Feedburner Email Services Restored

Looks like the email service by Feedburner has been restored. If all is as it should be, you've now received at least two blogposts through Feedburner.

While updating you from my own computer - using the mailing list downloaded from Feedburner - I got a whole bunch of messages with delivery failures. It is my own fault, I haven't been blogging, so changes in your Email addressees were not noticed before.

Some 45 people, previously included in the mailing list, have not received any update because of this.
So if you read this post, and have NOT gotten any updates in your mail, there's a big chance that your Email address is no longer valid.

The only solution, if you want to receive mails from LTW, is to re-subscribe with a working Email address. Use the button below or the one on the top left...

My apologies for the hassle.
J.

I'm in the process of deleting all the old (not valid) email addresses from the mailing list in Feedburner.




Subscribe by Email

Yours truly, behind his desk, preparing the next post.....
Well actually, I'm not at home at the moment, I'm on the water umpiring
in a 2K Team Race event in Medemblik from the DMTRA....

Back?

Published on the ISAF web site; 

International Sailing Federation
Guidelines for the Use of Social Media
by ISAF Race Officials 

I know it is hard in a "commission-run" federation, especially one that has to operate with people from all over the world and one that gets "new" commissions every four years. But I've been waiting for this since 2010. It took only four years to get to this one piece of paper.....
Here is the link: ROC Social Media Guidelines

Some excerpts:

1.2 Restricting the use of social media is not designed to inhibit freedom of speech or rights to privacy, but it is inevitable that appointment as a race official means the official must limit their use of such tools in order to comply with their duties as an official.

2.2 A competitor can say to the media that a decision is bad, the call was wrong, the race committee or the measurer made a mistake etc. But,except in authorised circumstances, a race official must not disclose confidential information. In particular:

(a) Except the official facts found, conclusion and decision, a judge serving on a panel should not disclose any other information about the hearing or the panel’s discussions.

3.1 The spirit of blogs in all sports should be to attract people towards our disciplines, explaining cases by authoritative judges, race officers, umpires and measurers, in order to offer a service at all level from the beginners to the professional competitors. Blogs are an interactive tool through which everybody can give an opinion and discuss interesting points (such as decisions or particular data) concerning the sport.
3.2 If an ISAF Race Official runs a blog, he should inform the ISAF Office of this fact.

4.4 It is acceptable for race officials to be Facebook friends with competitors (but not to be “fans” of their teams or organisations). However, race officials must be aware that information they put on their profile during an event must not give competitors who are Facebook friends an advantage or access to information which others do not have (see below).

4.5 No comments should be made about the performance of competitors at any time

List of things to do:

• Screen Facebook for "fanning". [check]
• Print these Guidelines and reread them before clicking on the Publish button of every post. [check]
• Never post about issues in a running regatta - wait until the issue has no longer any influence on the outcome - generalize the subject without revealing specific information (make it about the rules - not about the event) - and then write about it....
  Hmmm, I might run into some difficulty with 2.2(a), also in light of the "no time limit" in 2.1, because any opinion I might have, is coloured by the information, but I'll work on that. [......]
• Write to the ISAF office.(Guideline 3.2) [check]
• .....

Can I now get back to blogging, please?

J.

Betting and Anti-Corruption regulation is around the corner.

As a judge and umpire at events I’m privileged to hear a lot of information that is not (yet) readily available to the public. I must be aware of my limitations to blog about such information. I have made mistakes in that regard in the past.

That’s why I’m always on the look out for anything that is published or written by ISAF about this subject. In this years mid-year meeting a submission has been approved that has gone into effect on 05/04/2012: Betting and Anti-Corruption - New Appendix 5

Purpose or Objective of the submission: To establish rules on betting and anti-corruption. Proposal: To adopt the ASOIF Model rules on betting and anti-corruption as Appendix 5.
Notes: 1. The Constitution Committee to complete the relevant details. & 2. The Executive Committee to publish draft sanctions by the end of July 2012 for final consideration and ratification by Council in November 2012.

