerned about my ability to go on the water – next Sunday and also for my trip to India. The doctor wanted my assurance I wouldn’t go if any infection was showing. I couldn’t give that. I’ll see what happens.

I’m seriously behind in posting – not because of my hand, that happened today – but because of all the preparations for my new consultancy. I won’t bore your with the details, suffice it to say it’s a lot more complicated than I thought.

The good news is that it looks like my business-plan will be approved by the unemployment agency. So I start-up with no loss of ‘benefits’

I’ll try to post a Fact Finding Friday Animation later today and finally give some comments on the previous instalment.

J.

34th America's Cup Racing Rules

The Racing Rules of Sailing for the 34th America's Cup have been published on the official website.
You can find the complete document here: RRS 34 AC-edition v1.
ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing AC Edition 2010.pdf
I haven't had time to go trough the complete wording, but right away a couple of simplefication are noticeable:

- Rule 13 While Tacking is deleted.
That means that only rule 10, 11 and 12 governs the right of way relationship between two boats. Going trough head to wind changes the tack a boat is on. So in a dail up the moment a boat passes head to wind is critical. The port boat does not have to bear away to close hauled  before becoming leeward yacht.

- Rule 6 is added. 
It states  the last point of certainty is used to determine the rules situation between boats. A principle already in use in all match racing. It just has been written in the rules in these AC-RRS

There are more subtle and not so subtle changes in the definitions and in rule 18. But I need to study them more, to give you the consequences on the water.

Perhaps these simplified rules will be the way to go.... We will have to see what is happening in the races before that determination is to be made. For now no Call- or Casebooks apply, no Rapid Response or Q&A's are to be used. The Jury and Umpires will have to start from scratch.

And the Jury folder on the website is empty.

[17/08/2011: Changed the link to the rules]