Originally Posted by Isotope42
Originally Posted by JeffS
...As soon as you enter the 3 boat length it is closest to the mark has the rights so if the AC 72 gets within 216ft of the mark first it is entitled to rights and all other boats have the same rights in that 216ft circle, in order of entering it even if the rest of the fleet are moths. If the moth got there 1st the 3 boat length rule would mean the AC72 would only have a 36ft circle to work with. Therefore if they all got to that mark in the order shown the circle is 54ft, in the photos the outside boat is very late and has absolutely no rights. Port starboard has no meaning in this zone, should not even be thought about and I would be very wary of the skipper on the boat yelling it

Be careful about paraphrasing the rules. When trying to simplify them, it's easy to get it wrong. In a mixed fleet, the size of the zone may vary when considering the relationships of different pairs of boats. It's incorrect to say that port and starboard have no meaning in the zone.

Sincerely,
Eric
US SAILING Certified Judge
Member, Area D Appeals Committee


G'day Eric I think it is great to have a discussion about something like this where everyone has a firm opinion and only one can come out right as we need to be clear on this. I will state according to the new International Sailing Federation rules once you have established a position within the 3 boat length circle of a mark of the course you have the rights in order of when you came within that circle so if you are 1st it does not matter port or starboard you have the rights and all other boats must give you space to round in a seamanlike manner as long as you don't tack. The more amateur your fleet the more space, for instance at the A Class worlds they would measure in inches at my club level I would give 4 or 5 feet because my seamanship is less than the world class, another example would be if I mucked up a spinnaker takedown because I was excited about coming first, am now under the mark limping up wind while the other spin boats are racing down, once I am in that circle 1st I have the rights no matter what speed is involved
Here is the link I'm working off
http://www.sailing.org/tools/documents/ISAFRRS20132016Final-%5B13376%5D.pdf
If you can give me an example where I am wrong I would not be disappointed I would consider myself better equipped to race

Last edited by JeffS; 10/23/12 09:31 PM.
Jeff Southall
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