Originally Posted by John Williams

I've never had the situation you describe - mutiny in the RC?? Yikes.

Ain't race management FUN!?


This is a great discussion with a bunch of very knowledgeable people!

That's not mutiny. I mutinied on a PRO once! The RC was on a 65' catamaran on a semi-sheltered part of the course and I was on a 10' inflatable working safety. I tend to stay toward the A-mark end of the course, so that I can get anywhere on the course if there's an emergency. The wind piped up over 30, and the seas started to get crazy outside. After I plucked about 5 people out of the water that were separated from their boats, I radioed the RC to tell them what I was experiencing. They were warm and comfy about 8' off the water, while I was about a foot off the water getting beat, so it didn't really register. The seastate deteriorated, and I made another call, but they started another race. We had plucked over 20 guys out of the water, righted 10 boats, and towed two repairs. All of the sailors on the course were fatigued and most of the victims couldn't pull themselves back on board. My crew and myself were getting hurt and fatigued, and felt that our safety was in danger, so I called the RC and said that we were off station. That was followed by a heated discussion that ended in a mutual "F-you".

I shut off my radio and that was that. We didn't leave the course, we just wanted to stop the banter while we were trying to work. We plucked a few more dudes, including one guy that had an injured back that the coasties couldn't get close enough to with their bigger boats due to all of the lines in the water.

An hour or so later, I motored up to the committee boat to continue the 'discussion', and to the PROs credit he wanted to hop on board to see what it was like out there. He got on board, stepped in about 6 inches of water. I saw the look on his face drop, and off we went. A boat had a ripped main, pretzled rudder system and was getting blown downwind with no control. The skipper and crew were fatigued and couldn't get the main down. We got them sorted, and started to tow them in and the PRO called the committee and shut down races and proceeded to apologize.

We settled the score over dinner and drinks and now are good friends. The meeting was a little brutal on the RC the next morning.

Good times. Wouldn't miss that again for the world!

J