Is the definition finish done?

The 2013-2016 RRS has new wording for the definition: finish

A boat finishes when any part of her hull, or crew or equipment in normal position, crosses the finishing line from the course side. However, she has not finished if after crossing the finishing line she
(a) takes a penalty under rule 44.2,
(b) corrects an error under rule 28.2 made at the line, or
(c) continues to sail the course.

And in the new RRS, the time you have to inform a boat that makes an error in sailing the course, is now specified:

61.1 Informing the Protestee
(a) A boat intending to protest shall inform the other boat at the first reasonable opportunity. When her protest will concern an incident in the racing area that she was involved in or saw, she shall hail ‘Protest’ and conspicuously display a red flag at the first reasonable opportunity for each. She shall display the flag until she is no longer racing. However,

(1) if the other boat is beyond hailing distance, the protesting boat need not hail but she shall inform the other boat at the first reasonable opportunity;
(2) if the hull length of the protesting boat is less than 6 metres, she need not display a red flag;
(3) if the incident was an error by the other boat in sailing the course, she need not hail or display a red flag but she shall inform the other boat before that boat finishes or at the first reasonable opportunity after she finishes;

Let's have a look if we 'combine' these two. First of all, the informing part is mandatory; it says:"...but she SHALL inform…..". You must make a genuine effort to inform the other boat - but when? 

Now imagine this scenario:
A boat (call her CLEAVER) sails through the finish line, you are 20 meters behind. As soon as you also have finished, you manage to get closer to the first boat and tell her that she has missed the last mark before the finish. You don't need to hail protest or show a red flag, but you do anyway, to make sure you are seen 'informing' the other. After that you continue to shore, go to the race-office and fill in the protest form.

CLEAVER is scored in fifth position (you became third).

In the subsequent hearing you explain to the panel what you saw and did.

The representative of CLEAVER however, contents that she hadn't finished the first time. Because after you informed her she went back to the racing area, rounded the last mark and crossed the line again. And according to the definition, she only finished the second time crossing the line because she continued to sail the course. Whatever distances or where she sailed in between the second to last mark and the last mark before the finish, didn't matter. She sailed the course and should be scored.

What should the panel decide?
Can a boat still go back in this new definition?

J.

UMPIRE Call; Moving backwards through the water in 2013

Just below is an animation depicting a situation I encountered last weekend at our local match race winter series in Lelystad. Blue and Yellow do an normal dial-up after entry, but then get into a situation where I didn't know any more.

Before you read any further, take out your rulebook and read 22.3 and C2.9, please.

Wind fairly light, maybe 2 Beaufort; Boats heavy and big; J109's.
We start with 10 - P/SB - Yellow changing course 16 - giving room - Blue under 10 is doing everything she can.
Blue tacks - completes and becomes ROW under 11.
Yellow, to windward, is keeping clear.
Blue stops - does not push her boom, but uses her jib to stay head-to-wind and then starts moving backward.Yellow becomes ROW because Blue is moving backward - rule 22.3 as changed by C2.9 - no 15.
Blue moving backward swings her stern - and is effectively tacking, but still keep clear boat under C2.9. Yellow in the meantime stops and waits. But forces being as they are - even for heavy boats - eventually starts to move backwards. She's never changed tack, so still SB.
At the same time as Yellow is starting to move backward, Blue looses her backward momentum and starts to move forward again - Tack is complete, now on P.
Because Yellow moves backward Blue becomes ROW. Does Blue have a 15? No - she acquired ROW because of Yellow's actions. If Yellow hadn't started to move backward Blue would not have become ROW. Yellow realizing this is going to end in trouble, tries desperately - doing everything she can - to keep clear.
Blue, not wanting to get a collision either, bears away as hard as she can.
But we end up with contact anyway.


Before the 2013 rules, Yellow would have stayed ROW and only because she "changed course from going forward to going backward", with a 16 limitation. In the new rulebook she's keep clear boat.

