I’m umpiring the Extreme Sailing Series in Cowes this week. With Addendum Q (like in the Medal Race) we follow the big cats and try to keep up. Sometimes it’s neigh impossible in the bumpy Solent, even at full speed in our small umpire ribs. But then we go to zone system and hope to catch all the infringements.
The biggest problem we have is not so much the rules of Part 2, but something called “the exclusion zone”.
Because of Cowes week the Solent is filled with fleets racing and they all have to pass the race area of the extreme forties to the finish. The solution the organisers and the Cowes harbour authorities have come up with, was to create a box where the extreme forties have to stay within to race and all the Cowes week’s sailors have to stay out.
Marked by orange cylindrical buoys parallel to the shore from Gurnard North Cardinal buoy, the box was to keep everybody separated.
Now add 20 knots of wind, high flying cats, a tidal current of 3 knots and lots and lots of seaweed gathering on the ground tackle. The first day the buoys completely disappeared below the water…. No more zone.
The second day the orange cylinders where tied to bigger marks hoping that that would keep them afloat. But now the seaweed gathering on the ground tackle started to drag the marks…. fist more north and then effectively far outside any reasonable position. No more Zone again.
Hoping that this would eliminate the shifting marks, the next day the outside line was defined by the line between and extension off, two points. The race committee boat would anchor below Gurnard and those would be the two starting points.
In comes the tide and the committee boat starts swinging on its line. Changing the angle considerably. One moment a boat is sailing legally inside and the next it is outside. Not good either…..
Then there’s the speed of the boats. One look astern and deciding you are approaching the line, before you’re ready to tack, it is 3 seconds later and now you are outside.
All in all it has been an issue for the whole week and we as umpires are getting fed up with it. Sometimes because we are not able to get to the boats quick enough, sometimes because we ourselves unsure of the infringement. And because sailors have a lot of trouble complying with the rule.
Because the punishment has to fit the crime, we now accept a tack penalty as being adequate for infringing the zone.
All in all this “Xclusion Zone” defined in a Notice to Mariners (& in the SI) has been a challenge, indeed.
Showing posts with label iShares Cup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iShares Cup. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
iShares Cup Almeria Photosnaps
The contents of my camera after Almeria. I've returned home yesterday from the iShares Cup.
Madrid lived up to it's reputation and lost my bag. Luckily they found it again and a courier brought it back this afternoon.
From my hotel balcony
The event venue
Mother and her Ducklings
Getting ready for the picture...
You can see the rest (and from the iSharesCup-event in Venice) at: Flickr
Madrid lived up to it's reputation and lost my bag. Luckily they found it again and a courier brought it back this afternoon.
From my hotel balcony
The event venue
Mother and her Ducklings
Getting ready for the picture...You can see the rest (and from the iSharesCup-event in Venice) at: Flickr
Monday, 12 October 2009
RRS as an iPhone application
You can now get the RRS as an application on your iPhone. The RYA has developed the
"RYA Racing Rules iPhone application"
Racing Rules is a quick reference tool for the Racing Rules of Sailing, a mobile application equivalent to the very popular RYA Handy Guide. The text for the Rules Dispute Best Practice from the RYA is also included. Fully referenced against the ISAF Racing Rules.
Go to: RYA Racing Rules
I don't have an iPhone, so someone who has will have to comment on it's usefulness. But I thought it worth mentioning. I'm still in Almeria for the final day in the iSharesCup. More on that later.
"RYA Racing Rules iPhone application"
Racing Rules is a quick reference tool for the Racing Rules of Sailing, a mobile application equivalent to the very popular RYA Handy Guide. The text for the Rules Dispute Best Practice from the RYA is also included. Fully referenced against the ISAF Racing Rules.
Go to: RYA Racing Rules
I don't have an iPhone, so someone who has will have to comment on it's usefulness. But I thought it worth mentioning. I'm still in Almeria for the final day in the iSharesCup. More on that later.
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Signalling 'Room to Tack'?
Currently I'm in Almeria for the iSharescup. Practise day yesterday and racing today in the afternoon. In Spain everything is always a little later, so first warning not before three. Which gives me time to discuss a rules-issue with you, in this post.
Two boats on port tack approach a windward mark on the port layline. The mark is to be left to port so they both have to tack to round it. The boat behind is more to windward then the other, but only by half a boatlength and there's almost an overlap. Cumming into the three-length zone there's still no overlap. The helmsman of the boat clear ahead signals as much by waiving his arm up and down.
At the same time a third boat approaches on starboard tack and there's a change of a collission with the first port tack boat. Perhaps the port boat can pass in front, perhaps it can not.
The starboard tack boat thinks it will be too close and luffs. One of the crew waives a Yankee flag and the umpires see this.
The first port tack boat continues as there's now enough room to pass in front of the starboard tack boat. He sails past the starboard lay line and luffs. In the meantime the third boat finds a gap above the mark and tacks into it, rounding the mark. The first port tacker follows and subsequently the starboard boat also rounds the mark.
