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----- Original Message -----
From:
Al Schonborn
To:
ken.grimson@gb.abb.com
Sent:
Friday, December 20, 2002 12:04 PM
Subject:
Rules questions part 2
Hi
at last, Ken:
I've
been busy so it has taken a while to get back to you. Sorry. Will (attempt
to) answer below in red. Best wishes for a happy Christmas and a fine year of
sailing in 2003!
Uncle
Al (W3854)
-----
Original Message -----
From:
ken.grimson@gb.abb.com
To: uncle-al@cogeco.ca
Sent:
Wednesday, December 04, 2002 8:11 AM
Al
...
Happy for you to use this incident as an example...
Great.
Will post soon and edit out the parts that make you feel dumb - although I
think your questions are very intelligent and show a wonderful interest in
the intricacies of our Rules.
...
Another question your explanation raised for me is when the rules talk
about leaving a mark "on the same side" does it refer to boat's
side or the mark's side? ( I have always assumed boat's)
That
is my assumption, also. As I believe I mentioned last time, the old Rules
talk talk about the rule applying to boats about to pass/round on the
"same required side" which to me says either buoys to port or
buoys to starboard. Any other interpretation would result in chaos!
On
a totally different point- I am finding the wording/punctuation of Rules
18.1 (a) and 19.2 slightly confusing in relation to the period after the
Preparatory Signal (when not approaching the line to start):
18.1
......However, it does not apply
(a) at a
starting mark surrounded by navigable water or at its anchor line
from the time
the boats are approaching them to start until they have
passed them,
19.2
Rule 19.1 does not apply at a starting mark surrounded by
navigable
water
or at its anchor line from the time boats are approaching
them to
start
until they have passed them or at a mark that the hailed
boat can
fetch. When
rule 19.1 applies, rule 18 does not.
Does
the phrase "from the time the boats are approaching
them to start until they have passed them" refer to the mark and the
anchor line?
Yes.
A
Race Committee boat is always (I believe?) both a mark and an
obstruction...
An RC
boat that is part of the start or finish line is always a mark and usually
an obstruction - whether something qualifies as a obstruction depends on
its size and the size of the boat approaching it - see Obstruction
definition: "Obstruction An object that a boat could not pass without
changing course substantially, if she were sailing towards it and one of
her hull lengths from it..." So, a 10-foot inflatable RC boat could be
an obstruction to an Opti but not likely to an America's Cup contender.
-
so can a leeward boat hail for room to tack when not approaching the line
to start if there is a risk of colliding with it or its anchor line?
In my
nearly 50 years of racing, I have not seen this done although I expect that
it is theoretically legal. Remember that the start area tends to be very
crowded and that the boat you want to hail may well be blocked from tacking
herself so that, by the time, she can give you the room to tack, it would
be too late to do you any good. You would have to call for room to tack so
early that you might as well pass to leeward of the leeward end of the line
since there is no real reason/need for you to cross the line if it is
difficult to do so and you still have lots of time before the start (since
you're not approaching the line to start).
I
have seen it stated in Bryan Willis' book "The Rules in
Practice" that there is no right to room to tack "whether or not
the boats are approaching the line to start".
Far be
it from me to argue with a published expert like Bryan Willis - I think we
used to race against his wife in Wayfarers! She usually beat us!! - but I
see nothing in the text of Rule 19 that would
support such a statement. But, as I mentioned above, calling for room to
tack before the start seems to be more trouble than it's worth. There is
always a better alternative that causes less grief to all concerned.
I
am confused because 18 seems to give the right to room at
obstructions, including room to tack or gybe if required, ...
The
preamble to Rule 18 actually states: "In rule 18, room is room
for an inside boat to round or pass between an outside boat and a mark
or obstruction, including room to tack or gybe when either is
a normal part of the manoeuvre."
What
this means is that you are only entitled to tack around the mark (or rarely
an obstruction - when the mark is also an obstruction because it is big
enough) if you are an "inside boat" but not if you are clear
ahead - i.e. Let us say that for some reason, you are sailing a course
where you are beam reaching to a mark where you have to tack while turning
180 degrees and reach back the other way (we get this occasionally on small
lake courses). If you have an inside overlap on another boat as you begin
your turn, the above quoted rule allows you to tack, but if you are just
barely clear ahead of the other boat, you are not entitled to tack, i.e.
you are subject to rule 13 (the tacking too close rule). Few racers
understand this distinction.
...
and 19 uses the same wording as 18. Rule 19.1 would
thus seem to me to apply within the preparatory period.
I
think you are absolutely correct in that interpretation! But remember, it would
rarely be practical or worth it - perhaps in match racing???
I
guess it depends on the punctuation in the sentences and how you interpret
them. Unless the phrase "or at a mark that the hailed boat
can fetch" is the clincher and this overrides the other
statements. So, if the windward boat can't fetch the RC boat you
would have the right to hail for room to tack. (Have I answered my own
question here!!)
Rule
19 never applies while boats are approaching the line to start - Imagine
the chaos as 40 boats line up side by side to start close-hauled on
starboard, and the guy at the leeward end was able to call for room to tack
- it would theoretically have to be passed on until you got to the
windward-most boat by which time it would be far too late to do the leeward
boat any good. Besides, the purpose of the rules is to prevent chaos not
create it. Allowing such a call would screw up the whole start for many
people who have otherwise earned the right to a good start. Hence the rule
the way it is.
If - and
only if - a mark other than the starting mark is big enough to also qualify
as an obstruction, then you can call for room to tack around it unless the
windward boat whom you are asking for room can fetch (lay) that mark. Then
you are not entitled to "room to tack" from that boat. This is
what that part of rule 19.2 means which says: "Rule 19.1 does
not apply at a starting mark or its anchor line surrounded by navigable
water from the time boats are approaching them to start until they have
passed them or at a mark that the hailed boat can fetch." I think a
comma after the words "passed them" might indeed make it clearer
that 19.1 does not apply in either of these two different situations.
If
there is an anchor line stretching out in front of the RC vessel due to
wind and/or tide effects, does this mean that it is not "surrounded by
navigable water".
No!!!
What they mean is that a boat physically is unable to sail on the other
side of such a mark and any anchor line that may be present. There could,
for example, be shallow water on the other side that would be not
navigable. Alternatively, it could be something like we occasionally did in
junior sailing where one end of the line was a pier which quite obviously
is not surrounded (i.e. entirely surrounded!) by navigable water, in fact
it's not surrounded by water at all!
Sorry
if this all sounds very confused - I am!
It can
be confusing - and is to all of us racers at times, but this is a good way
to know more - study the wording and talk it out. I have certainly learned
from this discussion. What you see again and again in the appeals is that
they go through the exact wording of the rule in great detail and its every
shade of meaning, and base the decisions on this. A fine example of the
pickiness required when reading our rules (which they are trying to keep
short but packed with significance and meaning), is that preamble to Rule
18 above which gives the rights to an "inside" boat which in turn
implies that other boats (i.e. clear ahead) do not have them. 99.9% of even
the top racers would not catch that subtlety until they were forced to
seriously study it for a protest - even then, they miss it a lot of the
time!!
PS
I'd be grateful if, when you use any of these points as examples, you leave
out any of my obviously stupid comments & questions.
You
know, I can't find a single "stupid comments and questions" in
your letter. You'd have to let me know what you'd like expurgated since
they all seem valid and well thought out!
Best
regards,
Uncle
Al (Wayfarer 3854)
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