The approved text still has a lot of holes and still needs a lot of work before it is clear. But there are also paragraphs which raise more questions than answer them:

Lets have a look at ‘inside information’. This is defined as:

"Inside Information" means any information relating to any Competition or Event that a Participant possesses by virtue of his position within the sport. Such information includes, but is not limited to, factual information regarding the competitors, the conditions, tactical considerations or any other aspect of the Competition or Event, but does not include such information that is already published or a matter of public record, readily acquired by an interested member of the public or disclosed according to the rules and regulations governing the relevant Competition or Event;

Example: Racing has been postponed. But at one o’clock the jury is told racing will start at three. This is not yet announced on the noticeboard or anywhere else, in other words; it’s inside information.

Back to the text:

3. RULE VIOLATIONS
3.4 Inside Information
(a) Using Inside Information for Betting purposes or otherwise in relation to Betting.
(b) Disclosing Inside Information to any Person with or without Benefit where the Participant might reasonably be expected to know that its disclosure in such circumstances could be used in relation to Betting.
(c) Inducing, instructing, facilitating or encouraging a Participant to commit a Violation set out in this Rule 3.4.

I phone my brother, who’s watching the racing on the internet and tell him he can go and have lunch because racing will not start until three. Am I breaking rule 3.4(b)?
There are countries where they bet on anything. Is it reasonable for me to expect that they would bet on when racing starts?

Have a look at the document and tell me what your think.
Betting and Anti-Corruption - New Appendix 5

Olympic Games 1928 - 2028

My twitter displayed a message from ISAF:

Following that link the first thing I noticed on the page was the poster.

Olympische Spiele 1928?
That is not Dutch, that is German!

How come a German poster was in use for these Games?

Of course the web is an excellent source to find answers:
This was the official poster:

From Wikipedia:

The official poster for the Olympic Games of Amsterdam was a design of Jos Rovers. The organization ordered 10,000 copies to be printed and distributed. The poster shows a running male athlete in white outfit, with on the background the Olympic Stadium with the Olympic flag. Remarkable is the unnatural posture of the athlete: both left leg and arm swing out to the front, a posture in which balance is lost quickly.

The IOC has never been able to acquire the copyrights of the poster, not even from the heirs Rovers. Therefore, out of practical considerations, in IOC publications another poster is used, with the German Olympic Games Spiele text and a partially in the Dutch flag-drenched athlete with peace leaf in his hand. That design was created for the cover of a German book about the Amsterdam Games. (After the first WW this was the first time Germany was invited back to participate in the Games)

 My search also gave me this one:

Again a running athlete - this time with the correct posture - surrounded by all the sports that were part of the OG in 1928.  At the top left and right, The Dutch Lion and the three X's - symbol of the City of Amsterdam.

There's a plan to get the Olympic Games back in the Netherlands in 2028 - one hundred years after the first time. It is however to early to speculate if this plan has any chance of success.

The first poster is however already made:

ESS 2012 Act 1; Muscat, Oman

I’m in Muscat, Oman for Act 1 in the Extreme Sailing Series 2012. A great venue, with nice summer weather and the Indian Ocean to sail on. That part is going great.

What isn’t working and a bit frustrating is that I’m having problems getting on-line. The internet connections at the hotel and at the venue have to deal with too much traffic and the capacity isn’t nearly enough to accommodate everyone. I’ve been trying all Tuesday when ashore, but with rarely any success. It is now 22:10 hours and I’m back in the hotel. Only 15 minutes so far.

I’ve written this post in Windows Live Writer and uploaded it in the short time I’m able to connect. It also means that I’m having to use any connection, as far as I can get it, for Email. Receiving and sending necessary messages without enough time to write much on the blog. I’m unable to connect long enough to answer comments in a meaningful way. Approving them to be published is already problematic.

This has prompted me to decide to put our LTW Winter Challenge 2012 on hold for the time being. All deadlines are extended with one week. This Friday there will be no new challenge post and the current challenge case is on ‘suspended’. I’m sorry to have to do this, but I see no other way.