On the umpire boat the discussion goes like this:
U1: "First port boat did not keep clear of starboard; penalty on port. Did he signal room to tack?"
U2: "Yes, he waived his arm up and down to windward."
U1: "Did we hear him ask for room to tack?"
U2: "No, I didn't, he shouted something, but I couldn't hear what".
U1: "If he signalled 'room to tack', the other port tack boat should have responded. Penalty on the second port tacker. If he didn't signal, we have to penalize him. Are you sure he signalled 'room to tack'?
U2: "Yes, I'm sure he signalled"
They then proceed to penalize the second port tack boat.
In the debrief asking about this incident, they learn that the first port tack boat did not in fact wanted room to tack, but was only signalling 'no overlap'.
In this situation that has very little effect. The clear-ahead boat may have gained mark-room by entering the zone clear ahead, but it can't tack. As soon as it passes head-to-wind, rule 18.2(b) is switched off and it must keep clear of the boat still on port tack.
Nevertheless we, the umpires, made a mistake by penalizing the wrong port tacker. I'm at a loss how we could have done otherwise. Rule 20 overrides 18 an 19. It is a safety rule which MUST be complied with.
Perhaps we need a more clear signal when a boat invokes it?
Or should we ignore all hand signals, save for the absolutely unequivocally clear signal?
Two boats on port tack approach a windward mark on the port layline. The mark is to be left to port so they both have to tack to round it. The boat behind is more to windward then the other, but only by half a boatlength and there's almost an overlap. Cumming into the three-length zone there's still no overlap. The helmsman of the boat clear ahead signals as much by waiving his arm up and down.
At the same time a third boat approaches on starboard tack and there's a change of a collission with the first port tack boat. Perhaps the port boat can pass in front, perhaps it can not.
The starboard tack boat thinks it will be too close and luffs. One of the crew waives a Yankee flag and the umpires see this.
The first port tack boat continues as there's now enough room to pass in front of the starboard tack boat. He sails past the starboard lay line and luffs. In the meantime the third boat finds a gap above the mark and tacks into it, rounding the mark. The first port tacker follows and subsequently the starboard boat also rounds the mark.
On the umpire boat the discussion goes like this:
U1: "First port boat did not keep clear of starboard; penalty on port. Did he signal room to tack?"
U2: "Yes, he waived his arm up and down to windward."
U1: "Did we hear him ask for room to tack?"
U2: "No, I didn't, he shouted something, but I couldn't hear what".
U1: "If he signalled 'room to tack', the other port tack boat should have responded. Penalty on the second port tacker. If he didn't signal, we have to penalize him. Are you sure he signalled 'room to tack'?
U2: "Yes, I'm sure he signalled"
They then proceed to penalize the second port tack boat.
In the debrief asking about this incident, they learn that the first port tack boat did not in fact wanted room to tack, but was only signalling 'no overlap'.
In this situation that has very little effect. The clear-ahead boat may have gained mark-room by entering the zone clear ahead, but it can't tack. As soon as it passes head-to-wind, rule 18.2(b) is switched off and it must keep clear of the boat still on port tack.
Nevertheless we, the umpires, made a mistake by penalizing the wrong port tacker. I'm at a loss how we could have done otherwise. Rule 20 overrides 18 an 19. It is a safety rule which MUST be complied with.
Perhaps we need a more clear signal when a boat invokes it?
Or should we ignore all hand signals, save for the absolutely unequivocally clear signal?
Sunday, 27 September 2009
iShares Cup 2009 Amsterdam | 2
Race 11: DNF x6
Race 12: DNF x6
In these very light conditions on the water between the Veemkade and Java-island in Amsterdam the Xtreme 40's struggle to get in within the time limit. The first boat free and clear of all others, has the freedom to find every puff and can, on occasion, get ahead very far.
The time limit to finish after the first boat finishes is only five minutes.
Friday there were only one or two, but yesterday the number of boats that did not manage to get a finish place increased. Mitch Booth from Holmatro suggested in the skippers meeting to increase the time limit. The RO insisted that everybody - every skipper - should agree on the change. Specially because this would be a mid series change.
The final proposal was to take 50% of the sailed time as the time limit. For a race of 15 minutes that would mean 7.5 minutes, for a race of 20 minutes a time limit of 10 minutes, and so-on.
That would also have the advantage that even in changing conditions the time limit was appropriate. A good proposal.
But as I said, not all skippers agreed. We revisited the subject in the post-race briefing, but again no consensus. Perhaps it will be decided in this mornings briefing.
If not this event, definitely something to consider for next year.
How about your experiences with time limits? Ever been to late? Was the finish closed by the time you got there? Or perhaps you've had a request for redress about it?
Race 12: DNF x6
In these very light conditions on the water between the Veemkade and Java-island in Amsterdam the Xtreme 40's struggle to get in within the time limit. The first boat free and clear of all others, has the freedom to find every puff and can, on occasion, get ahead very far.
The time limit to finish after the first boat finishes is only five minutes.
