Hi Caleb
Your point about responsibility really got me to think about the underlying issue.
We have moved from the days of Sail Boat Racing as a Corinthian sport, where men/women of honor competed according to the rules, called their own fouls and settled anything else in a protest room.
NOW look at what we are doing! We simply don’t place any value in honoring your word in this game! Back in the day, the term “take responsibility” was enough for the game of sailboat racing. This was understood… now it must be defined and added to the US Sailing prescriptions!
I guess we felt that sailors were a bit slimey… so we add the rule on liability in the NOR… Must have $ XXX amount of Liability insurance from a third party carrier. (seemed like a small innocuous step at the time… most of us in fact had liability insurance… why not everyone… right?) I know I added it to the NOR’s that I have written in the past!
But instead of men/women of honor playing the sport… We now were well onto the slippery slope downwards. Next up.. Oh… the nationals are really pressure packed… I don't trust the competitors to actually behave themselves honorably under the gun! … Since they have the integrity of a snake, their signature is worthless! We must CHECK the insurance bit. So, It would appear that things are so rotten in Denmark that we have to get a CARNAC to validate the piece of paper you present at the national registration desk and hope CARNAC correctly says… “You … are not lying about your proof of insurance. Enter!”
So, I guess by inspecting the paperwork... you will make the snake go to some extreme measures to create the paperwork supporting his lie. But look where that leaves us… EVEN if there are no snakes in the regatta… We are choosing to view the sailors as if they don’t have integrity. Guess what?… they play down to this low standard. (Hell!… we now need on the water judges to stop the cheating on the water and the first one caught is the USA Sailor of the year… her explanation… she was trying new techniques to not exactly sail… but rather wind row… and did not know if it would be called legal or not...)
And the bar for our integrity gets set lower and lower… Now clubs are going to collect the liability information on registration forms. Wow!… Now they are saying... you know... we don't even trust you SOB's enough to take responsibly for your actions and share information when appropriate. Not to worry, if that happens, we the organizers have the opportunity to get in the middle of the dispute since we collected the information. What’s next… Post a bond so we can go race each other?
So... my philosophical question is … IF sailors can't be trusted about responsibility for liability insurance. ... Why the hell would you want to go racing against them? Do they let their buddies off with a foul at the nationals and don’t hail protest? Are they are not just as likely to lie and weasel out of their responsibility any way they can?
What people forget is...
If you as a party to the accident simply decides that you were not responsible for the accident, No matter … what the protest committee, instant justice on the sand, bar consensus whatever else declares! … You can simply tell your liability carrier “NO... don't settle it”.... Have them sue me, personally ... I want my day in court! I am not bringing my insurance coverage into play. (Sound familiar Windy Hill). A new standard for responsibility!
So… what I have discovered for myself is that I am really upset with the loss of integrity in our word. The details of this liability coverage crap, the gaming of the protest committees, all of the crap that can be spun as … getting and edge on my competitors or walking that thin line of the rules is caused by a lack of integrity in keeping our word.
What a sad state of affairs. Having stepped on that slippery slope where we don’t hold everyone to the integrity of their word … (or opened that can of worms about liability as Mary put it) … Look where we sink to…
I guess I answered my own question that started this thread ... What is the point of collecting insurance info? Sadly, it might be needed because we have no integrity in our word and so it is just a lame attempt to shame us into keeping our word. This just makes me sad.
Sigh… Mark <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
Note added: The Annapolis Yacht Club which probably has owners and boats worth MILLIONS does not require or even ask for insurance proof.
AYC NOR They just expect you to honor your word...