We are here in Muscat with six umpires looking after the rules for eight Extreme 40’s. A couple of newcomers have joined the circuit. ZouLou from France, skippered by Loick Peyron (who has sailed E40’s before) and Trifork, a new Danish team, co-skippered by Jens Gram-Hansen. Back are Alinghi, but this time skippered by Ernesto Bertarelli himself, Oman Air, skippered by new comer Morgan Larson, The Wave Muscat, skippered by Leigh McMillan, and Gitane, Red Bull and GAC Pindar. The last three have been competing in 2011 as well and are again skippered by Pierre Pennec, Roman Hagara and Ian Williams, respectively.

It was a fairly light day with 6-10 knots wind and open water, up and downwind courses. Tomorrow the close inshore stadium racing will start, in front of a brand new location for the VIP-tent.

In order to not leave you completely without any rules issues, a situation from today (with a little adaptation) to think about:

Before the starting signal three boats are close to the line. There is an opening in between Red and Grey because Grey is sailing away from Red. Purple decides to go in the opening and gets and overlap with Red fairly close. In position three the distance between Purple and Red is reduced to only half a meter, although Red has luffed in response to Purple’s overlap. Purple realises she is not giving Red the room to keep clear and decides to bear away to open up the distance.

But in position three when Purple was still about 4 meters away, Grey has come up. She’s changed course but within the limitation of rule 16.1. Purple is now boxed in. She has to give room to Red to keep clear, but can’t go down anymore without breaking rule 11 towards Grey. Purple goes down anyway and Grey protests.

Who should be penalized?

Grey has not broken 16.1. When she changed course she gave enough room to Purple to keep clear. Only not enough room for Purple to be able to give enough room to Red to keep clear.

Purple has to give room to Red to keep clear, but can only do so by not keeping clear of Grey…

Come on, decide…

The Yankee flag was already 7 seconds ago.

In the meantime the starting signal has gone and boats are accelerating

Decide.

 

Signing off for today with a picture of Alinghi who has new dark sails with the familiar red swirl.

Poll: Short or Long?

Just a Poll announcement.

Lately I've been sending out posts to feedreader- and e-mail subscribers in a short format. Only the first couple of sentences of a new post. In the past I always used the full post.
With a shortened post I get a little more traffic to LTW, but I also realise that subscribers might prefer otherwise.

I've created a Poll-widget (top left) on LTW so you can tell me your preferences. Whatever answer gets the most votes, will dictate my settings. Go and vote, you have one month to do so.

Look To Windward Facebook Page

 

LTW now has its own facebook page.

I will publish all blog posts on the wall of that page, so if you prefer to follow the Racing Rules of Sailing in that way, please click on the like button in the second from the top right widget.

Or visit the page and click on the like button there:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Look-To-Windward/258951497514114

Then your personal facebook page will show the posts as well.


There always be a link back to the blog so you can comment, but I get notified as well if you comment on facebook. I'll try to keep up with both.

Also new is a (very) small LTW Store. In it I can display items you are looking for or that I think might interest you. The actual selling is done by Amazon - but like with the snipers, I get a small fee for pointing you to their products. Have a look, the store is accessible by clicking in the top right widget.

For the real savvy internet people: Have you found the follow on Twitter button? That way you'll never miss the next post and can be the first to comment.....

And if you want to spread the word, there's a floating Share, Retweet and Google+ box on the left side. You can finally show your friends how you learned to become such a rules expert!


The last couple of days I've been hard at work in adding al sorts of stuff to the blog. I'll now start weeding out a bit, so that the front page doesn't take so long to load any more. Please be patient - eventually I'll get there.

In the meantime, have you tried to use a sniper already?
If so, I would love to hear your comments. Or a suggestion for a product, perhaps?

Tomorrow I'll get back to the rules - with a seven boat problem at the leeward mark....

Snipers?

