Racing
Last summer I observed several boats getting confused about where to finish. I am going to illustrate some of the scenarios. The rules are actually quite simple, but the application can sometimes confuse sailors.
During my summer judging, I have heard some strange things about the hails people expect to hear. Last issue I discussed the three hails, “room to tack”, “you tack” and “protest” that are required in the Racing Rules of Sailing. This issue I will continue with other hails that are not required.
During my summer judging, I have heard some strange things about the hails people expect to hear. I thought that I should look at the rulebook, and see which hails are required.
The rules of the game are pretty clear, if you break a rule, you need to take the appropriate penalty. This is listed very early in the rule book before any of the numbered rules under the title “Basic Principles – Sportsmanship and the Rules”.
I have now written three articles about mark-room at a gybe mark. Last time, we talked about situations when you were allowed room to gybe. I finished off showing a case where you are required to gybe.
Read more: The Rules Guy: Mark Room – When Do You Have to...
I have now written two articles about mark-room at a gybe mark. In both cases, the mark denotes a point at which boats would clearly need to assume a different tack to sail to the next mark. We typically call these marks gybe marks.
Last time, I started a discussion of mark-room at a gybe mark. I presented some fairly common scenarios that appear when two boats approach a gybe mark and round together. I am going to continue that discussion this month with some slightly more complicated situations.
This discussion is based on a situation that took place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (held in the summer of 2021) and some local youth regattas. When I first started to race, if you broke a rule, your only option was to drop out (or be protested out) of the race. This was a severe penalty for a simple incident.
Read more: The Rules Guy: Penalties – When and How to Take...
Mark rounding is a lot like the weather. It is genuinely complex, and it causes no end of trouble, particularly for those not paying attention. Rule 18, “Mark-Room”, takes as much space in the rulebook as Rules 10 to 17. There are a few slightly more complicated situations that I would like to discuss, but this month we will start with some of the basics.
This month, we continue our exploration of changes included in the 2021-2024 edition of the Racing Rules of Sailing. This edition brings a lot of changes, but few affect the way we sail on the course.
SailGP: Canada Faces Challenges, NZ Explodes in Saint-Tropez
The European portion of SailGP Season 4 got underway this weekend in Saint-Tropez, France. Having hit record breaking speeds last year on the Côte d’Azur, Phil Robertson and the Canadians were looking forward to this weekend of racing, but things did not turn out as hoped. A penalty in the pre-start of race one was a precursor of what was to come, and it proved difficult for the team to recover.
A collision with Spain early on in race one set the team back and translated into eight penalty points for the event and an additional four penalty points for the season.
The Big Picture: D Danger: Made in the Shade in Spain
From sailing 8-Metres in Port Credit to sailing adventures hither and yon, our pal and occasional foredeck, D Danger Mitchele, is never one to be overheated even now that he’s residing in sunny Spain. He’s also not the kind of guy who would put a dodger on a racing boat. So, here’s the logical solution.