Friday there were only one or two, but yesterday the number of boats that did not manage to get a finish place increased. Mitch Booth from Holmatro suggested in the skippers meeting to increase the time limit. The RO insisted that everybody - every skipper - should agree on the change. Specially because this would be a mid series change.
The final proposal was to take 50% of the sailed time as the time limit. For a race of 15 minutes that would mean 7.5 minutes, for a race of 20 minutes a time limit of 10 minutes, and so-on.
That would also have the advantage that even in changing conditions the time limit was appropriate. A good proposal.
But as I said, not all skippers agreed. We revisited the subject in the post-race briefing, but again no consensus. Perhaps it will be decided in this mornings briefing.
If not this event, definitely something to consider for next year.
How about your experiences with time limits? Ever been to late? Was the finish closed by the time you got there? Or perhaps you've had a request for redress about it?
Saturday, 26 September 2009
iShares Cup 2009 Amsterdam
At the iShares cup in Amsterdam only one man is very busy at this moment. And has been for the last 48 plus hours. That is the repairman! On both days there were big crashes resulting in a lot of damage. Hopefully Oman Red can sail again this afternoon. iShares cup
We have to deal with the redress in the mean time. There's no doubt that Oman Blue is entitled to redress. Their scoring was, trough no fault of there own, made significantly worse by physical damage because of the action of a boat that was breaking a rule of Part 2. BT hit them, sailing on Port. But the tricky part is in how much redress.
If you look at Q&A 2007-01 it states that out of the counting races in a boat’s series score, the majority of scores should be based on finishing positions in completed races. The crash took place in the fourth race. Oman Sail Masirah scored a DNF, a 7th and a 3rd in the first three races.
There were 8 races sailed on Friday. Going with the Q&A we can't give them redress for more then three races, not before they've actually sailed five.
So, the outcome is that we will count the next two races - whenever they are sailed - to calculate the average, and award that to the five missed races on friday.
The press is pushing us, because they want to know where Masirah stands, but this is the best we can do.
We have to deal with the redress in the mean time. There's no doubt that Oman Blue is entitled to redress. Their scoring was, trough no fault of there own, made significantly worse by physical damage because of the action of a boat that was breaking a rule of Part 2. BT hit them, sailing on Port. But the tricky part is in how much redress.
If you look at Q&A 2007-01 it states that out of the counting races in a boat’s series score, the majority of scores should be based on finishing positions in completed races. The crash took place in the fourth race. Oman Sail Masirah scored a DNF, a 7th and a 3rd in the first three races.
There were 8 races sailed on Friday. Going with the Q&A we can't give them redress for more then three races, not before they've actually sailed five.
So, the outcome is that we will count the next two races - whenever they are sailed - to calculate the average, and award that to the five missed races on friday.
The press is pushing us, because they want to know where Masirah stands, but this is the best we can do.
Monday, 6 July 2009
iShares Cup 2009 Hyeres | Third Day
The final day brought a victory to Oman Red - Masirah. They consistently were in front of the fleet or even winning races. Before the final - double points - race they were 14 points ahead of BMW-Oracle. Congratulations to Pete Cummings and his crew...
As umpires we used the same system as we did yesterday.. Three on the line behind the boats before the start, mostly watching the distances between boats windward-leeward. Then the one at the committee-end went to the right, the middle one up the beat and leftish and the third umpire also on the left side peeling off halfway to go to the windward mark.
The middle one stationed below the windward mark, calling overlaps if possible, the right one behind the boats on the layline and one umpire boat above the windward mark.
As soon as some of the boats passed the mark the middle one went down with them to go to the gate. Below the gate in the middle to see mark roundings . The right umpire came down to call overlaps if necessary...
This system worked well when we got the hang of it and knew where to go to see most of the incidents without being in the way.
I'm sure we missed things and greened incidents where an infringement occurred, but 8 out of ten calls could be answered that way.
Looking at the statistics and going over the rules, 7 out of ten penalties were for breaking rule 13.
Even with these experienced skippers and the way these big catamarans work, tacking seems to be the main issue - rules wise..
I'm going home this evening - couldn't get a flight out earlier.
iShares cup will go to Cowes and to Kiel, before I join up again with the umpire team in Amsterdam in September. Thanks guys, for a great weekend!
J.
As umpires we used the same system as we did yesterday.. Three on the line behind the boats before the start, mostly watching the distances between boats windward-leeward. Then the one at the committee-end went to the right, the middle one up the beat and leftish and the third umpire also on the left side peeling off halfway to go to the windward mark.
The middle one stationed below the windward mark, calling overlaps if possible, the right one behind the boats on the layline and one umpire boat above the windward mark.
As soon as some of the boats passed the mark the middle one went down with them to go to the gate. Below the gate in the middle to see mark roundings . The right umpire came down to call overlaps if necessary...
This system worked well when we got the hang of it and knew where to go to see most of the incidents without being in the way.
I'm sure we missed things and greened incidents where an infringement occurred, but 8 out of ten calls could be answered that way.