In the old rulebook I would have penalized Blue for not keeping clear. Blue choose to do this risky manoeuvre and must bear the consequences if it didn't work. Only if Yellow had pushed her boom out, to get to move backwards she would have been penalized - then the situation becomes her "responsibility".

Under the 2013-2013 rules I'm not longer sure.

Does Blue have a 16? If yes, I would penalize Blue , if not - and by deduction Yellow had the 16 - perhaps Yellow should get the penalty. But what is the difference then between the old rule and the new?

If Blue started forward - as keep clear boat - before Yellow started to move backward, Blue does not have a 16. She "changed course" before she was ROW.
If Blue started forward, after Yellow was moving backward she does have a rule 16 limitation. But could she tell?
I couldn't say who started first, neither could my fellow umpire. And we were concentrating on that - not manoeuvring a sail boat.

Anyway, both boats where doing everything the could, once they realized the collision was going to happen.
Still penalize Blue for getting in this position? But she's ROW!
Penalize Yellow for not keeping clear? But she had no chance to so. She didn't push out her sail to go backwards…...

We ended up giving a green flag

But I'm not happy.
Should have been a yellow AND a blue…………
Or what?

Give me your opinion, please.

Nations Cup Regional Final & Batavia Stad NK Match Racing

P R E S S   R E L E A S E

Team Heiner hosts regional finals match racing of ISAF Nations Cup
Lelystad, 5 April 2013 – Team Heiner is proud to be the organizer of the regional finals for Northern Europe of the ISAF Nations Cup. This event will be combined with the Batavia Stad NK Match Racing, which takes place from 3 to 5 May 2013 in Lelystad.

The ISAF Nations Cup is the world championship match racing for national teams. Match racing teams – both men and women teams – from around the world compete in six regional finals against each other. The regional finals will take place between January and June 2013. The winning skippers from each division in the regional finals will qualify for the ISAF Nations Cup Grand Final in August in Copenhagen, where they will be joined by defending champions France (Women's) and New Zealand (Open) as well as host nation Denmark to battle for the 2013 ISAF Nations Cup trophies. The series is sailed every two years. ISAF Competitions Manager Antonio Gonzalez de la Madrid said: "Spread across six continents the ISAF Nations Cup is a fully inclusive event and gives wonderful opportunities for all nations and sailors a chance to test themselves against some of the best match racers in the world."

Northern European teams to Lelystad
Team Heiner is chosen by the ISAF (International Sailing Federation) to organize this year’s regional finals for Northern Europe. During this event, teams from eight countries compete against each other: Denmark, Germany, England, Finland, Norway, Poland, Sweden and The Netherlands. The competition format consists of a full round robin, followed by semi finals and finals. The teams will be sailing on B/Ones, which are equipped with main sail, jib and genaker. Jansma Jacht Almere BV supplies the boats in cooperation with B/One Class Assocation. Here with this new boat deserves its place on the Dutch competition water.

A lot of match racing at 3, 4 and 5 May
The event coincides with the Batavia Stad NK Match Racing, which is kept in May again for the second time. The place where sailors both fight for the Dutch Open Championships as the so-called Europe II qualification in the ISAF Nations Cup is the Markermeer west of the breakwater next to the Houtribsluizen in Lelystad.

Roy Heiner: “I have won the second edition of the ISAF Nations Cup in 1993. We have continued with ten editions now and the event has just become bigger and stronger. The fact that we may organize the regional finals is a great opportunity to expand match racing in The Netherlands. With three full days of action on the water and a shore program with facilities and activities for the audience, it promises from 3 to 5 May to be an amazing spectacle, which is great for the visitors coming to Lelystad”.
________________________________________________________________________________
Note to editors:
For further questions about the regional finals of the ISAF Nations Cup or the Batavia Stad NK Match Racing please contact Helga Oosterkamp of Team Heiner, phone +31 320 269 480 / +31 6 41 56 16 73 or by mail: Helga at teamheiner dot com.



I'm going as an umpire. Haven't given up altogether, boys and girls.....