No, I don't mean those

Snipers are short for Affiliate Cash Snipers.
I've added a couple on LTW. Instead of going for a subscription fee or asking for a donation, I've decided to use Snipers. It is a little more crowded in the sidebar, I admit, but I DO need to earn some money with the Blog - like I told you in this post: Flog The Blog Day (46)

Those Snipers are specifically targeted on products YOU are looking for.
A new start watch, perhaps. Or a life jacket. You can use the Interactive Customization Filters in a Sniper to search for that product which you need. And if you find what you are looking for and buy it - I earn a small commission for pointing you in the right direction.

A Sniper explained

So, next time you need a new Camera or Life Jacket, please use one of my Snipers.
It would be a big help!
You found what you where looking for and I can keep writing LTW.

Deal?

J.

PS. If you have suggestions for a product line, please tell me and I'll find a Sniper for you.
PPS: If you want to install Snipers on your website or blog, go to Affiliate Cash Snipers.Com

Racing Rules of Sailing - Live Slow, Sail Fast!: The origins of basic road rules

Racing Rules of Sailing - Live Slow, Sail Fast!: The origins of basic road rules

The sailing- judging community has been joined by a new blogger, an enthusiast young judge from Hungary who started with a rulesblog called "Live Slow - Sail Fast!"

I've been reading his posts - by using the English translation button. The syntax gets a little garbled but I can follow most of it. But even if I couldn't, it is still a good initiative - to provide some background for Hungarian judges, officials and sailors.

He posted an interesting story about the reasons behind the Right of Way rules. The basic rules in the book, rules 10, 11 and 12. Here is the gist of it:

All these basic rules give right of way to the least manoeuvrable boat. Look at rule 11, windward - leeward. Boats are overlapping so the boat to leeward is in the wind shadow of the windward boat - has less wind, so is less manoeuvrable. Don't picture modern racing yachts, but square riggers. That's when they came up with these rules.

Same goes for rule 12; Clear Ahead - Clear astern. When running downwind, the boat behind catches all the wind and can more easily manoeuvre. So the boat Clear Ahead gets right of way.

With Port and Starboard we have to go back a little more. Perhaps you remember those Viking-longboats longships*? They had an oar sticking out in the water on the right side end of the boat. That oar functioned as a rudder.

The other side became Port because if you want to park the boat alongside a shore, you don't use the steering side.... So a longboat was always tied to the dock with the port-side.

When sailing on starboard tack the boat would heel to port. And visa versa. When sailing on port tack the starboard side of the boat would dig in. On the first tack the oar would be sticking out of the water a little more. Making the boat a bit less 'steerable' than on port tack. So the boat on starboard-tack became right of way. Port tack could more easily get out of the way.

I don't know if his story is accurate, but the explanation seems very plausible to me.
What about you? What do you think?


* From an LTW readers Email: Longboats: A longboat is a small rowing boat kept on the deck of a larger ship for the purpose of getting ashore. A longship is a warship/troop transport of the Viking period.

Flog the Blog Day (52)

It has been a while since I wrote a 'Flog the Blog Day' post. By my calculations it should be number 52 - if I count all the months since I first started LTW (17 November 2007; FIRST POST)

52 months equals 4 years and 4 months. 1058 published posts - not counting the static pages. And over 3000 comments from readers or myself. Almost 90.000 unique readers visited just over 200000 times. Google Analytics states they came from 175 countries. Not quite all nations on Earth, but close enough.
Greenland being the biggest exception. Does nobody sail in Greenland?

Hekla Havn, Greenland

'Flog the Blog Day' is reserved for a post where I tell you what my plans are and for asking you, to give me some feedback on the blog and how I'm doing. Should I write different posts? Should the colour of my blog change? More or less advertising? Different style? What about this new three column design? Is it working?


Anything.
Please tell me what you think about layout, posting, commenting or whatever.

As for my plans: I'm preparing a new series for sailors. Going back to the basics.
Also in the pipeline are posts about the coming changes in the rules for the next cycle 2013-1016.
And I plan to review some books, programs and other 'accessories' that help with the rules. (I'm heavily involved in the next update of an iPhone/Android application called You-Tack)


I will continue with the (pillow)Cases until the Casebook is done and then have a look at the Call books for Match and Team Racing. I will try to explore the possibilities that other Social Media are providing to keep you informed about my travels and events. First one outside my own country is in two weeks, Act 1 in the Extreme Sailing Series to be sailed in Muscat, Oman.

