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....

Never to old, always learning

The event in Bayone is coming to an end. Today we'll hopefully do the Finals and Petit finals. The last four are sorted and we can go racing as soon as the wind will let us. It's very soft at the moment.

In the last couple days we've been discussing several subject related to either mistakes or omissions by the OA, RC or us. Mistakes by sailors are penalized on the water, they get flags. The others involved in an event need to sort this out themselves and need to do better next time. The axiom 'Never to old to learn' comes to mind

I'll explain: The barberholer for the spinnakersheet has two purchases, but somehow a boat got changed to only one. Verbal instructions at the beginning of the event to the sailors, stating that they always should be two - how well intentioned they might be - have not the same 'weight' as written instructions.

In the protest and subsequent request for redress that came up, when one of the sailors brought this to our attention, the sailor on the infringing boat claimed, he could not change it back to two because he is not allowed to change the boat - written in the sailing instructions - and besides the line was to short for two purchases anyway.
Although we found that he not should have sailed with this configuration, we could not find a rule that he broke. Consequence of not putting things in writing. It had no influence on the outcome of the match, not in these light conditions. But the boats were no longer equal - something that is sort of mandatory in Match Racing. The race stood.
Next time we will make sure that things are written down.

The next up was something we - as umpires - did wrong. For one of the races we were in the wing position to check the entry of the yellow boat. And on the four minute sound signal the boat was over the line by maybe two meters. We measured the pole on the starting vessel, not the bow, but it was clearly entering too soon.

Of course we signalled as such to the umpires and a yellow penalty was given. The sailors were not happy and said something back we could not understand. As it was not our race, we didn't inquire untill after they finished - loosing the match on a penalty at the finish - what they were talking about.

The sailors claimed that the sound signal was late - several seconds late, perhaps even three seconds after the flag was raised. When they said that, I must admit I realised with a dreaded feeling, that I hadn't watched the flags, but solely had judged the entry on the sound signal. (*(^%(*&#!)

We told the crew that we would enquire. But also asked why they had not raised a red flag, requesting redress?

After we asked the RC they confessed that the sound may have been a second or two behind the flag. So the boat did not enter too early in all likelihood. Of course there were other factors determining the outcome of the race- more penalties, yellow as well as blue -  but for certain that first one had an impact.
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Learning we might have made a mistake, we went back and informed the match race umpires. It is their prerogative to do something if they feel it should be done. Normally there's no redress from a umpire decision, so they decided that they would not. But we talked to the sailors afterwards and apologized for our mistake.
I'm greatfull for there gracious response.

I'll watch the 'ing flags from now on, that is for sure!

How about you?
Any mistakes you want to share, that made you learn the 'hard' way?

Kiel 4; Day five - REVISITED

When I was in Kiel I wrote a post about a request for redress by one of the teams in Woman Match racing. You can read the original here:
Kiel 4; Day five

Because of a mistake in the invitations the second Swedish team who should have been invited according to the NOR amendment #1 (the Sailing World Cup Standard NOR) was not, instead DEN2 was invited and they accepted.

Two days into the event SWE2 lodged a request for redress, claiming that their series scores in the World Cup was significantly worsened by not being able to sail in Kiel.

A lot of comments on the original post declared this request to be invalid because of two factors: SWE2 was no competitor and it should have been filed before racing started or within a reasonable time after the entry list was finalized.

Swe2 might not have been a competitor in this event, but she was certainly a competitor in the World Cup Series. If she would have requested participation before racing had started, there would have been no issue in validity in that regard.

So that leaves extending the time. The Jury decided that SWE2 filed the request as soon as she became aware of the mistake and extended the time limit accordingly.

The most difficult was to find out what the redress should be.

We couldn’t stop the tournament, kick out DEN2 (who had done nothing wrong) and start again. We couldn’t add another competitor to sail this late in the round robins. And, perhaps the biggest hurdle, we had no jurisdiction over the World Cup ranking list.

You can read the solution the International Jury came up with, if you have a look at Protest 29 SWE2 v OA.pdf.

ISAF Q&A 2010 - 010 | SAILORS, this one is for you!

This ISAF Q&A 2010-010 is something EVERY sailor , who's ever been or will be in a regatta where the race committee is posting OCS - boats at the windward mark, should read. It can make the difference between getting a place in the race or being scored points as DNF or OCS.

