AC33 | America's Cup Umpiring (2)

I heard back from Bill Edgerton, CU at the AC33 in Valencia. He found time to answer the questions I send him earlier. (See America's Cup Umpiring (1))

As before his answers in blue (a little darker so it's also readable on a white background)



What calls did you make in the first match? Can you tell us about the situations you encountered?
The penalty was a simple port and starboard going 13.1, no 16 involved and the give way boat turned across the ROW boat. She had 2 avenues of escape, took the wrong one, if they had gone down, 16 would have applied to USA's course alteration to follow and the call would have gone green.
(red: 13.1 = keeping clear while tacking, from App C; Match Racing)
Judging 2 boat lengths separation for 17 or not, after the start when they were straight lining, was difficult, but unless it was USA to leeward, it was only academic in those conditions.

(red: for those of you who don't speak umpire speak: Rule 17 restricts the leeward boat from sailing above her proper course (after the start-signal) if she established a leeward overlap within two hull lengths of the windward boat. Bill is explaining he found it difficult to judge a distance of 200 feet accurately - which is completely understandable, in my opinion)

Are you planning to change the system now you've umpired the first match?
No, just rotate the personnel a little and refine some of the communications with the RC, especially the penalty taking where the RC came over our radio transmission inadvertently.

Will the team record and document all calls? If so, will these be published?
What you got above will be the sole extent probably, unless there is something of interest, a learning point.

What strikes you as the biggest difference between AC33 and AC32 - from an umpire point of view?
The boats, obviously. The atmosphere is very different, for instance they don't have joint press conference. But our relationship with the sailors though, is as good always. 
The delays between races mean more careful management of the team to make sure cabin fever doesn't strike, though the team we have here, is very experienced and time management is one of the skills you develop.

After match 1, I came up with some additional question and send them off in an Email. Hopefully Bill will find some time in answering them. Here's what I wrote:


Many thanks Bill, 


Any chance of an updated picture with Graig in the frame? It was him that umpired yesterday, was it not?

I heard some comments on the broadcast about you changing the decision process after a call?
Taking more time to get consensus? Can you tell me anything about that?

Did you change 17 overlap with only the hulls or is the bowsprit the complicating factor?

How are the umpire boats? Yesterday was only between 4-10 knots and you seemed to be going flat out at times.

Will you be able to keep up when it's blowing 16 knots?

I've analysed your call yesterday by the published pictures and put them on the blog It seems to be complying with your answer, but if you have any comments, please send them.
http://rrsstudy.blogspot.com/2010/02/rules-picture-of-year.html

SUI lost five minutes at the finish after completing the penalty. The commentators and journalist all seem to have different answers as to why.

Can you enlighten me? What happened?

Good luck Sunday!
And my regards to your team.
Thanks again .
Jos

If you have additional questions- be quick - it all could be over tomorrow!
(Sunday February 14th)

.

Rules picture of the year?

Since there were going to be umpires in the AC 33 match race, we could expect there would be Yankee flags. But I don’t think anybody expected it would be straight away in the first half minute of the first match and ending with a penalty!

Helmsman on USA 17, Jimmy Spithill surely credited his nickname in this match.

So I’m nominating the following picture of the incident as 

‘2010 Rules picture’

AC33 Match 1; P-SB on the starting line just after entry.

That is, until someone sends me a better one.
(In fact I’ll do a poll if I get a few more entries end of the year.)

USA (Yellow) on Starboard – SUI (Blue) on Port and has to keep clear. USA is holding for three – four boat lengths and in the picture SUI is now only just beginning to get head to wind. Her turn could have been much tighter! No rule 16 issue, USA may have initiated the collision course subject to 16, but holding for that long without SUI doing much more, negates that restriction on Rule 10.
SUI could have done much more – therefore she is not keeping clear. Either as Port boat or while tacking. Penalty on Blue.

A classic picture perfect example of a Match Race entry but in 90 foot tri/catamarans.

It also shows exactly what the courses of the two boats has been and on top of that it has both umpire boats and the race committee-boat in the frame.

Here’s the whole series on that entry:

Entry. SUI is a few seconds earlier, but USA on full speed on collision course

USA holding. SUI cannot cross. They will have to do something!

SUI heading up, as is USA. Very tight turn by USA 17 and holding again.

The turn by SUI is too wide! Just beginning to get head to wind.

While SUI is head-to-wind or tacking, USA has to luff to avoid a collision.

