• A keen volunteer with a conflict of interest
  31 Comments
  Benjamin Harding Yesterday 11:09
• Should "Basic Principles" be added to RRS 4 & 5?
  6 Comments
  Angelo Guarino Mon 13:40
• Judges walking the Dock
  12 Comments
  Robert Stewart Mon 04:13
• Language language language
  19 Comments
  Michael Moradzadeh Sat 06:09
• Why is the "red flag" needed?
  45 Comments
  Angelo Guarino Fri 21:38

• A keen volunteer with a conflict of interest
  How long would the hearing be?
  
  

  Not long at all.
  
  

  OP: The parent volunteer (having recently read the RRS Introduction and RRS 60.1) eagerly enters the online hearing request form and, within the time limit, submits a protest against that competitor, marking the request as a 'Race Committee Protest'.  The online system automatically posts the protest on the Official Notice Board. 
  
  

  Rule and Definitions that apply:
  
  

  Protest
  
  

   An allegation made under rule 60 by a boat or a committee that a boat has broken a rule. 
  
  

  Committee
  
  

  The protest committee, the race committee or the technical committee.
  
  

  RRS: 60.1
  
  

   A boat or committee may protest a boat.
  
  

  60.2  Intention to Protest
  
  

  (d)   A committee may inform a boat of its intention to protest by posting a notice on the official notice board.
  
  

  60.4 Protest Validity
  (a)  A protest is invalid
  (1)  if it does not comply with the definition Protest or rule 60.2 or 60.3,
  (b)  A protest is invalid also if it is from a committee and is based on information from

        (2) an invalid protest, or

        (3) a report from a person with a conflict of interest (other than a representative of the boat herself).

  
  The rest would be repeating Mark’s answer, which in part this already is.

  
  One person that may be on the RC team does not constitute a race committee. Since it was a person that posted the request, it does not satisfy the requirements of the Definition or the Rule.

   

  Kim

   

   

   
  
  
  Kim Kymlicka Today 03:32
• Why is the "red flag" needed?
  I think in practice there is a lot of common sense and sportsmanship involved. People's good judgment help keep the sport fun and fair. Light air conditions where everyone is floating into one another at a mark, no one says protest, then goes to room to get exonerated. Touching a mark when no one sees? Even if you told me that God Himself was asleep and didn't see, I would take the penalty. Port boat crosses starboard boat and thinks, yikes, that was closer than I thought, they wait to see the flag (assuming its too hard to hear). Port boat crosses starboard boat and starboard boat obviously takes a huge evasive action, probably they do their turns without a flag -- indeed I would hope they would even if the other boat didn't use "Protest" when shouting.
  
  While I agree with the self-regulating spirit, I think the "everyone takes a penalty every time regardless of protest" ignores the common sense complexity. (Not to disparage our friends on the links, but an everyday mark rounding with boats coming in on different tacks and angles requires a lot more thinking than the rules questions in an everyday round of golf, and you get a lot more time to think about it.)
  
  That said, I still think balance of the equities is off with letting a foul slide if the wrong words were shouted in the heat of the moment. And it certainly undoes the spirit of self-regulating.
  
  Ang, to get back to your proposal, there's another factor at the amateur level: timing. Skippers brains can get pretty busy in a rounding. I have certainly crewed on boats where things are shouted in the heat of the moment. Then on a bit of reflection (and sometimes a word from the crew), the skipper realizes that, say, coming in at that angle we probably weren't overlapped or were overlapped, etc. In the 1980s, a lot of #$%@# was said, then a minute or two later there was a flag... or not. Sometime cooler heads prevailed. 
  
  Rather than eliminate the flag requirement, I would be more forgiving on the form of the hail and the timing of the flag. Strategically waiting 2 minutes to protest rarely gives anyone an edge they didn't already have -- like super rare. But a more forgiving hail rule and a more forgiving flag timing rule would mean 1) you don't get away with a flagrant foul if someone's flag isn't ready (way more common), 2) you get a chance to take a breath and be sure before you make someone do turns or drag them into the room, 3) we don't have rules that have the contradiction of saying "we expect you to act reasonably" and "if you use the wrong word, it is like it never happened."
  
  That said, I'm not sure if what you have heard over and over is that the timing requirement was too strict or that club-level racers didn't have a flag at all. The above would help meet people where they are on timing, but not on having a flag at all.
  
  Full disclosure, I had a Kodak film canister on my El Toro, it was fine. ;)
  
  
  
  Dan Falcon Today 02:44
• Language language language
  Samuel Clemens: "The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between "lightning" and "lightning-bug."
  Joseph Owens Yesterday 17:55
• Should "Basic Principles" be added to RRS 4 & 5?
  PS: Let's not forget that the BP's also include Environmental principles along with Sportsmanship .. so for the environment (along with Sportsmanship), it would be nice to have everyone "agree to accept" them both as principles.
  Angelo Guarino Yesterday 16:30
• Judges walking the Dock
  From a game theoretic point of view, this is not strange at all. We have ended up in an equilibrium where all the sailors use a trigger strategy. This means that they don't protest unless the infringer has protested them earlier. This is, if all the other sailors also use this strategy, individually rational for every sailor. There doesn't need to be any explicit agreement on this, it can emerge naturally. Of course I'm not saying this is good, neither am I telling the sailors who I coach to use this strategy, but that's how it is. I think the most important is to have the RC protest every single contact with a mark, if no penalty is taken, and a proper rule 42 enforcement from the judges.
  Jaakko Haataja Mon 18:07

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