Looking at the statistics and going over the rules, 7 out of ten penalties were for breaking rule 13.
Even with these experienced skippers and the way these big catamarans work, tacking seems to be the main issue - rules wise..
I'm going home this evening - couldn't get a flight out earlier.
iShares cup will go to Cowes and to Kiel, before I join up again with the umpire team in Amsterdam in September. Thanks guys, for a great weekend!
J.
Sunday, 5 July 2009
iShares Cup 2009 Hyeres | Second Day
First race, first upwind, first crossing...... a bang and a crash, right in front of us between Ecover (on port) and Renaissance (on starboard). Rule 10; Yellow flag penalty on Ecover.
That part was easy enough.
But after the race, going over to Renaissance, we were told and could see that not only the rudder housing but also the rudder stock (the helm connecting the blade to the tillerbeam) was broken.
No more racing for Oman Renaissance. That race, they could only finish by sitting on the leftover part of the stock all the way back on the port hull. Loick Peyron did a fantastic job keeping the big cat going and finishing second. (They were in first place when this happened)
They had to go in and start repairs... In between races we discussed what kind of redress they were entitled to... which should not only be fair to all competitors but also followed ISAF guidelines.. If you remember, there's a Q&A about redress: Q&A 2007-001 which states that a boat' score should be in majority from sailed races.
This is what the panel found and concluded after the hearing:
Facts Found:
In race 7 Renaissance was on starboard tack close hauled on the first beat to windward. Ecover was on port tack close hauled going astern of Renaissance. Ecover hit Renaissance on the port rudder with the bow of her port hull. Renaissance finished in second place in race 7. There was serious damage to Renaissance. Renaissance was unable to race in races 8 to 13 because of the damage sustained.
Conclusion and Rules that apply:
Ecover as port tack boat did not keep clear of Renaissance a starboard tack boat, thereby breaking rule 10. Redress is granted based on rule 62.1(b): physical damage because of an action by a boat that was breaking a rule of Part 2 .
Decision:
Ecover is DSQ in Race 7 (already decided on the water).
Based on results from races 1 to 7 Renaissance is awarded average points for races 8 to 13, with the total points rounded down to the nearest whole number. There will be no further redress considered for this incident.
It did mean that Renaissance is now in second place overall. They scored an average of place 3.3 in the first seven races and that means 7.7 points times 6(races) = 46.2 rounded down to 46.
Both the Oman boats are currently in first and second place...
We will find out today if they keep that place....
J.
That part was easy enough.
But after the race, going over to Renaissance, we were told and could see that not only the rudder housing but also the rudder stock (the helm connecting the blade to the tillerbeam) was broken.
No more racing for Oman Renaissance. That race, they could only finish by sitting on the leftover part of the stock all the way back on the port hull. Loick Peyron did a fantastic job keeping the big cat going and finishing second. (They were in first place when this happened)
They had to go in and start repairs... In between races we discussed what kind of redress they were entitled to... which should not only be fair to all competitors but also followed ISAF guidelines.. If you remember, there's a Q&A about redress: Q&A 2007-001 which states that a boat' score should be in majority from sailed races.
This is what the panel found and concluded after the hearing:
Facts Found:
In race 7 Renaissance was on starboard tack close hauled on the first beat to windward. Ecover was on port tack close hauled going astern of Renaissance. Ecover hit Renaissance on the port rudder with the bow of her port hull. Renaissance finished in second place in race 7. There was serious damage to Renaissance. Renaissance was unable to race in races 8 to 13 because of the damage sustained.
Conclusion and Rules that apply:
Ecover as port tack boat did not keep clear of Renaissance a starboard tack boat, thereby breaking rule 10. Redress is granted based on rule 62.1(b): physical damage because of an action by a boat that was breaking a rule of Part 2 .
Decision:
Ecover is DSQ in Race 7 (already decided on the water).
Based on results from races 1 to 7 Renaissance is awarded average points for races 8 to 13, with the total points rounded down to the nearest whole number. There will be no further redress considered for this incident.
It did mean that Renaissance is now in second place overall. They scored an average of place 3.3 in the first seven races and that means 7.7 points times 6(races) = 46.2 rounded down to 46.
Both the Oman boats are currently in first and second place...
We will find out today if they keep that place....
J.
Saturday, 4 July 2009
iShares Cup 2009 Hyeres | First Day
Friday was exiting. We did six races on he open water in front of the harbour with course configuration E: that mend Tim (the PRO) made one up, involving the grand-stand on the pier, a start line (doubling as windward passing gate), a leeward gate and of course a windward mark.
Because of the nature of this event, these were laid out very close together: A three lap race only lasted 15 minutes> You can guess the carnage at the first windward mark. Boats piling in there three abreast... shouting for water, touching each other and waiving Yankee flags.
In the middle of this we needed to find a place where we could see enough to make a judgement, but still were not in the way - let alone be run over by an Extreme 40.
I must confess we did quite a few green flags just because we were not able to be in a position to give a fair call... It did get better after a few races...Our policy is that rather then give a penalty on a yankee flag and call where we are not sure who infringed the rule, we green that.