I’ve copied the series from the www.bmor-photo.com website. Head over there to see lots more on this match.
Sunday we will see if SUI can lay the same trap for USA-17, when she’s Yellow boat.

.

Raceday@BMWOracleRacing.com

Van :  rrs-study at home.nl
verzonden : vrijdag, februari 12, 2010 12:27
Aan : Raceday at BMWOracleRacing.com
Onderwerp : AC33 Competition

Martin,

Forgot to include the penalties by the umpires: Two Green, two Blue and one Yellow. (The second Blue for infringing rule 18.3 as changed by C2.6)

Therefore I predict a win for USA 17 with a delta of 7 min 27 seconds.

Cheers,
Jos Spijkerman

________________________________________________

RACING RULES OF SAILING: LOOK TO WINDWARD: http://rrsstudy.blogspot.com/

Get your prediction in! It looks like they are going.....

.

International 420 Class - 2010 Class Rules permit use of Electronic Compasses

The International 420 Class Association has published Amendments to the Class Rules for 2010.
Of interest for sailors and officials is that electronic compasses are now permitted! N.B: These class rules go into effect 1st March 2010. You still have a couple of weeks to go shopping.

From the amended class rules:

Rule C.5.1 (a)(2) – Permit Electronic Compasses
Amendment: Replace existing rule with:

“C.5.1. a.2) One compass fixed to a mounting bracket. The compass shall not recess into either side tank or deck. The mounting bracket may be attached on the mast or may be used to close the mast gate. If electronic, only a compass with heading, heading memory and timing functions is permitted.”

Better make sure that your new compass does not exceed the limitations.

The 420 is still a pretty big class, with over 56.000 registered boats. I wonder how long it will take to trickle down to other dinghy classes?
What do you think? Do you want an electronic compass on your boat?

MATCH RACING EXTREME 40 STYLE

Check out the Extreme match-racing action from Muscat last week - double Olympic Gold Medallist Shirley Robertson takes on Youth World Match Racing Silver Medallist Paul Campbell-James. DOWNLOAD THE HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO FOR THE MATCH RACING AT MUSCAT BELOW (84.5MB) No match racing in Valencia on Monday, but multihulls have been match racing recently!

Check out the action in Muscat last week when double Olympic Gold Medallist Shirley Robertson (Rumbo Almería) faced up against World Match Racing Youth Championship silver medallist Paul Campbell-James (The Wave, Muscat) in two Extreme 40s at the final event of the Extreme Sailing Series Asia.

The fleet of six boats in Muscat spent an afternoon match racing - a new addition to the usual short - course Extreme 40 fleet racing format. With the teams racing metres from the shoreline and with commentary throughout the afternoon by Olympic silver medallist Mark Covell, the crowds, most of whom were watching sailing for the first time, were entertained and excited by the easy to understand, head to head racing.
Ian Walker, onboard Rumbo Almería gave us his thoughts: "It was very interesting. Having skippered and been a tactician in the America's Cup, I was interested to see how it would work in catamarans, particularly with the America's Cup being in multihulls this time. I actually think it can work. We don't get that many passing manoeuvres anyway in the slower, heavier boats and what we saw was a real premium boat handling. But the most important thing is setting the course so the boats can split at the leeward mark. If it was a one way track, it wouldn't work. But it was an excellent course and there was a lot of over-taking, from what we saw in these conditions and these boats, I think thumbs up.

Here's to more wind in Valencia tomorrow and Mr Ellison's prediction "It should be quite a spectacle of extreme sailing" will hopefully come true. If not ... hold out for the start of the Extreme Sailing Series Europe in May - it promises to be a spectacular series.

Download Video (.mov format)

View Videos Online

See also a LTW-blogpost with some notes from CU Ewan McEwan: Extreme 40 racing in Muskat

Worst Sailing Innovation Ever?

Tillerman’s group writing project this month is about the Worst Sailing Innovation Ever… And true to the basic principle of this blog, I went looking for the “worst” rule in the rulebook.
Perhaps it should be rule 2?   the Basic Principle? (red 11/02/10)

Competitors in the sport of sailing are governed by a body of rules that they are expected to follow and enforce.

To enforce the rules? What is that? Do I really have to “enforce"?
Better to let someone else do it…, I didn’t bring my police-hat…

Or should it be rule 30.3? BFD – which stands for Black Flag Disqualification.

If a boat breaks this rule and is identified, she shall be disqualified without a hearing, even if the race is restarted or resailed, but not if it is postponed or abandoned before the starting signal.