But if you have suggestions, please don't hesitate to tell me (If you don't want to use the comments - Email me, please)


Thank you all for reading LTW!
J.

BLOG Layout and Design

I'm changing the design and layout of Look to Windward. In the last week I've been fiddling with a testblog to get it done with a minimum of interference, but it still needs some adjustments in width and colour.
Please bear with me.

If you have comments or remarks, don't hesitate to make them.

Claiming Again

35XUTBPPJJ3M
Disregard this post > Technorati wants me to claim my blog again. 
So that is what I'm doing, claim posting


I'd rather you read Yesterday's post. > Have you registered your challenge already?

ISAF Q&A’s | Make it a rule!

ISAF Q&A 2011 – 025 M013 & Q&A 026 G013 were published on the site yesterday. The above quote struck me as one we should keep, don’t you? It would make some issues a lot simpler.

The first one:

ISAF Q&A 2011 – 025 M013

Questions the legalities of abandoning a race when there’s a wind shift of more than 20 degrees, because of a list of rules in 'Rules of Conduct for Conducting National and International Championship Regattas' which is a document incorporated in the rulebook for an ISAF International Class.

Ok.

Read that again.

Done?

Got it?      Okay.

This document includes a rule that says, 'A sustained wind variation of 20
degrees or more from the posted bearing during the first leg of a race shall result in that race to be abandoned and re-sailed, or abandoned'.

The rest you have to read yourself… I’m sticking with:


Here is the link to the document: ISAF Q&A 2011 – 025 M013

On with:

Q&A 2011 - 026 G013

Again abandonment.

Does nobody want to sail anymore?

What is this, with all those questions about abandonment?

Situation The sailing instructions has a Mark 1 time limit and also states 'If no boat has passed Mark 1 within the Mark 1 time limit, the race will be abandoned.' Even though no boat passed Mark 1 within the time limit, the race committee did not abandon the race. Some boats requested redress under rule 62.1(a).

It was IN the bloody Sailing Instructions!

That makes it a rule!

How can they not abandon this race! (*&%(*%*()&*()).

They used:

and still they didn’t abandon!

The ff-ing PC can do this one. I’m going home.

You can read the Q&A yourself: ISAF Q&A 2011 – 026 G013

And the booklet too: ISAF Q&A Booklet January 9 2012

(&^(^)(^%#$^)(*&)

I’m abandoning this post.
J.

Code of Conduct for IRO; The use of Social Media

On the ISAF website a couple of minutes of the annual conference were published in which I was particularly interested. I wrote about this already on Tuesday, 4 October 2011 in post ISAF November Conference 2011. On the agenda was a subject which has a direct influence on my ability to blog in conjunction with being an International Race Official.

Of the four subcommittees dealing with Race Officials - Race Officers, Judges, Umpires an Measurers - only two discussed the use of social media by IROs;

In the Minutes for the INTERNATIONAL UMPIRES SUB-COMMITTEE meeting on 05 November 2011 at the ISAF PUERTO RICO CONFERENCE this was noted:

(c) Code for the Use of Social Media
The development of a set of guidelines for the use of social media by international umpires during and outside events was discussed. Draft proposal made by Jan Stage will be presented to ROC with recommendation that ROC appoints a working party to develop guidelines of use of social media. Should ROC appoint a working party to work on this, Alfredo Ricci will represent the IUSC.

And in the Minutes for the INTERNATIONAL JUDGES SUB-COMMITTEE meeting on 06 November 2011 at the ISAF PUERTO RICO CONFERENCE the following was published:

(e) Charley Cook requested the development of a guideline for officials on blogging and using social media, balancing freedom of speech with personal interest and confidential information. A working party will prepare a draft for all ISAF race officials. 

The other two sub committees did not discuss this subject, or at least there's no mention of it in their minutes.