Green does not always mean there are no rules broken it also means the umpires could not see or are not in agreement.
The closeness to shore also mend we had a lot of markers and other buoys in the race area. Along the coast at a distance of about 300 meters are yellow markers to indicate a speed limit area. (No more then 5 knots or something, inside the yellow buoys). On top of that a exclusion zone for the beach and big red marks to indicate the racing area...
Together with the white and black iShares cup buoys it was sometimes hard to see where the course was..
As a rules issue I have a question for you: The yellow speed limit buoys were about 75 cm wide and 50 cm high: Can you tell me if they are an obstruction or not?
More later,
J.
Because of the nature of this event, these were laid out very close together: A three lap race only lasted 15 minutes> You can guess the carnage at the first windward mark. Boats piling in there three abreast... shouting for water, touching each other and waiving Yankee flags.
In the middle of this we needed to find a place where we could see enough to make a judgement, but still were not in the way - let alone be run over by an Extreme 40.
I must confess we did quite a few green flags just because we were not able to be in a position to give a fair call... It did get better after a few races...Our policy is that rather then give a penalty on a yankee flag and call where we are not sure who infringed the rule, we green that.
Green does not always mean there are no rules broken it also means the umpires could not see or are not in agreement.
The closeness to shore also mend we had a lot of markers and other buoys in the race area. Along the coast at a distance of about 300 meters are yellow markers to indicate a speed limit area. (No more then 5 knots or something, inside the yellow buoys). On top of that a exclusion zone for the beach and big red marks to indicate the racing area...
Together with the white and black iShares cup buoys it was sometimes hard to see where the course was..
As a rules issue I have a question for you: The yellow speed limit buoys were about 75 cm wide and 50 cm high: Can you tell me if they are an obstruction or not?
More later,
J.
Thursday, 2 July 2009
iShares Cup 2009 Hyeres | Departure
It has been some time since I last posted. In Kiel we made long days after the Match Race as well. Out on the water for rule 42 and red flag and - once ashore - almost straight into protest hearings or arbitration. I did not find the time to sit down and write anything sensible, let alone surf the net to find new and interesting things about the rules.
I use a feedreader to follow the many blogs I'm subscribing to and the number now only says: 1000+ unread messages.. We drove back home Sunday evening and Monday in the office the work had of course piled up. What else can you expect after nine days…. Several planned meetings on Monday-, Tuesday- and Wednesday evenig prevented me from writing blog….. I do hope you can forgive me..
I'm sitting at the Rotterdam airport waiting so I can board flight HV6081 to Toulon/Hyeres. It's now 17:54
I'm going there to umpire in the second iShares cup in 2009. I'm counting on a decent connection and an hour or so free time in the mornings, so I can catch up - not only with blogging but also with mails, whom I - save urgent ones - had to ignore.
Some of have asked to see the SI's and I managed to get a set on-line: iShares SI 2eAmm
On the judges front I received an E-mail from ISAF to remind me that I will have to renew my application for International Judge. Time has flown by… it is already four years. The E-mail described a new application system. I will have to fill in a n on-line pdf-form with all relevant information and then submit that to ISAF. I did have a look and I can't save the form on my computer so I could fill it in at my leisure… I can only print it.
I'll have to do that and then find and gather all information before I - it has to be done in one sitting - fill in the electronic form.
There are a few footnotes which I do not yet understand.. I'll come back to those...
I am also preparing some issues left over from Kiel. Interesting protests and discussion, I hope.
There's one where a boat is keeping clear but not giving mark-room - at least that is what I think.
Watch this space.
J
(PS: this has been published as soon as I was able to get on-line - which was at the airport actually, after all)
I use a feedreader to follow the many blogs I'm subscribing to and the number now only says: 1000+ unread messages.. We drove back home Sunday evening and Monday in the office the work had of course piled up. What else can you expect after nine days…. Several planned meetings on Monday-, Tuesday- and Wednesday evenig prevented me from writing blog….. I do hope you can forgive me..
I'm sitting at the Rotterdam airport waiting so I can board flight HV6081 to Toulon/Hyeres. It's now 17:54
I'm going there to umpire in the second iShares cup in 2009. I'm counting on a decent connection and an hour or so free time in the mornings, so I can catch up - not only with blogging but also with mails, whom I - save urgent ones - had to ignore.
Some of have asked to see the SI's and I managed to get a set on-line: iShares SI 2eAmm
On the judges front I received an E-mail from ISAF to remind me that I will have to renew my application for International Judge. Time has flown by… it is already four years. The E-mail described a new application system. I will have to fill in a n on-line pdf-form with all relevant information and then submit that to ISAF. I did have a look and I can't save the form on my computer so I could fill it in at my leisure… I can only print it.
I'll have to do that and then find and gather all information before I - it has to be done in one sitting - fill in the electronic form.
There are a few footnotes which I do not yet understand.. I'll come back to those...
I am also preparing some issues left over from Kiel. Interesting protests and discussion, I hope.
