Great job by all who sailed, organized, cheered, etc. etc. etc. Millions of hits and ESPN coverage??? That’s incredible!
Some items from this board to be considered in lessons learned meetings for next year…
1. The OCS that was referenced was actually handled by the RC as required by the SIs:
“10.4 It is the responsibility of the team to know the position of the boat and whether or not they are over the line early. No recall flags will be flown (amends RRS 26). If necessary, a postponement will be signaled by 4 long sounds (Amends RRS 27.3). A boat’s hull or spinnaker pole is considered its leading edge, and a 15-minute penalty will be assessed for any boat over the starting line early.”
If it is truly a burden for the RC to fly a flag and blow a horn, then continue this practice (no recall flags), but expect the negative PR to continue. I can’t personally see this as a burden, but there may be mitigating factors that we’re not aware of over the web.
2. Finishing with ground crew:
Per the SIs: “11.2 …A maximum of two ground crew from each team may be on the course side (OCS) of the gate to assist a boat with finishing. If a boat receives assistance by more than two ground crew while OCS and not finished, it may be subject to penalty and/or disqualification at the discretion of the Race Committee. Emergency assistance may be provided in the surf as per SI (10.6).”
Per the RRS Definitions: “Finish: A boat finishes when any part of her hull, or crew or equipment in normal position, crosses the finishing line in the direction of the course from the last mark, either for the first time or after taking a penalty under rule 44.2 or, after correcting an error made at the finishing line, under rule 28.1.”
Seems like a case can be made that the ground crew in question did more than allowed by the SIs to “assist the boat with finishing” as defined in the RRS as “crossing the finishing line.” Unless there was an emergency, I would consider protesting this under outside assistance, and/or fair sailing.
3. Exclusion Zone and discretionary penalties:
Discretionary penalties are not a new concept, and in the hands of a seasoned jury, can be very effective. There have been a few OK ideas here, but here’s what I’ve seen that works remarkably well for Optis of all things (KISS), usually to enforce safety rules…
DSQ is always an option, but when there are good reasons for not going that far, using a standard such as 20% and 40%, often helps. (The 20% already exists in the RRS for certain offenses such as ZFP, so it does have a solid basis.)
It is best practice to include these penalties in the SIs, so there is less “questioning” after the fact (although there will always be whiners). Having a written standard to follow, rather than pulling a time penalty out of a hat, will help your jury’s PR tremendously.
Following KISS, for the case of the exclusion zone, there would seem to be a need for zero tolerance, since if the government gets involved, the future of the race itself may be endangered to some degree.
I would therefore suggest that if someone “cuts a corner” that’s a DSQ for that leg (score like DNF). The main logic for this is, besides the obvious issues with the military, they did not even sail the correct course (RRS string rule).
Now, if someone breaches the zone but unwinds, a 20% discretionary penalty can be used. This is typically scored as points equal to 20% of the fleet size. However, since this is a timed event, the most logical thing might be to make the penalty equal to 20% of the time difference between the first and last finishers for that leg.
Again, since the Exclusion zone has bigger-picture implications, 40% may be more effective.
And, since it’s always fun to play with Wouter, what are you smoking now??? “Real” elapsed times for people that don’t follow the rules (OCS) or sail the course correctly (exclusion zone)? Wow…
Mike