The Race Official Committee - under which these four subcommittees reside - has not yet published its minutes, so I don't know if this subject was discussed there.


I hope it was on their agenda, but fear that, if the same outcome as in the subcommittees was reached, only a working party was appointed. And you know what happens if it goes to a sub-sub committee working party. It will take six hundred years to get out again....


I've been working with a set of guidelines that were written by the chairman of a Grade 1 event, I went to last year, to have a little backing. But sometimes the line what to write and what not, is very blurry.

I hope this working party will at least publish something for this coming season, but fear it will take another year at least.
The guidelines that should come out, are not meant only for bloggers like me, but also for all International Race Officials who use Facebook, LinkIn, Twitter and all those other Social Media we have now. And according to my Facebook page - a lot of IRO already use them in abundance...


To all of them, I say: Next time you speak to your MNA's representative to ISAF, ask how things are progressing with these guidelines?

J.

Happy New Year 2012

For 2012, my future plans for LTW:

• A major change in layout and appearance. I still have to decide if I want to go to my own domain or stay on blogger. Both have disadvantages.... and advantages.
• Make time each day to answer questions and comments.
• Make time to write posts every day - I'm going to start some new series so as to be able to write ahead....
• Once I reach a sufficient subscription number (RRS and Email) I'll start a members site. At the moment the number stands around 930-940, I like it to reach around 1200.
• I'm also going to start a linked Rules for Beginners site, with emphasis on explanations and education.

For today I'm going to do some last minute shopping and than participate in the "Groenedijk Cup'. A race across a pond with self build boats. I'll report on the event one of the next days, but for now I'm showing you my entry:

Polynesian War Bird 'Polly I'

Have a good new years eve and,
Happy New Year!
J.

Merry Christmas!

Dear LTW -reader,

The year is almost done, in two days it's Christmas again.
I've looked for an appropriate picture to wish you all a Merry Christmas and to thank all my readers for taking time to read my posts this last year.

I found a "School of Sunfish" on this blog: http://www.kevinmanningphotography.com/blog/ and decided that this perfectly illustrated the my sentiment....

Instead of boats racing with billowing full sails - like on my blog picture - these three boats are in rest, waiting for the wind to come....
Waiting for the new year, waiting for the people to go sailing....

Next year will be the year where I will find out if I can make it, being self employed....
I hope you all stick with me...

Merry Christmas,

J.

ISAF November Conference 2011

I've been going over the papers that have been published for the November Conference. Partly to have an idea about the changes that are coming in the 2013 - 2016 rules, but partly also to see if some of them will already have an effect next year. There are a few that might "make" it.

For instance late submissions 270-11 and 271-11:
The first one adds the measures or equipment inspector to the list in rule 62.1(a) so if they make a mistake or omission a boat is able to request redress for that. I'm all in favor and hope it will be incorporated in 2012 already.

The second one is an answer to a question that came out of the Olympic Test Event. I wrote about it in this post: Do You Have a Pen?
The Q&A Panel has not answered the question that was sent in, but instead made sure there was a submission to change the rule:

Reporting Committee – Racing Rules; Other Committee – Race Officials
Late Submission: 271-11 Racing Rules of Sailing; Rule 62.2
A late submission from the Chairman of the Racing Rules Committee

Purpose or Objective
To correct a problem that can arise because of the omission of certain requirements in rule 62.2.

Proposal
62.2 The request shall be in writing, identify the incident, including where and when it occurred, and be delivered to the race office no later than the protest time limit or two hours after the incident, whichever is later. The protest committee shall extend the time if there is good reason to do so. No red flag is required.

Current Position
As above.

Reasons
In discussing a question recently sent to the Q&A Panel, the panel identified an omission in rule
62.2. Nowhere in that rule or in any other rule is there a requirement that a written request for
redress identify the incident on which the request is based, nor is there a requirement to state
where and when the incident occurred. Many such requests include that information even though it is not required by a rule.