There's one where a boat is keeping clear but not giving mark-room - at least that is what I think.
Watch this space.
J
(PS: this has been published as soon as I was able to get on-line - which was at the airport actually, after all)
Sunday, 17 May 2009
iShares Cup 2009 Venice | 05
We have a winner!
Gitane Extreme Groupe LCF Rothschild skippered by Yann Guichard, managed to score 140 points. Second was James Spithill and his crew in BMW Oracle Racing and third, surprisingly a newcummer, Renaissance skippered by Loick Peyron.
Venice is definitely a city to come back to; If they open up the racing to have a little more time we could have done 8 races today. We managed seven. Very wel done by Tim and his team.
Not easy in these reaching conditions. It was all about reaching the first mark and then the train started. Only Chris steering in Oman Red (Masirah) was able to take advantage of rule 18.2(c). And get an inside overlap on the front boat because they couldn't tack after passing the mark.
Most penalties were again at the start and with mark roundings. The new definition of overlap must still give some boats problems....
I'm typing this after the event and prizegiving. Together with David I'll spent one more night - although very short - in Venice by flying home tomorrow at 06:25.. It means we will have to get up at four to catch the bus at five.... And walking trough Venice for half an hour in the early hours of the morning.
I was again umpire 2 today with Thibaut. The most challenging part was to find a good place to be at the fourth mark in a special E course the RC came up with after the first race. It was reaching up and down in that first one. With the train of boats you have a hard time getting outside and making sure there were no mark touchings. Inside we could do rule 18 and 13 perfectly well, but we missed the markpassing after tack. Even getting very close to the mark was hard because then we had no oppertunity to bail out fast enough in case someone wasn't given mark-room and had to pass on the wrong side.
It was a great event and if I may make a personal observation, I felt definitly more relaxed then last year. Knowing what is expected and being certain of the rules makes difference.
I'm looking foreward to Hyeres in one month already.
Gitane Extreme Groupe LCF Rothschild skippered by Yann Guichard, managed to score 140 points. Second was James Spithill and his crew in BMW Oracle Racing and third, surprisingly a newcummer, Renaissance skippered by Loick Peyron.
Venice is definitely a city to come back to; If they open up the racing to have a little more time we could have done 8 races today. We managed seven. Very wel done by Tim and his team.
Not easy in these reaching conditions. It was all about reaching the first mark and then the train started. Only Chris steering in Oman Red (Masirah) was able to take advantage of rule 18.2(c). And get an inside overlap on the front boat because they couldn't tack after passing the mark.
Most penalties were again at the start and with mark roundings. The new definition of overlap must still give some boats problems....
I'm typing this after the event and prizegiving. Together with David I'll spent one more night - although very short - in Venice by flying home tomorrow at 06:25.. It means we will have to get up at four to catch the bus at five.... And walking trough Venice for half an hour in the early hours of the morning.
I was again umpire 2 today with Thibaut. The most challenging part was to find a good place to be at the fourth mark in a special E course the RC came up with after the first race. It was reaching up and down in that first one. With the train of boats you have a hard time getting outside and making sure there were no mark touchings. Inside we could do rule 18 and 13 perfectly well, but we missed the markpassing after tack. Even getting very close to the mark was hard because then we had no oppertunity to bail out fast enough in case someone wasn't given mark-room and had to pass on the wrong side.
It was a great event and if I may make a personal observation, I felt definitly more relaxed then last year. Knowing what is expected and being certain of the rules makes difference.
I'm looking foreward to Hyeres in one month already.
iShares Cup 2009 Venice | 04
Saturday on the water with Jon was exhilarating. We pretty much saw things the same way and had a good day on the water. When the breeze picked up a couple of hairy escapes - with full throttle, but we managed not to be hit by any Xtreme 40.
We started at the right side of the start line and went up and down with the boats. Up was easy enough, if you looked out for port tackers, but going downwind they gybed at any unpredictable place.
The first race we penalized some port tackers for dubious crossings, only marginally making it. The were not very happy but it did send out a message to all boats that port would HAVE to keep clear. I did the driving and Jon did the flags and whistles. He sure has a loud voice which carries.
It's now Sunday morning 10:53 and it promises to be a hot and sunny day. There's little wind and we hope it will last. As previously we only have a small window to do the actual racing. Between 14:30 and 17:30 the water is closed off.
As to the rules we looked up what sailors can do if the helicopter - who's due to be filming today - interferes with there racing. There's a sentence in addendum Q addressing this.
"A boat may not base a request for redress on a claim that an action by an official boat or helicopter was improper. The jury may decide to consider redress in such circumstances if it believes that an official boat or helicopter, including an umpire boat, may have seriously interfered with a competing boat."
In other words, only if the Jury thinks it has had an influence, any sort of redress could be awarded.
One thing more: The helicopter has to display a flag to be identified as part of "boats" under control by the organising authority. I wonder how they will manage that.
We started at the right side of the start line and went up and down with the boats. Up was easy enough, if you looked out for port tackers, but going downwind they gybed at any unpredictable place.