Can’t we find a better punishment for that? After I’ve sailed a whole race I’m out because I was half a meter over the line. No hearing, no redress, no nothing, BFDeed!

I think most sailors will go for rule 42 – specially if Appendix P has been switched on in the Sailing Instructions – as being the worst rule in the RRS.

As soon as you wiggle your butt, a bloody judge waives a yellow flag at you!
When I pull my sheet in, once to often, there goes another whistle…

I want to go faster, not slower!

Perhaps you can help me?

What do you think is the worst rule
in the Racing Rules of Sailing?

AC33 | America’s Cup Umpiring (1)

Besides the Jury, Measurers and Race Committee there’s a fourth group of ISAF officials active at the AC 33. I’m talking about the Umpires!

We all are in the dark about how these impressive sail machines will perform against each other, but imagine how difficult it must be, having to umpire them.
When these boats were first revealed to the public and it became clear how powerful and fast they would be, I predicted that there would not be any umpiring. They were just too fast to keep up with and too big to maneuver in the prestart. Boy, was I wrong…..

I’ve contacted Chief Umpire Bill Edgerton and asked him and his team to tell us something about how that is going. I prepared some questions and send them by Email. We agreed he would answer them after having umpired the first match.
Although that has not happened yet, he found the time to send me some answers. So here’s the first instalment. I’ve put Bill’s reply in light blue font.

The AC 33 Umpire Team:
Bill Edgerton (GBR), John Standley (AUS), Roger Wood (NZL), Gerard Bosse (FRA)

The NoR and SI change the RRS (including app C) in many ways. Did the umpire team have any influence on those changes? Were there any changes directly (or indirectly) done, because how the Umpires have to "operate" to umpire these matches?

There have been 4 SI or NOR changes originating from us since we started having an input on the event, one of which deleted RRS 13.2, all done with mutual consent from the teams.
None of them were done because of how we will operate, all of them relate to the type and configurations of the racing boats and course.

Did you and your team get a chance to sail on the yachts? You've been following the boats for a couple of days before and you've now umpired the first match. What can you tell us about the umpiring these AC33 boats - specifically what are the differences between these and "regular" match races.
We have not been on board the yachts when they were sailing yet, but have learnt a lot from watching them, one runs out of adjectives to describe how amazing and fast they are.

How do you communicate with the boats? Are you using a flag-system as in regular match racing or/and any other system (radio's, light-system for overlap, zone etc,) If so, can you tell us how that works? Do you have camera's on board of the rib? Do you have to broadcast to the media and explain your decisions?
There have been some procedures issued which relate to the method we will operate regarding radio communications of hails and Y or B flags and so forth, in addition to the requirements of the RRS, and other things.
We are not offering any information to the boats on radio or lights beyond a radio signal of the umpires response to a Y flag and a yellow or blue flashing light, if there is a penalty.
We don't have cameras or anything like that, time was too short to organize any technical assistance. The distances involved mean the communication to the media is by Satellite phone, we are well out of range of the mobiles. We will do media calls on a range of subjects.

What calls did you make in the first match? Can you tell us about the situations you encountered?

Are you planning to change the system now you've umpired the first match?
Will the team record and document all calls? If so, will these be published?
What strikes you as the biggest difference between AC33 and AC32 - from an umpire point of view?
Anything else you want to tell the readers of LTW?

Hopefully Bill can answer these last questions in a next mail.

Day one; waiting for a start. Which ones are the Umpire boats?
Photo from AC33 website © Pedro Armestre/AFP/ 33rd America’s Cup

Next expected posting on Thursday 11 February.

If you have a question for Bill or the others of the Umpire Team, please put them in a comment and I’ll see if I can get them answered.
For now, I wish the whole team the best of luck in the first match!

.

ISAF Q&A 2010 - 005 & 006

The Q&A-panel has been active again and two new Q&A's have been published on the ISAF Website:

Number 005 in this year is about the conditions for a protest committee to reinstate an abandoned race.
Redress is a many splendoured thing. A PC can score a race even with the last mark-rounding. RC, you'd better have a rubber at that mark!
ISAF Q&A 2010 - 005

And number 006 is about the time limit for requesting redress after a race that has only a few finished boats because the others were over the time limit to finish. As the PC always has the possibility to extend the time limit for handing in a protest or request, it is essential to start counting from the right time. In this case the publication of the scoring (DNF) for the boats. And then - when it is clear that boats could not have seen that scoring when published - the PC can extend.
ISAF Q&A 2010 - 006

For those of you who wonder what the effing these Q&A's are, have a look at: Q&A-Introduction.