However, some requests do not include that information, and when that information is omitted, it is impossible for the protest committee to properly notify all the parties to the hearing of the hearing’s time and place and to allow the parties to the hearing reasonable time to prepare for it, as required by rule 63.2.
The proposed change in rule 62.2 solves this problem by establishing a requirement for written
requests for redress that is essentially identical to the requirement in rule 61.2(b) that applies to
written protests.

This submission should definitely be approved and the rule should be changed as soon as possible, in my opinion

On a side note:  The Umpires Sub-Committee has the use of social media (like my blog) on the agenda, but the Judges Sub-Committee has not, nor the Race Officials Committee.......

7. Conflict of Interest/Code of Conduct,
(c) Code for the Use of Social Media
To discuss development of a set of guidelines for the use of social media by international umpires during and outside events.

Break's over

Right, break's over.

I've been hard at work at my new assignment - commenting on an upgraded App for Android and iPhone called You Tack! You can find a link in the sidebar. As soon as the new version becomes available I'll post about it more extensively. If there are any current users among readers of LTW - feel free to give me pointers on improvements.

I've also been studying the Match Race Call book because of my umpire test - next week. Trying to get in the right mind set. Tests are different than on-the-water umpiring.

To unwind a little, I've begun to have a look at all the submissions that are scheduled to be discussed at the ISAF November conference. There are several interesting improvements being submitted.This one for instance:

Reporting Committee – Racing Rules
Other Committee – Race Officials
Submission: 143-11
Racing Rules of Sailing
Rule 14

A submission from the Chairman of the Racing Rules Committee
Purpose or Objective: To remove the contradiction that a boat can break a rule and not be penalised.

Proposal:

14 AVOIDING CONTACT
A boat shall avoid contact with another boat if reasonably possible. However, a right-of-way boat or one entitled to room or mark-room 

(a) need not act to avoid contact until it is clear that the other boat is not keeping clear or giving room or mark-room, and

(b) shall not be penalized under this rule unless there is contact that causes damage or injury.shall be exonerated if she breaks this rule and the contact does not cause damage or injury.

Current Position
As above.

Reasons
Replacing "shall not be penalised" with "shall be exonerated" simplifies the rule and makes it consistent with the principle that a boat breaking a rule shall be exonerated or penalised.
This submission was prepared by the ISAF Section C Working Party.

I agree with the proposed change in rule 14. It always was strange that you could break this rule as a right-of-way boat and still were not DSQ-ed. 

What is your opinion?

Claim Post

35XUTBPPJJ3
His sledgehammer hit the post. Finally he had staked his claim!
With golden letters, spelling the word "35XUTBPPJJ3", the metal pole stood in the last corner.
Now he could dig again and maybe earn something.

He looked to windward and saw the sun had risen above the water.
A lonely seagull screeched.

Better get on with it.....

Flog The Blog Day (46)

It has been a while, hasn't it?

Well, I thought it was time again because I'm working on some major changes for the blog.

The first has to do with time. If I want to keep spending time on writing on this blog it has to earn some money. Since I'm now self-employed, I cannot afford to spend too much time on things that don't. I do that enough on sailing events as it is. (Only a few pay me some money)

So I'm planning to implement three sources of income (hopefully). I've signed up with Ad-Sense. Google will display some targeted advertisements on the blog, which can be clicked on by visitors. That may take a couple of days to get up to speed but the space has been assigned.

Secondly I'm negotiating with some companies to place adds that link back to there websites. I will have to screen what is appropriate and if you think it isn't, please tell me so, I'll take that in to consideration as well.
But hopefully it will get me some income

And third I'm going to look into asking you as readers for a contribution.
To start with - completely voluntarily. To see if that has the desired effect. If not - or if I think it will be of benefit - perhaps I'll also start a closed, only accessible for paying subscribers, part of the blog. For the last I will probably have to redesign the layout and move the website to a server. But that will come later.

Since this is still FTBD, please give me your comments.
Do you think this is not a good idea? Would you be willing to pay me a small amount to get your post about the rules by email, on a subscription basis? Or would you go look for it elsewhere?

Anyway, tell me what you think.....
J.