The first race we penalized some port tackers for dubious crossings, only marginally making it. The were not very happy but it did send out a message to all boats that port would HAVE to keep clear. I did the driving and Jon did the flags and whistles. He sure has a loud voice which carries.
It's now Sunday morning 10:53 and it promises to be a hot and sunny day. There's little wind and we hope it will last. As previously we only have a small window to do the actual racing. Between 14:30 and 17:30 the water is closed off.
As to the rules we looked up what sailors can do if the helicopter - who's due to be filming today - interferes with there racing. There's a sentence in addendum Q addressing this.
"A boat may not base a request for redress on a claim that an action by an official boat or helicopter was improper. The jury may decide to consider redress in such circumstances if it believes that an official boat or helicopter, including an umpire boat, may have seriously interfered with a competing boat."
In other words, only if the Jury thinks it has had an influence, any sort of redress could be awarded.
One thing more: The helicopter has to display a flag to be identified as part of "boats" under control by the organising authority. I wonder how they will manage that.
Saturday, 16 May 2009
iShares Cup 2009 Venice | 03
You must be wondering what I'm doing! It's very frustrating at the moment, I'm not able to connect to any wifi network. It's now 12:49 on Friday and no connection since yesterday evening.
I'll keep writing and will post as soon as there's an opportunity.
Venice is spectacular. A very special place with old and new mixed together, boats everywhere, big and small, official and working, choppy water and white coloured water (not to clean). I feel privileged to have to have the opportunity to come here.
This morning Thibaut (yes, the guy who writes Boat Scenario) an I went out with the ribs. We had to drive trough the big canal to get some fuel for our umpire boats. We went past all the famous sights - with piazza San Marco as the most prominent one - all packed with people.
Water taxis left and right, but no vaporettas (that's the public transport boats - instead of buses), who are on strike today.
Cruise ships 8 decks high sliding by, between two tugs, carabinieri and police all over the place. One thing we must definitely do is put up an Italian courtesy flag!
This afternoon we are going racing in very narrow water, a little more to the east then I showed on the map yesterday. The channel where we can race is cordoned of between 1430 and 1730 and only 200 meters wide… Hopefully we will have an up- and downwind course.
Rules. Well a lot of changes to the SSI, amendments left and notices right. A bit on the heavy sight I would say. A lot for all the sailors to soak up. We didn't have many questions, but that's more to do with lack of understanding then anything else, I suspect. I'll ask for permission to post them, since a couple of you have been mailing me asking this
Friday 19:01; still no connection. *&^*&$&^@&^#
We went out and had five races. Pretty good in these light conditions. The canal was completely cordoned of and all the traffic was directed to a side canal. Only very big ferry's and cruise ships were allowed to pass. In between we did our course A and B races…
Shortened to two laps to stay within target time of 15 minutes.
Today I went with David and we did the windward roundings. Staying pretty much up there. A couple 18.3, a couple Port-Starboard and other incidents.
In the fifth race there was a collision between two boats. Rule 11. One going downwind to the finish, one still on the beat going upwind.
We had a pretty fundamental discussion about rule 14 in the hearing afterwards. What does the rule actual say? When should the keep-clear act to avoid the collision?
One direction is that the keep clear boat always has an option before going into this situation to go another way. Not choose the "risky" option and thereby avoiding the collision. Besides breaking the appropriate right of way rule - he then, in this school of thought, would also break rule 14
The other approach to this issue is that we only look at rule 14 at the moment the collision course is established and find out what a boat has done from that moment on. Both boats need to be scrutinized from that exact moment but not before.
The keep clear boat has an obligation to avoid contact from that moment forward. The right of way boat only after is becomes clear that the keep clear boat isn't keeping clear and a collision is imminent.
I'll get back to this issue later this month.
Gitane, the leader of the regatta at the moment. I've lot's more pictures, but those will have to wait. In the mean time visit the official website: iShares Event Site
It's now Saturday 18:34 and since I'm finally been able to go on-line myself I've posted this. I'll try to keep you updated from now on. But tomorrow is already the last day! Time flies when you are having fun.
I'll keep writing and will post as soon as there's an opportunity.
Venice is spectacular. A very special place with old and new mixed together, boats everywhere, big and small, official and working, choppy water and white coloured water (not to clean). I feel privileged to have to have the opportunity to come here.
This morning Thibaut (yes, the guy who writes Boat Scenario) an I went out with the ribs. We had to drive trough the big canal to get some fuel for our umpire boats. We went past all the famous sights - with piazza San Marco as the most prominent one - all packed with people.
Water taxis left and right, but no vaporettas (that's the public transport boats - instead of buses), who are on strike today.
Cruise ships 8 decks high sliding by, between two tugs, carabinieri and police all over the place. One thing we must definitely do is put up an Italian courtesy flag!
This afternoon we are going racing in very narrow water, a little more to the east then I showed on the map yesterday. The channel where we can race is cordoned of between 1430 and 1730 and only 200 meters wide… Hopefully we will have an up- and downwind course.