Even if you successfully request redress in which you can prove that your boat was not OCS, the wording in the sailing instructions can make a BIG difference. That is because getting a result does not depend solely on the fact that you must convince the PC that the Race Committee made a mistake, it also depends on what you did (or did not do).

Most sailors seeing there number posted at the windward mark will leave the race. That is normal practice. That is what is expected, they claim:"If I don't do it I will get a DNE!"

It all depends on the wording in the sailing instructions. Posting numbers is not something that is written in the rulebook. There is a guideline how to do it in Instruction 14.6 of Appendix LE (Expanded Sailing Instruction Guide available at the ISAF website) and normally restricted to a boat that failed to start or has broken rule 30.3, where a clause requiring such boats to retire immediately is included in the sailing instructions.

But if that clause is written badly and does not place an obligation on boats to leave you MUST not leave the course and should finish the race. If you don't finish the race, redress cannot be granted because it is partly you own fault that you did not.

Here's the link to the Q&A: ISAF Q&A 2010-010
I suggest you have look.

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LTW Readers Q&A | 030 One crew-member less?

Received the following question from Luigi – already some time ago:

Hello Jos,

I don't know if it could be interesting for your blog, but I had an interesting situation in a MR some weeks ago.

One boat had a problem with one member (crew of 5) and was not able to replace. The OA wasn't able to help them so, in the second day of the event and with 8 flights of the RR done, they asked, in the morning during the meeting, permission to compete with one member less then the other boats.

In the NOR was stated, as usual: "The crew will be 4 in case of full male or mixed crew (including skipper) and 5 in case of full female crew (including skipper) and the total weight of crew, measured wearing T-shirt and shorts, shall not exceed 350 kg."

The OA said it was not a problem for them, to let the team race with 4 crew-members. The others skippers said the same.

The jury decided to allow them to race with 4.

To be complete I have to tell you that at the last moment they found a replacement crew and they raced in 5. But the decision of the jury was done anyway.

Your opinion?

 

 

Well Luigi, I’m afraid I’ve to disagree with the decision of this jury. I would have voted NO to the request of the boat. Even when all other boats agreed. Perhaps it is a disadvantage to race with four, perhaps it’s an advantage. It will depend on the weather and wind conditions, type of boat and all other variables. But the ‘contract’ as worded in the NOR, stated clearly the conditions. These were not met with one crew member missing. So, five on board or forfeit.

I could be in the minority on this…..

What do other LTW-readers think? Leave a comment and convince me to change my vote.

 

Ooh, have YOU already voted on the poll? Only 3 days left!
Read blogpost: Continues in the Race - or - Racing?

Seminar Preparations | 7

In answer to yesterday's questions: the following movements are illegal according to the rules: 1, 5 and 6

1. Sticking a foot in the water to slow the boat next to a mark. ILLEGAL
   It's the same as if you would stick a paddle into the water: Rule 42 does not only prohibits gaining speed in that way, but also loosing speed.
   
2. Pulling the main to accelerate down the leeward side of a wave. LEGAL
   This is specifically allowed in rule 42.3(c), but only once for each wave or gust of wind and not on a beat to windward. The latter looks a little redundant because, how can you surf down the leeward side of a way going upwind. But there are also other waves on the racecourse. A wake of a passing boat for instance.
   
3. Pushing down the centerboard in the mud in a shallow area just before the starting line to stay still in a current against the boat. LEGAL
   This is the same as anchoring, which is allowed in RRS 45. You may also stand on the bottom and hold your boat.
   
4. Repeatedly moving the tiller to turn the boat from head to wind to a close-hauled course. LEGAL
   Another exception in 43.2 (d). Watch out though! Only when your moving slowly or are stationary. You may scull to a close hauled course but not PASSED that.
   
5. Using the propeller (by turning on the engine) to get clear of another boat after a collision. ILLEGAL
   You may use any equipment and the force applied by the crew of either boat but NOT the propulsion engine.
6. Pulling in the anchor and let the momentum carry the boat over the starting line. ILLEGAL
   Rule 45 states that you must recover the anchor before continuing racing but nothing about the momentum you have gained by pulling it up. You can find the answer in the Casebook. In Case 5 it is clearly stated: Recovering an anchor, whether it was lowered or thrown forward, so as to gather way over the ground breaks rule 42.1.

New question:
At an event with sponsored boats the OA asks the jury to write a Sailing Instruction rule which would disqualify any boat which is responsible for a contact. With or without damage. This is a condition of the sponsor for using his boats.
How would you formulate such a SI?

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