Quite honestly, there are way too many scenarios to make anything concrete as to what an RC should and shouldn't do. That is why you want to have as experienced a PRO as you can have that has common sense.

Number of support boats, minimum wind speed, maximum wind speed, lightning, big waves, big swells, etc all in varying combinations would make the creation of concrete rules impossible.

I remember the 1995 H16 Worlds in Huatulco Mexico. One day the winds were in the 40s the seas were 10 - 12 feet. The RC boat was a Mexican Navy vessel with a 700# anchor that they could not set. Wally and I, as well as a few others, were blown over in the sheltered cove even before we got out to the ocean. Jeff Alter and Kathy Ward almost lost their lives when their boat pitched and put them and the boat into the rocks. Not a nice place to be but it was a Worlds. Needless to say, no races were run but I bet if they ever got the RC boat anchored they would have tried. It was very frightening even for us.

I do not believe there is any way to make rules that govern this type of stuff and make it pleasing to everyone.

I also believe it should not be the type of stuff that is open to redress. The conditions are the conditions. They are the same for all the competitors.

In the H20 Nationals in Lake Tahoe in 1992 Wally and I had a monster lead rounding the weather mark only to find our very own hole going to the leeward mark and we watched the entire fleet sail right on by us. Our position was definitely prejudiced. Maybe we should have asked for redress since the RC should not have put the course where that hole was.

It is our (the RC's) decision and responsibility to use common sense and make the most of what the good Lord gives us. Instead of squabbling over this stuff why don't we focus on getting more people educated on how to be a responsible RC and let them do what they volunteer to do.

Mark