Mark, I think we agree. I believe you are entitled to room for a tactical rounding, but only while at the mark. Before you are at the mark, you only have room to sail to the mark, so sailing well wide in an effort to round "wide and tight" is not sailing to the mark. While at the mark, however, I believe you are entitled to room to make a smooth, fast rounding, because that would be your proper course in the absence of other boats.

In practice, that means the inside boat doesn't have to make a super aggressive turn at the mark which would stall their boat and kill speed- that is not their proper course.

Sam, I umpire a lot of team racing, it is a lot of fun, and you learn a lot. For me the highlights have been the High School Nationals, NEISA Champs, and Opti TR Nationals... the level of racing at all three was great!