Rules. Well a lot of changes to the SSI, amendments left and notices right. A bit on the heavy sight I would say. A lot for all the sailors to soak up. We didn't have many questions, but that's more to do with lack of understanding then anything else, I suspect. I'll ask for permission to post them, since a couple of you have been mailing me asking this
Friday 19:01; still no connection. *&^*&$&^@&^#
We went out and had five races. Pretty good in these light conditions. The canal was completely cordoned of and all the traffic was directed to a side canal. Only very big ferry's and cruise ships were allowed to pass. In between we did our course A and B races…
Shortened to two laps to stay within target time of 15 minutes.
Today I went with David and we did the windward roundings. Staying pretty much up there. A couple 18.3, a couple Port-Starboard and other incidents.
In the fifth race there was a collision between two boats. Rule 11. One going downwind to the finish, one still on the beat going upwind.
We had a pretty fundamental discussion about rule 14 in the hearing afterwards. What does the rule actual say? When should the keep-clear act to avoid the collision?
One direction is that the keep clear boat always has an option before going into this situation to go another way. Not choose the "risky" option and thereby avoiding the collision. Besides breaking the appropriate right of way rule - he then, in this school of thought, would also break rule 14
The other approach to this issue is that we only look at rule 14 at the moment the collision course is established and find out what a boat has done from that moment on. Both boats need to be scrutinized from that exact moment but not before.
The keep clear boat has an obligation to avoid contact from that moment forward. The right of way boat only after is becomes clear that the keep clear boat isn't keeping clear and a collision is imminent.
I'll get back to this issue later this month.
It's now Saturday 18:34 and since I'm finally been able to go on-line myself I've posted this. I'll try to keep you updated from now on. But tomorrow is already the last day! Time flies when you are having fun.
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
iShares Cup 2009 Venice | 01
Tomorrow at this time I'm hoping to have arrived safely and drank a few cold ones on a terrace in Xtreme-40 city of the weekend: Venice!
I'm going to do some addendum Q umpiring for the first iShares-cup regatta there. I've never been to Venice and am looking forward to visiting. The race venue is very near San Marco Square and since in the morning we don't have many obligations, I'm planning to soak up that special city, first hand.
From the official press release:
" Venice to provide a dream backdrop to the opening event of the 2009 iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series to be staged between 15-17 May, during which 10 world-class international teams will battle it out in prime European venues. It's all coming together with less than two days to go to the official kick-off. Between 6-8 races will be held daily on the Bacino San Marco commencing at 14h30 local time. An unprecedented world-class line-up of 40 sailors across 10 Extreme 40 teams racing within meters of the shore with outstanding viewing from the Riva dei Setti. Visit the iShares Cup Venice event microsite at www.isharescup.com/venice - this 'one-stop' site contains all the latest event news at a glance, information for the pubic on timings and best viewing spots, latest photos and video."
Beside the official site you, as faithful LTW-readers, will get a first hand briefing on the rules issues and happenings in the umpire team. I'm loading my spare battery for the camera as I type this. There's Wifi at the venue and I'm taking my Lap-top, so stay tuned!
I've studied the SI, and plan to bone up on addendum Q on the plane. So far only rule 18.3, as changed in appendix C (match racing) has been added to this regatta. That's because - however large these cats may be - they still need a long time to tack… and doing that inside the zone while another is screaming up to you, might cause a couple of head to wind luffs.
Now, where did I keep that extra bottle of sunscreen?….
J.
I'm going to do some addendum Q umpiring for the first iShares-cup regatta there. I've never been to Venice and am looking forward to visiting. The race venue is very near San Marco Square and since in the morning we don't have many obligations, I'm planning to soak up that special city, first hand.
From the official press release:
" Venice to provide a dream backdrop to the opening event of the 2009 iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series to be staged between 15-17 May, during which 10 world-class international teams will battle it out in prime European venues. It's all coming together with less than two days to go to the official kick-off. Between 6-8 races will be held daily on the Bacino San Marco commencing at 14h30 local time. An unprecedented world-class line-up of 40 sailors across 10 Extreme 40 teams racing within meters of the shore with outstanding viewing from the Riva dei Setti. Visit the iShares Cup Venice event microsite at www.isharescup.com/venice - this 'one-stop' site contains all the latest event news at a glance, information for the pubic on timings and best viewing spots, latest photos and video."
Beside the official site you, as faithful LTW-readers, will get a first hand briefing on the rules issues and happenings in the umpire team. I'm loading my spare battery for the camera as I type this. There's Wifi at the venue and I'm taking my Lap-top, so stay tuned!
I've studied the SI, and plan to bone up on addendum Q on the plane. So far only rule 18.3, as changed in appendix C (match racing) has been added to this regatta. That's because - however large these cats may be - they still need a long time to tack… and doing that inside the zone while another is screaming up to you, might cause a couple of head to wind luffs.
Now, where did I keep that extra bottle of sunscreen?….
J.
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