" Unlike the ISAF Cases, which are authoritative interpretations and explanations of the rules, these answers are solely to assist Race Officials in applying the rules consistently. "

I wonder what has happened to the expiration dates?

(pillow)Case of the Week (6) -110

CASE 110

Rule 62.1(b), Redress

A boat physically damaged from contact with a boat that was breaking a rule of Part 2 is eligible for redress only if the damage itself significantly worsened her score. Contact is not necessary for one boat to cause injury or physical damage to another. A worsening of a boat’s score caused by an avoiding manoeuvre is not, by itself, grounds for redress. ‘Injury’ refers to bodily injury to a person and, in rule 62.1(b), ‘damage’ is limited to physical damage to a boat or her equipment.

Assumed Facts
Boat B is required to keep clear of Boat A. However, B collides with A, turning A 180 degrees before she is able to continue sailing to the next mark. Boat A loses five finishing places because of the incident. She protests B and requests redress under rule 62.1(b). During the hearing, it is established that there was physical damage to A but that the damage itself did not affect her ability to proceed in the race at normal speed. A’s protest is upheld and B is disqualified.

Question 1
Is A entitled to redress?
Answer 1
No. Under rule 62.1(b), the damage itself must be the reason a boat’s score is made significantly worse. In this case the damage had no effect on A’s score.

Question 2
Must contact between the boats occur in order for redress to be granted under rule 62.1(b)?
Answer 2
No. A boat that suffers injury to a member of her crew or physical damage while acting to avoid contact with a boat that has broken a rule of Part 2 may be entitled to redress if the injury or damage is found to have made her score significantly worse and was not her fault.

Question 3
If there had been no collision because A had been able to avoid B by changing course 180 degrees, but A lost five places as a result, would she have  suffered ‘injury’ or ‘damage’ as those terms are used in rule 62.1(b)?
Answer 3
No. ‘Injury’ in the racing rules refers only to bodily injury to a person, and ‘damage’ is limited to physical damage to a boat or her equipment.

USSA 1996/73 and 2007/98






This has been and always will be an important case. The answers may not always satisfy the sailors’ perception of justice, but they are the only answers the rules permit.
In many sports there’s no redress at all. At least in sailing we can salvage a score sometimes.

.

A little tragedy…….

It’s a glorious summer day with a nice breeze. Perfect weather for the 300 competitors in the clubs annual regatta, sailing in 18 different classes, who all have a good time.
The balcony of the clubhouse, overlooking the race area, is packed full with family and spectators who follow the racing with great enthusiasm. Daddies of the competitors in the youth classes, can be recognize by the size of their massive binoculars on tripods.

A Pluis Cadet is sailing on starboard-tack on a half wind reach and is having the time of her life. A Regenboog Rainbow on port-tack, also on a half wind reach, is approaching. The Regenboog Rainbow is sailing a course to windward of the Pluis Cadet.
While the Regenboog Rainbow is passing to windward, the Pluis Cadet looses pressure in her sails, turns upright, flips trough and capsizes to windward. The top of the mast of the Pluis Cadet hits the sail of the Regenboog Rainbow and a big tear in the sail appears.
Big panic, the children in the Pluis Cadet end up in the water, as does the middle-man in the Regenboog Rainbow and the ‘fun’ is over.
Both Pluis Cadet children in tears, Dad Pluis Cadet almost has a hart attack and Grandpa Pluis Cadet is shouting and cursing.
Grandpa Pluis Cadet, who’s been world champion in the Vrijheid Freedom-class at least three times, demands a protest form and while fuming starts to fill it in.
The wind indicator has sunk to the bottom, the fittings on masthead are bent, children don’t want to sail ever again and the Pluis Cadet is practically unsellable. In short, beside a rule infringement, this is also a case with mental injury and serious financial damage.
Grandpa Pluis Cadet will straighten this out! He will represent the boat in the hearing and demands the middle-man of the Regenboog Rainbow as his opponent.

This was the exercise that was used to start discussing rules and procedures in our National Race Official education program, which I was part of last Saturday.
(I gave a presentation on Umpiring & Match Racing, later that day)
Although in first glance the case was easy enough – the discussion that took place, made one thing very clear. There are a lot of rules involved!
Rule 10 is a given, but what else?

.