• Question of terminology when all boats do not race together
  13 Comments
  Gordon Davies Wed 14:03
• A keen volunteer with a conflict of interest
  46 Comments
  Benjamin Harding Tue 11:09
• Should "Basic Principles" be added to RRS 4 & 5?
  7 Comments
  Angelo Guarino Mon 13:40
• Judges walking the Dock
  14 Comments
  Robert Stewart Mon 04:13
• Language language language
  19 Comments
  Michael Moradzadeh 25-Dec-06 06:09

• Why is the "red flag" needed?
  Getting away from arbitration for a minute, this whole validity issue is problematic for me.  Why all the restrictions on protests, if we want to encourage boats to protest when other boats break the rules?  
  
  I wonder if we could write a rule that allows the PC to treat informing the protestee as we do conflicts of interest -- "Were you aware at the time that you were being protested?"  If the answer is "Yes", then why require more?  
  
  Or maybe even "Were you award at the time of the incident that there was contact between your boat and the protestor?"  If the answer is "Yes", then somebody broke a rule and the protestee had an opportunity to take a penalty if she thought it might be she.  
  
  Here's an SI that might work:
  
  

  SI xx RRS 60.2 is changed to add: (e) If at the time of the incident the protestee heard the hail of "Protest", or it is clear that there was contact between the protestor and the protestee, then rules 60.2(a) and 60.2(b) do not apply, but the protestor shall attempt to inform the other boat within the protest time limit of her intention to protest.

  Rob Overton Today 18:20
• Question of terminology when all boats do not race together
  Thank you for your reply born of direct experience. Long ago I ran a national championship with 6 races (one scheduled per day – those were the days) and a four race minimum. We got the required four in, but only just, and on the final day; nail-biting stuff in a light-wind week at a normally-windy venue. The concept of event sponsors, let alone personal ones, was pretty alien, limited to whether we could get the club's brewery to subsidise the bar. 
  
  I still say that, to be a series, you need at least two data points, but if the RRS (which does not define a series) allows the minimum number of races to be set to one, that part of the sentence in RRS A1 – 'and the number required to be scored to constitute a series' can be rendered ineffective. The RRS rule-drafters cannot have had this in mind when they made this condition compulsory. Perhaps RRS A1 should be amended to make this requirement optional. Nevertheless, deciding an event, let alone a championship, on the basis of one race would be farcical.
  Nicolas Livingstone Yesterday 11:36
• A keen volunteer with a conflict of interest
  I think the spirit of the RYA reply, that the volunteer is only acting as part of the RC when doing something they have been authorised/delegated to, is fundamentally sound. However it leaves a glaring hole. Supposing a competitor is significantly disadvantaged by someone doing an RC function they have not been authorised to do?
  Jim Champ Fri 23:35
• Judges walking the Dock
  Tim the "sort it out on the water" is emblematic of the 2-boat centric mindset which is misplaced in fleet racing.  It's a foundation of that old article I wrote. 
  
  When a boat breaks a rule for which they are not exonerated (and then do not take a penalty) they gain an incalculable advantage against all other boats in the fleet.  Some are close, some might be on the other side of the course, and it's impossible for anyone to calculate what those advantages are.  
  
  The idea that 2 boats can "work it out on the water" reduces the effect of a boat's rule-breach to only the other boat that is referred-to in that rule ... as if this was a one-on-one match race and no other boats existed.  
  
  THAT is what I try to get-through first when this topic comes up with individual racers.  When we compete in fleet racing, we are all OTW judges for the rest of the fleet.
  Angelo Guarino Fri 13:59
• Should "Basic Principles" be added to RRS 4 & 5?
  I think that there is a difference between 'will promptly take a penalty' and 'are encouraged to'. 
  
  When reading RRS 2 it is essential to refer to WS Case 138, which sets out actions that can be cosidered to be examples of bad sportsmanship or misconduct.
  Gordon Davies Wed 12:51

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