Hello All,
The past weekend saw a very busy club on both days for the annual Winter Regatta. A total of 75 boats were on the water across all fleets and 110 individual races took place. My thanks to the volunteers and staff who kept all this racing in an orderly flow and kept the sailors well fed.
Over Summer the SSC and particularly the Sailing Manger worked hard to improve our collective knowledge of Racing Rules and Tactics with a series of Webinars. For those who are interested to review these, they can be found at https://dosc.ae/backtothefront/b2tf-webinars/
Based on the racing that has taken place so far, I feel many racers would benefit from being reminded of a couple of points common to all fleets.
- Barging. RRS Section C ‘At Marks and Obstructions’ does not apply at starting marks. The Race Committee continues to see ‘Barging’ at the Committee boat end of the start line. This is when a windward boat, attempts to force itself into a position between a leeward boat and the Committee boat, incorrectly believing they have ‘mark room’. This is a regular cause of contact between boats as teams manoeuvre rapidly to avoid ramming the Committee boat. Several incidents were reported on the weekend. The answer here is to plan ahead and avoid trying to squeeze into that gap. If you do break this rule, you will be required to make your penalty turns, as soon as possible after starting and remember to do these turns ‘well clear of other boats”. Given this is occurring in front of the Race Committee you should also remember the Race Committee may choose to protest boats when they see this behaviour. For more information on ‘Barging’ please see: http://www.racingrules.org/barging.html
- Sportsmanship. I have received several reports where boats are calling rules at other competitors when they have no right to. For example, hailing a boat which is to windward to keep clear when no overlap is established or even Boat A calling ‘starboard’ to a less experienced boat B to trick them to manoeuvre when this was not the case. Both of these acts are cases of poor sportsmanship with teams attempting to intimidate each other with rules. Intimidation tactics are not tolerated under the RRS or in the behavioural code of DOSC members.
- Protests. Protest and redress are a part of the sport. I am aware that in the heat of racing, many boats may hail ‘protest’ at another, even if they are unsure what rule may have been broken. If the protested boat agrees a rule has been broken and do their penalty turns, this is normally the end of the matter. Once back on dock however, a boat which was protested and did not do turns, should check with the other boat and ask if they are seeking arbitration or a protest. They can also check the notice board to see if a protest was lodged. It is also considered good etiquette for the protestor to advise the protested boat of the formal arbitration / protest paperwork when back on dock. Both these actions ensure that all parties have time to prepare. We are a relatively busy club and leaving these actions solely to the Race Committee may lead to delays in the process and prizegiving. Also remember that if your boat is over 6m, (19’8″) that in most cases, a protesting boat must both hail ‘protest’ and fly a red flag immediately for the protest to be valid.
Regards,
Andrew Chapman
Rear Commodore
